Facilitating Access to Finance
Since 2007, Connexus has built upon the financial and management networks and expertise of its founder Anita Campion. Today Connexus has a robust financial services practice, expanding access to financial services ranging from strengthening financial institutions that offer micro, small and medium enterprise finance, to structuring and vetting large equity investments. Connexus offers a holistic, market-based approach to financial services, combining innovative financing models, pipeline development, and ready markets to reinforce investments in emerging markets around the globe.
Rural and Agricultural Market Development
Connexus designs its agricultural interventions around end-market opportunities, supporting enhanced and sustained impacts for increasing farmer incomes, facilitating agricultural finance, and improving market linkages. Connexus works with multinational food companies and agricultural input suppliers to help them secure quality supply and expand their markets. Known for its expertise in agricultural finance, Connexus has developed a series of trainings that have been delivered to more than 350 value chain actors around the world.
Private Sector Engagement
Connexus works with private sector firms around the world to strengthen their capacity to catalyze market system growth, improve supply chains, and grow their businesses. Through agricultural finance innovations and technical assistance, Connexus can help firms catalyze market systems change and facilitate access to finance up and down the supply chain. We advise companies and associations on strategic planning, governance, and market research. Connexus has supported youth workforce development by building capacity of youth entrepreneurs and enhancing the capacity of local coaches and business mentors to provide sustained services. We support women’s cooperative and associations and help donors, civil society organizations, and the private sector be more inclusive and equitable.
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP)
Connexus has established a broad network of contacts in the financial, agriculture and private sectors, allowing us to understand their broad range of perspectives and needs. This insight has been critical to the success of many of the PPPs we have forged with support from donors, governments, and development projects. Connexus acts as a bridge builder between the public and private sectors, finance and funding needs, technology and users, as well as funds and markets.
Engaging Women and Youth
Because different age and gender populations have unique needs, Connexus incorporates youth and gender-sensitive strategies into its interventions to help these and other disadvantaged populations to improve their economic well-being. Connexus creates inclusive financial services and market development interventions by designing appropriate products and linking these populations to economic growth opportunities.
Health Sector Strengthening
Connexus has worked with USAID, Global Health Council, Intra-Health, CRS, JSI and others to design a participatory conference to address the need for additional resources and support for community health systems and infrastructure, which was found lacking during the Ebola crisis in 2014. Cracking the Nut Health built on the success of Connexus’ traditional Cracking the Nut® learning events, which address the difficulties hindering developing countries’ journeys to self-sufficiency. This learning event identified innovative approaches and remaining issues related to scaling up access to community health systems, facilitating public and private partnerships and investment, and linking community level knowledge to global resources.
Knowledge Management
Connexus specializes in high quality knowledge management, including designing and delivering learning events, trainings of trainers, and publications that highlight best practices, lessons learned, and remaining challenges. Connexus’s flagship event, the Cracking the Nut® conference, has established itself as an effective platform for knowledge management, particularly in the field of rural and agricultural market development. After each event, Connexus compiles publications that summarize the knowledge generated and serve as a guide to future interventions and assistance. Activities and learning products are centered on effective knowledge dissemination to expand and improve industry understanding and use best practices to design and implement projects.
Monitoring and Evaluation
Known for its commitment to sustainable impact, Connexus is increasingly involved in monitoring and evaluation. Connexus applies rigorous quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods to promote actionable learning, increase effectiveness, and contribute to better outcomes. Our highly collaborative approach facilitates the design of monitoring, evaluation, and learning systems tailored to the unique needs of our clients and responds to key program objectives and theories of change, helping to anchor strategic learning within the program or organization. We design systems to be collaborative and adaptive, allowing interventions to shift with changing priorities and outcomes.
Institutional Strengthening
Connexus has deep experience building institutional capacity within private firms, civil society organizations, and government agencies. Our Impact Strengthening Development (ISD®) toolkit includes an assessment program that allows us to work collaboratively with local organizations to review 10 areas of operation and thus identify and prioritize capacity building. Addressing topics such as governance, financial sustainability, and program management, we help local organizations improve their performance and manage and mitigate risks, so they can sustainably achieve objectives over the long term. For local organizations that want to work with USAID, ISD® helps build their capacity in a manner that they can become direct recipients of USAID funding.