Overview
Founded in 1995 by business leaders in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Center for Economic Initiatives (CEI) is a leading economic development organization in the areas of education, training, economic growth, and small/medium business development. CEI engages professionals who work on a wide range of projects around the world. CEI has been at the forefront in the application of Marshall Plan type productivity, technology advancement, and Economic Development Missions (MP-EDM) programs (a.k.a. study tours) for developing nations in a range of sustainable development efforts, which improve industrial, agriculture and governmental access to knowledge, expand economic opportunities, and increase standards of living. More information about CEI can be found on our Website http://www.ceiworld.org.
Economic Development and Technical Assistance are not simply current buzzwords at CEI. They are integrated into the entire fabric of our organizational infrastructure and projects. We view technical assistance not as an end in itself, but as an important tool to help achieve goals in a broad range of areas. The nature of CEI technical assistance varies from project to project, depending on the needs of users and participants, the cultural setting, and the resources available. Our work in several countries including Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Moldova has taught us about the strengths and weaknesses involved in applying different technologies in various settings. Our overall approach is based on the principle of examining the needs of the developing country and resources in order to determine the best plan to meet a specific goal or solve a problem. Our commitment is to develop user-oriented programs to ensure that solutions are practical, cost effective, and implementable.
CEI has the combined capacity of consulting firms and the technical assistance experience of the Marshall Plan and predecessor USAID agencies. The specific areas of CEI’s experience and technical competence include: agriculture, construction, manufacturing, enterprise marketing, management structures and decision making, information technology, training for small/medium business development, the provision of technical assistance and the conduct of assessments and monitoring and evaluation studies.