Encouraging Entrepreneurship: A Microenterprise Development Policy Agenda

Authors

Joyce Klein, the FIELD program of the Aspen Institute; and Carol Wayman, Corporation for Enterprise Development

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December 1, 2008

For more than 20 years, community-based microenterprise programs have been assisting emerging entrepreneurs start and sustain small businesses. They work with home day care providers, landscapers, caterers, salsa makers, woodworkers and car service owners. Their primary customers are women, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, individuals with disabilities, people with prison records and others who lack access to banks, business networks and paid sources of management expertise. In helping these entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses, microenterprise programs provide classes in business management, marketing advice, access to loans and matched savings, financial education and peer networks.