Expertise and Services

Expertise

The Mazi Group is a consortium of consultants working in private sector development with a wider network of consultants worldwide for selected assignments. We specialize in the design, application and assessment of market-based approaches. Market systems development principles inform all the work we do, particularly:

• Gaining a deep understanding of relevant market systems, primarily through interaction and working with local market actors;

• A realistic approach to sustainability centered on incentives and keeping local actors in the driver’s seat;

• Achieving scale through market-based forces;

• Clear theories of change to deliver tangible impacts for women, men and families in the target group;

• Practical monitoring, evaluation and learning system; and

• Adaptive management based on evidence collected from markets and market actors.

With experience in over 60 countries, we are a premier resource in private sector development. Our clients include donors, governments, programs, consulting firms, NGOs, INGOs and businesses. Many assignments turn into long-term relationships as clients seek our advice and support to drive programs forward and increase sustainable and inclusive results.

Each of The Mazi Group members has extensive experience in private sector development. Our experience covers a wide variety of sectors, including agriculture, low-cost housing, WASH, healthcare, nutrition and food systems, manufacturing, business services, financial services, vocational education, tourism, trade facilitation and logistics. We have worked with a range of market-based approaches including market systems development, challenge funds, business environment reform, value chain development, local economic development, youth employment and corporate social responsibility. We also have expertise in cross-cutting issues, particularly women’s economic empowerment, resilience and environmental stewardship including climate change mitigation and adaptation. Our work has been in a variety of contexts from large countries to small island states, urban and rural environments, as well as stable and crisis-affected situations. As individuals and as a team, we relish the opportunity to creatively design and apply market-based approaches in collaboration with market actors with the end goal of including and benefiting low-income women, men and families.

The Mazi Group has also been integral to the improvement of monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) in private sector development over the last two decades. Mazi Group members have been involved in the establishment, improvement and application of the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development Standard for Results Measurement in Private Sector Development. We have helped many agencies, programs and donors develop or improve practical monitoring and results measurement systems that enable teams to effectively analyze and report on progress. We do not look at MEAL as a separate discipline but rather as an essential support to the adaptive management that underpins successful programs. As a result, we have enabled many programs to institutionalize systems that channel learning into concrete program improvements.