Strengthening Supply Chains for Micro-Retailers

The Informal Livelihoods Advancement Activity (Iqlaa) – funded by the United States Government and implemented by Mercy Corps – works on promoting economic growth and resilience for MSEs in Jordan. Under Iqlaa’s Market System Development (MSD) approach, the program works through market actors to address systemic constraints affecting MSEs. By partnering with commercially motivated businesses, Iqlaa seeks to unlock growth opportunities while encouraging the development of sustainable solutions that can continue expanding beyond the life of the program.

MSD interventions are designed to catalyze innovation by enabling businesses to test and scale new models that deliver both commercial value and development impact. Business partners retain full ownership of the models they develop and invest their own resources to sustain and expand them as operations grow. Consistent with this facilitative role, Iqlaa did not outright fund a digital procurement platform for retailers which would have required ongoing operational oversight and continued financial support, limiting the likelihood of long-term sustainability.

Addressing the above-mentioned supply chain inefficiencies required an MSD approach. Accordingly, Iqlaa partnered with an existing private-sector company, Yaseer, capable of delivering the solution commercially. By working through a market actor rather than funding changes directly, the intervention strengthened market incentives and reinforced commercially viable service provision. Rather than supporting individual retailers directly, the intervention aimed to strengthen a market actor capable of improving how procurement, logistics, and supplier coordination function for MSE mini-marts across the retail ecosystem. This approach offers several advantages:

• Scale beyond the intervention period: The business can grow based on market demand, not donor timelines. If successful, competing businesses are likely to see the viability of the model and scale the solution to new markets that donor funds could not have reached
• Commercial accountability: The partner is accountable to its customers and shareholders, ensuring service quality and efficiency
• Incentives for continued investment: The business has a direct stake in its own success and a reason to reinvest profits
• Long-term sustainability: The solution can continue to operate and expand without ongoing donor subsidy