Our Story

A Growing Global Company

As a woman-owned and employee-owned social enterprise with a team of seasoned development professionals, Panagora offers the best of all worlds—the efficacy and results orientation needed to successfully manage complex programs in challenging environments; and the enthusiasm, agility, and creativity of a small business.

Panagora has an impressive history of delivering results. Since our 2011 launch with two employees, Panagora is now over 200 employees strong and growing and has supported over 60 countries. Every day, 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.

Sustainable International Development Consulting

Panagora is dedicated to high-impact, sustainable international development consulting with a focus on global health, private-sector solutions, and the continuum of monitoring, evaluation, and communications for learning and adaptation. We embrace a virtuous cycle of knowledge stewardship, collaborative learning, and application of evidence to heighten and accelerate positive health and development outcomes.

Panagora has held nine cutting-edge monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) prime awards on three continents (Dominican Republic, Colombia, Philippines, South Africa, Indonesia, India, and Sudan). These include many innovations and creative CLA (collaborating, learning, and adapting) solutions embraced by USAID.

Our Accolades

Illustrative of the novel solutions that are the cornerstone of our business model, Panagora is the only small business to win one of five global USAID CLA Case Awards in 2016, and place among the top 25 entries in 2015. We regularly receive exemplary feedback from our clients. USAID regularly gives us high praise when reviewing our work quality. In one CPAR on a MEL platform, they noted that Panagora has been “open, very flexible, and very responsive…” and amended our task order to include all Mission development objectives. In 2019, Panagora was named USAID Small Business of the Year for FY2018 for “outstanding success in securing and performing on USAID prime contracts both domestically and overseas at our missions over a period of several years.” Panagora is proud to be on Inc. Magazine’s list of “5,000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America” three times, in 2019, 2020, and 2022, all within the top 30 percent. In 2019, we ranked in the top 10 percent and made the Inc 500 list at #451. We are also honored to be number 12 on the Women Presidents’ Organization’s list of “50 Fastest-Growing Women-Owned and -Led Companies” in 2020.

Panagora also works to advance USAID and industry small business goals. Our President, CEO, and Founder, Betsy Bassan led the transformation of SBAIC (Small Business Association for International Companies) over three pivotal years from an informal network into a registered and recognized advocate, as well as the formation of CIDC (Council of International Development Companies). Both initiatives advanced the voice of business at the aid policy table. Betsy Bassan is a 2021 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Mid-Atlantic region and a 2020 Enterprising Woman of the Year Awardee.

Panagora lives its core values of bringing passion, innovation, and excellence to our work. Our motto is “make it stick”—i.e., make it sustainable. We approach every challenge with an exit strategy, aiming to work ourselves out of the job at hand.

We look forward to continuing to partner with a broad range of organizations and individuals in our quest to make the world a better place for good. Join us!