Central American governments are working to enable firms in their economies to access and use digital technologies and ecommerce, including to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. One critical challenge for policy design is lack of granular data on firms’ current use of digital technologies. Nextrade was hired by the International Finance Corporation to run a survey with over 2,000 Central America firms and policy recommendations for the IFC and regional governments to develop imp

Mankind has for millennia built networks for commerce and communication. The 21st century is an era of virtual global networks. Enabled by the Internet and mass-digitization, today’s networks – social media networks, messaging app networks, ecommerce marketplaces, cross-border electronic payments networks, and peer-to-peer lending services. Today’s global networks are multilateral, dense and intricate, with hundreds of millions of nodes and billions of interactions and transa

The Brazil Trade (BT) Facilitation Program funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) through the Prosperity Fund aims to help Brazil increase trade, especially exports from micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), creating jobs for women and men and driving economic growth that supports inclusion, women’s economic opportunities and poverty reduction in the country. Nextrade first developed survey-based predictive analytics to identify the types of Bra

The Covid-19 crisis is severely damaging Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) economies. the region’s economy is estimated to contract 9.4 percent in 2020, and millions are expected to fall back into poverty. In their efforts to overcome these unexpected economic challenges, LAC governments have an opportunity that has not been present in prior economic downturns – to use disruptive technologies, such as 5G connectivity, cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), blockch

As Asian and Latin American economies have liberalized their trade regimes, imports have become increasingly important for their export competitiveness and productivity growth. In recent years, improvements in internet connectivity and rise of sophisticated cloud computing capabilities have expanded opportunities for Asian and Latin American businesses source specialized IT, financial, engineering, and other business services from domestic and foreign vendors, and to incorpor

Digital business models such as social media platforms, ride sharing apps, and e-commerce marketplaces enable billions of individuals and firms to interact and transact with each other every day. Their rapid growth has given rise to criticism that they are “winner-take-all” businesses that have created an unrivaled advantage through their network effects that entice more and more users to join, and through their acquisition of potential competitors and ancillary businesses. B