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IRAQ BUSINESS ALLIANCE (IBA) PROJECT

Some of the project's progress:

Establishment of IBA board of directors
The IBA team, along with their government sponsors and counterparts are finalizing the composition of the IBA's charter board of directors. A group of prominent Iraqi business leaders have already met and expressed keen interest in participating in what all anticipated would be a valuable institution.

Publication of the Baghdad Yellow Pages
One of the project's first goals is the development and publication of the Baghdad Yellow Pages. The project team has compiled the beginnings of Baghdad's only Yellow Pages. This collection of businesses by type and name is a standard feature in cities around the world, however in Iraq, no such publication exists. It will serve as a valuable tool for companies to reach their customers.

Surveying Baghdad Businesses
The IBA team has set about to survey over 9,000 small to medium-sized businesses in Baghdad alone, in order to catalogue business types, ownership, employment, revenues and other metrics. This survey, the first of its kind in Baghdad since independence, has significant value to the IBA and other business supporters in that it provides a relatively in-depth look at the economic vitality of the city. All surveys, like most other facets of the project, are being conducted by Iraqi's.

Create a Best Practices Manual for Business Centers
The IBA project team is creating a Best Practices manual specifically designed for Iraqi business center operators. The manual will cover all areas of planning, development, executing, and managing self-sustaining business centers.

Since early November 2005, The Sandi Group has been the lead technical assistance provider on a US Embassy-funded project designed to promote and expand a competitive and efficient private sector in Iraq.

The Iraq Business Alliance Project is designed around the creation of an Iraqi organization, The Iraq Business Alliance (IBA), which will serve as a national association dedicated to the promotion of business centers, and other organizations and services that are beneficial to the emerging Iraqi private sector.

Business centers are critical to the development of fledgling companies because they provide entrepreneurs and small business owners with an array of targeted resources and services. The IBA will support these business centers by providing critical organizational and technical support to regional business centers. It is envisioned that the IBA will also eventually play a large role in helping to shape government policies that are supportive of small businesses in Iraq.

This exciting project is breaking new ground in a country long used to cronyism, corruption, and nepotism in the conduct of everyday business. It is creating a forum for Iraqi business leaders to discuss and resolve issues of concern to the business community. It is surveying thousands of small businesses in Baghdad in an effort to understand and catalogue the demographics of a growing business community. And it is creating a Best Practices manual for business center operators to utilize in assisting their specific constituencies.

The IBA project team is comprised of a small group of American technical advisors provided by The Sandi Group and Citizens Democracy Corps (CDC) and a larger group of Iraqi professionals dedicated to providing vital support to their fellow Iraqi's. The entire team realizes the importance of this project and its potential through the establishment of business centers throughout the country to create jobs, revitalize neighborhoods, commercialize new technologies and strengthen local economies.

The IBA is currently seeking Iraqi private sector support to sustain operations for the next year. Assistance is needed in the form of in-kind support (technical assistance) and financial support (grants, memberships, sponsorships, material, etc.). All inquiries and offers of assistance may be sent to info@iraqbusinessalliance.com or to info@thesandigroup.com