Private Enterprise and Financial Markets > Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise
Micro Enterprise, Development Review Vol.3 No.1
By SDS/MSM (07/00, En, Es)
Business registration is the first point of contact between a microentrepreneur and the government, and as such it sets the tone for their entire future relationship. In most Latin American countries, this relationship does not start off in the most positive way because the microentrepreneur typically faces a virtual gauntlet of repetitive, costly and time-consuming requirements to legally register his or her business. It is not uncommon for the process to take several months and require several hundred dollars in fees. The first article of this issue of the Microenterprise Development Review examines some international efforts to streamline the business registration process and shows that there are several concrete actions that Latin American governments can take to improve the situation in their countries.
Are many, or most, of the owners and employees of microenterprises in fact poor? If so, how poor are they? Do female, young, and rural earners tend to be poorer? Is poverty concentrated in certain industries, such as manufacturing, commerce or services? These are some of the questions that the second article of this issue of the Microenterprise Development Review answers, using data from a recent IDB study on microenterprises and poverty in Latin America.
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Last updated: 06/13/07
