Hammad Siddiqui, Deputy Country Director at CIPE’s Pakistan office, writes:

“[The] majority of membership at chambers and associations comes from the SME sector. But the ability of these business associations in understanding the needs of this sector and the capacity to help SMEs grow varies from organization to organization and country to country.”

Read this list of five action points for business associations to consider while creating a plan for SME development.

Originally posted on Business Organization Support Forum 

Comment here or share a message with the Community of Young Entrepreneurs: partners@cipe.org

The Young Entrepreneurs Association (YEA) is one of the effective policy advocacy organizations featured in Strategies for Policy Reform, Volume 2: Engaging Entrepreneurs in Democratic Governance. Through its Sawtouna initiative (Sawtouna means ”our voice”), YEA and CIPE brought the voice of the private sector to the policy arena to ensure that reforms addressed the concerns of business. YEA successfully championed an amendment to Jordan’s Companies Law. The resulting reduction in the minimal capital requirement led to over 1,800 newly registered small and medium enterprises.

Read the YEA case study in Strategies for Policy Reform, Volume 2: available in the CIPE Bookstore.

Continue reading ‘A Voice for Young Entrepreneurs in Jordan’ »

In celebration of International Youth Day this week, here is an impressive example from Jordan of what young entrepreneurs can achieve through advocacy. CIPE’s partner the Young Entrepreneurs Association is leading a drive to lower barriers to entry for would-be entrepreneurs in an effort to expand economic opportunity to a broader cross-section of Jordan’s citizens — particularly its youth, who are increasingly realizing that they will not be able to rely on the state for a job as in generations past.

Watch the video.

Continue reading ‘Expanding Opportunity for Young Entrepreneurs in Jordan’ »