FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 1, 2019
Panagora Group
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Panagora Group Ranks in Top 500 on “Inc. 5000” List

October 1, 2019 — Inc. magazine recently released its list of ranked businesses, “5000: The Most Successful Companies in America,” and Panagora Group is among the top 10 percent at number 451.

Panagora is proud to join this list, which highlights the most successful companies within the U.S. economy’s most dynamic segment – independent small businesses.

Panagora is a woman-owned small business that provides high-quality consulting services for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which manages U.S. foreign aid programs. With expertise including international development, global health, institutional strengthening, private sector solutions, and monitoring and evaluation, Panagora helps USAID more effectively deploy foreign aid to maximize taxpayer dollars and get aid where it’s needed most.

“The companies on this year’s Inc. 5000 have followed so many different paths to success,” says Inc. magazine editor-in-chief James Ledbetter. “There’s no single course you can follow or investment you can take that will guarantee this kind of spectacular growth.

“But what they have in common is persistence and seizing opportunities.”

Founder, President, and CEO Betsy Bassan is a longtime advocate for the inclusion and growth of small business within the sector – particularly for woman-owned small businesses, which account for 40 percent of all privately held firms in the U.S., with less than two percent generating more than $1 million in revenue. Bassan has held several leadership positions within professional associations, including the Small Business Association for International Companies (SBAIC), which advocates on behalf of small businesses in the industry. Through SBAIC, Panagora advocates for increased small business set-aside programs that would also benefit woman-owned small businesses.

“There has definitely been an upsurge in opportunities within USAID for small businesses,” says Bassan, “and we can see why… small businesses are agile and nimble; we are able to pivot and innovate and we are right-sized for working with local partners on the ground to increase country self-reliance, which is USAID’s top mission.”

Since Panagora’s launch in 2011, the company has grown from a two-person team engaged in short-term subcontracts to nearly 100 employees working in 14 countries, managing multiple long-term government prime and subcontracts. This year, Panagora was named the 2018 USAID Small Business of the Year.

“We are proud to have our growth recognized, and even more proud we have stayed true to our original vision and values while innovating for positive and sustainable changes through our work,” says Bassan. “We are all the more committed and energized to achieve our mission of making our world a better place for good.”

Panagora Group is a woman-owned small business based in Silver Spring, Maryland. We work collaboratively to identify and promote evidence-based, sustainable solutions that drive improvements in health, equity, and well-being for disadvantaged populations around the world.