Theodore Ravanomanana and his two sisters, Victorine Ravaomalala and Florine Rahantavololona, live in Alasora, a suburb of Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital city. They share a house that used to belong to their parents. And they also jointly own a small plot of land nearby that has remained unused for a long time, and is covered with unkempt grass and wild vegetation.

Madagascar’s textile and apparel industry is the largest formal employer outside of agriculture. It has the capacity to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs if the industry can regain U.S. buyer confidence and take advantage of duty-free exports to the U.S. through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). The USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub helps Madagascar-based apparel companies to improve their efficiency and institutionalize the best practices and standards that American apparel companies require. The end result is formal employment for Malagasy workers and quality product for U.S. businesses.