Millennium Partners Member, Millennium International Consulting, is a subcontractor to the Louis Berger Group. Millennium has a four-year (April 2008- March 2012) $4.2 mn subcontract with Louis Berger on the TIJARA project. TIJARA, which means prosperity in Arabic, is providing support for the development of small and medium enterprises (SME) in the 18 governorates of Iraq. There are two main activities of TIJARA. First, TIJARA provides advice and training support for SME development to Business Development Centers across Iraq. These are closely linked to US military and civilian Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) across Iraq.
The second major TIJARA activity focuses on providing advice and financial support for micro and small and medium credits through a number of Iraqi banks. Millennium has taken the lead in the SME banking component working with the Iraqi Company for Bank Guarantees and its member banks to provide SME credit through a system of loan guarantees. It is also working with the Iraqi Company for Financing SMEs, a non-bank financial institution that provides direct lending to small and medium enterprises. Finally, Millennium is providing monitoring and evaluation of the entire project.
More information on business development services
More information on SME lending