Spiros Voyadzis, President/CEO of PFD, was invited by the Private Sector Liaison Officers (PSLO) Network of the World Bank Group to be one of the key note speakers during their IFIs 2013 Boot Camp. This was a two-day workshop designed to educate and inform small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) on successful strategies to win projects funded by International Financial Institutions (IFIs).
The PSLO network is a network of presently 145 business intermediary organizations (chambers of commerce and industry, business and trade associations, or investment promotion agencies) in 97 countries around the world working to foster trade and investment between countries with the support of IFI’s (WBG, IADB, EBRD, AFDB and ADB) products and services. PSLOs act as the voice of the private sector in advising the IFIs on how to better engage companies on development issues.
Seventy company representatives attended the two-day event with firms from around the world such as Austria, Canada, Israel, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, the UK and the United States. Several business sectors were represented such as health, education, water and sanitation and ICT. Participating firms also came to seek potential partners to pursue other IFI-funded projects and included Mer Group (Israel), ACC10, Barcelona Global Design (Spain), UK Trade & Investment, RSD Strategies, Booz Allen Hamilton, Thomson Reuters, and many more.
The Boot Camp allowed these companies to strengthen relationships with contracting firms and build a network with companies from different countries. One of the advantages to attend these types of events in Washington D.C is that everyone learns successful strategies employed by larger companies bidding on international financing institution work. According to reported feedback Mr. Voyadzis’ presentation on the “Dos and Don’ts” on how to do business with IFIs such as the World Bank and the Millennium Challenge Corporation were well received by participants interested to learn more about key strategies, indicators, methodology and recommendations on how to successfully approach these organizations in order to win contracts.