Empowering Business Support Organizations With Data Tools
Business support organizations (BSOs) work on the ground to support entrepreneurs around the world. ITC data tools help BSOs improve how they operate, so that small businesses can thrive.
A tool developed by the International Trade Centre (ITC) for BSOs is now drawing on data from 168 countries, collected from organizations with the potential to reach more than two million small businesses worldwide.
ITC Benchmarking Platform: A Global Public Good
The ITC Benchmarking platform has captured organizational processes across 26 different types of BSOs. Any organization, anywhere in the world, can assess its performance against recognized global good practices, benchmarked against peers.
Created with the support of the Swiss Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the platform is considered a global public good. It is freely accessible to BSOs, enabling them to enhance performance and better diagnose the needs of the small businesses they serve.
Strengthening the BSO Ecosystem
BSOs understand better than anyone the challenges faced by small businesses. They provide critical advocacy, training, resources, knowledge, credibility and connections, helping firms engage effectively in global value chains while managing risk.
“When business support organizations are working within an effective ecosystem and are doing the right things well, they can have a hundred-fold multiplier effect on their economy,”
— Anne Chappaz, Chief of Institutions and Ecosystems, ITC
She added:
“The BSOs we work with face several challenges, from limited service offerings to unclear mandates and declining budgets, as well as external constraints stemming from a highly competitive global market and an increasingly complex trading environment. Thanks to the support from SECO and other core ITC donors, we are able to continuously innovate, adapt and develop tools, processes and solutions that respond to the evolving needs of BSOs.”
Six Decades of Support and Shared Learning
For over 60 years, ITC has supported BSOs by helping them adapt service offerings, improve management and operations, and connect with counterpart institutions across regions.
Over time, ITC has gathered extensive good practices in BSO performance, embedding them into its tools, methodologies and digital platforms. This approach multiplies project impact, improves reach and scale, and ensures knowledge is embedded locally.
Comparing practices from a wide range of organizations ensures that the benchmarking model remains relevant across different national and institutional contexts.
Partnerships That Expand Impact
This work is driven through ongoing partnerships with organizations such as:
Switzerland Global Enterprise (S-GE)
Procomer Costa Rica
Geneva Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Services (CCIG)
La Conférence Permanente des Chambres Consulaires et Organisations Intermédiaires Africaines et Francophones (CPCCAF)
and many others.
Supporting SIPPO and Country-Level Engagements
The platform and its underlying methodology are central to ITC’s multi-year engagement with SIPPO, the Swiss Import Promotion Programme. Through the platform, SIPPO receives efficient, objective and consistent assessments of potential BSO partners.
This collaboration began in 2017 and has since expanded to 11 countries, covering more than 70 BSOs.
Most recently, the methodology was adapted specifically for Ukraine, incorporating conflict-sensitivity elements with support from SwissPeace.
As SIPPO delivered on the Swiss government’s commitment to supporting the private sector in Ukraine, ITC worked alongside to manage partner selection and build the BSO assessment capacity of SIPPO’s local team.
With the right BSO partnerships in place, the knowledge and networks developed through SIPPO will be sustained beyond the project lifecycle—supporting long-term resilience and private sector recovery.