Aid Has Moved On. It is Time Business Did Too.

We are seeing something shift in the countries where we are working. I recently returned from a trip to Uganda and I saw how the aid pullout is reshaping how businesses are having to operate.

I met with a number of companies who used to receive donor funding, and now all of a sudden that funding is gone. And without it, they’re reimagining how they grow. Because they still have the challenges that aid money was helping them solve: the changes in climate and the reducing production which is directly impacting their bottom line; the desire to ensure the farmers they are sourcing from make a living income.

But now they are not talking about writing grant proposals to help them do this anymore. They’re talking about business models that work for both farmers and their business.

Can this model grow on its own? Can it survive without subsidies? Will an investor see the value in what we’re doing? The choice for local businesses is clear—adapt, or fall behind.

And maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Because for too long, cheap development funding for the private sector shaped how businesses grew.

But adapting isn’t easy. Some of the businesses I met are just beginning that shift. They’ve spent years operating inside the development space. Now they’re trying to understand what it means to be investor-ready. How to speak the language of returns. How to structure deals.

There’s opportunity here. And this is the space where the RUN Global operates.

We sit between development and market logic. We work with local businesses to bridge that gap—to build models that still deliver impact, but that also attract investment.

Because this isn’t about walking away from development. It’s about doing it differently.

This is not a retreat. It’s a recalibration. And it’s calling for something more from all of us—more sustainability, more innovation, more trust in the capacity of businesses to lead.

Aid has moved on. Now it’s time business did too.