Microenterprise development support strategies: Review of best practices
Whiteduck, F. ; Peebles, D. ; Lever, A.
While there has been a major focus and increase on microfinance and microcredit programs in recent years, microenterprises (MEs) still face significant business development and growth challenges. In a developing country context, they are predominantly found in the informal sector and their growth is hindered by limited access to affordable credit, markets beyond their immediate local area, new technologies, quality control, access to materials and the small size of their staff. Microenterprises operating in the informal market also encounter the challenges of working within an unregulated market. While they may pay little or no taxes, they also are not readily able to benefit from government support services for small businesses or the protection the law affords businesses. There is also a general perception that microenterprises have little capacity for growth and a tendency to think of them as consisting mainly of street hawkers or small cottage craft producers. <br /> <br /> This paper represents the first step in a process that seeks to go beyond the traditional approach to documenting best practices that involves four steps: <ol> <li>Review alternative strategies to support microenterprise development which have been effective in a developing country context and present these for discussion with key stakeholders in Asia using the 2006 WLN and APEC meetings as a venue.</li> <li>Based on these discussions, assess which combinations of strategies could serve as the most effective means of promoting microenterprise growth in a developing country context, particularly for women and indigenous people’s microenterprises.</li> <li>Use this analysis as the foundation for a series of feasibility studies on microenterprise growth strategy combinations that would generate a set of microenterprise growth toolkits and guidelines for the implementation of several different policy and program support models and approaches.</li> <li>Establish pilot programs in several developing countries in Asia based on the models and to use these programs to support the growth of women and indigenous people’s microenterprises through increasing international trade links within this sector.</li> </ol> The content of this paper represents the first step in this process.
Imprint: www.iadb.org/intal/intalcdi/PE/2009/03347.pdf, 2006.
Series: Report,
Go to: http://lib.icimod.org/record/12530/files/5192.pdf
Themes: Mountain livelihoods, Policies and governance
Keywords: development, economy, government agencies, policy, strategy, technology
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