USAID (Under the AERA Program) (1999 – 2005)

The “Business Support Organizations Partnership” (BSOP) project, part of the larger Accelerating Economic Recovery in Asia (AERA) program, developed 30 U.S.-Thai partnerships. The results included facilitating 25 policy, regulatory and systematic changes, training more than 7,000 people and distributing 20,000 training materials, and matching $1.47 million in USAID funds with over $1.5 million in contributions from the U.S. and Thai partners, the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank.

Program activities included:

• Legislative and Judicial Reform Grants. Kenan partnered the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI) and the Alternative Dispute Resolution Office (ADRO) to train ADRO mediators in order to resolve non-performing loans. The mediators resolved over 600 cases worth $29.5 million in disputed loans.
• Financial and Corporate Good Governance Grants. Kenan partnered the Thai Securities Analyst Association and the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) to translate and adapt AIMR’s “Standards of Practices Handbook” for use by Thai financial professionals. The handbook helped raise the professionalism of Thai financial and securities analysts, putting the interest of client above their own. In the process, this partnership also strengthened the credibility of AIMR.
• Competitiveness Grants. Kenan partnered King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi and Purdue University to establish a U.S. Food and Drug Administration certified Better Process Control School (BPCS) in Thailand to train food manufacturers to meet U.S. food safety standards, minimizing the likelihood that exporters would make processing or paperwork errors that cause shipments to be rejected or delayed. King Mongkut’s BPCS was the first US-FDA certified school outside of the U.S.
• Tangible Benefits. With BSOP support, over 25 laws and procedures were streamlined in order to promote financial and corporate governance, legislative and judicial reforms, and international competitiveness. Over 7,000 executives, professionals, and public participants attended Kenan’s training and educational programs.