Our company name, Kaizen, is a Japanese concept meaning “ongoing improvement at all levels, at all times.”
Since 2004, Kaizen has built a culture of continuous change for the better through innovative approaches and relentless hard work. Growing from a small shop to a robust, award-winning company has been an ongoing journey, one emboldened by our interdisciplinary approach and vision for the future. And we’re only just getting started …
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2004
Kaizen is founded as a social enterprise by Andrew Kaiser on the belief that advances in information and communication technologies (ICT) would make it increasingly possible to support local reformers well beyond any given donor activity without requiring additional funding. -
2005
Kaizen receives its first subcontract, under Chemonics International, on the USAID Indonesia Trade Assistance Project (ITAP). -
2006
Kaizen is awarded large subcontracts to continue ground-breaking government institutional-strengthening work in Jordan and Iraq. -
2007
Kaizen expands service offerings from institutional strengthening to also offer peer-to-peer communities of practice—aka professional communities—supporting local reformers to learn from and support one another, determine their own priorities and needs, and work together to achieve them. -
2008–2009
Kaizen Partners Amy Watve, Lisa Letke, and Dr. Kevin Wheeler join Kaizen, bringing their backgrounds in private-sector management consulting and international development (McKinsey & Company, AECOM, and Boston Consulting Group). -
2011
Kaizen wins its first prime partner award: the USAID Egypt ALROWAD Program, providing technical and managerial support in the development of a network of more than 30 communities of practice in Egypt. -
2013
Kaizen’s innovation and entrepreneurship practice area is born: Kaizen begins seeking opportunities to pilot new and innovative ways to leverage market forces to achieve global development objectives. The team begins regular "Monster Jam" events to pitch and vet innovative development business models with the potential to scale through markets. -
2014
Kevin Wheeler becomes Kaizen’s managing director. Kaizen wins five prime awards with USAID and the U.S. State Department and more than doubles number of employees between 2014 and 2015. -
2016
Kaizen is named to Inc. Magazine’s "Inc. 5000" of fastest-growing companies in America. -
2017
Kaizen is named a finalist in Fast Company magazine’s Global World Changing Ideas competition in the “food” category for the Securing Water for Food (SWFF) project; “Small Business of the Year” by USAID; and, for the second year, to Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 5000” list of fastest-growing companies in America. -
2021
Kaizen becomes Kaizen, A Tetra Tech Company, joining one of the world’s leading international development advisory and management consulting firms. -
2024
Lisa Letke is appointed chief executive officer of Kaizen.
Award Spotlight
Kaizen received USAID Small Business of the Year Award
On June 28, 2017, Kaizen was awarded the Small Business of the Year Award at the U.S. Agency for International Development’s 10th Annual Small Business Conference. The award was presented in recognition of outstanding success in securing and performing on USAID prime contracts, both domestically and overseas.
Kaizen ranked in Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing private companies list in 2017
Kaizen was honored on Inc. 5000’s prestigious list of America’s fastest growing private companies, rising in rank from the previous year’s #2360 to #1913 nationally, and ranked #22 in Washington, DC! Of the nearly 7 million private companies moving the economy forward every day, only a tiny fraction have demonstrated such remarkably consistent high growth.
Kaizen’s project honored by Fast Company magazine
Fast Company magazine selected Securing Water for Food Technical Assistance Facility as a finalist in the 2017 World Changing Ideas Awards in the food category. The competition honors businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that offer innovative solutions to issues facing humanity.
Kaizen wins Sid-Washington Innovation Challenge
Society for International Development (SID) selected the Learning Links project as one of the winners of its 2018 SID-W Innovation Challenge. This challenge was created to identify governments, donors, or implementing partners that use innovative technologies to shape international development projects.