The project design relied on the initiative, and willingness to incur risks, of small and medium private entrepreneurs, supported by donor know-how. The decision to opt for a business support structure that was owned by the participating processing industries and which provided services usually assumed by the donors themselves, helped to sharpen the private entrepreneurs’ sense for business opportunities and to enhance ownership of the programme. It also shows that the emergence of (partly private and commercial) standards that focus on food safety, produce traceability as well as social and environmental compliance can successfully be introduced in developing countries. Although the country experienced sustained economic growth since the end of civil war in 1992, at an average of 8% per year during the 1994-2005 period, GDP per capita was USD 418.4 in 2009 and the share of the population living below USD 1.25 per day was 60% in 2008.