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The lack of funding available from the financial sector for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is known as the "financing gap". This timely report analyses this gap for both credit and equity financing and seeks to determine how prevalent such a gap may be, both among OECD countries and non-OECD economies. The report recommends measures to foster an improved flow of financing to SMEs and entrepreneurs.

Small business. --- Small business --- Finance --- Business & Economics --- Financial Management & Planning --- Finance. --- Businesses, Small --- Medium-sized business --- Micro-businesses --- Microbusinesses --- Microenterprises --- Small and medium-sized business --- Small and medium-sized enterprises --- Small businesses --- SMEs (Small business) --- Business --- Business enterprises --- Industries --- Size

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Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, reminded participants that it is important to remember the more than 1 billion people worldwide struggling to survive on less than USD 1 a day. Fighting the scourge of poverty is at the heart of the World Bank Group's mission. The burden of debt and the disease of corruption threaten to undermine the efforts to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Many regions of the world have made significant progress to improve living standards and reduce poverty. Sub-Saharan Africa is moving dangerously in the opposite direction. Africa's richest resource, and its best hope, is its people. But more development financing and debt relief is needed. In the long run, neither aid nor debt relief will help the poor escape poverty without a transparent and accountable government. We are seeing an informed African citizenry demanding change. The World Bank Group is committed to supporting champions of reform in both government and civil society. Partnering with parliaments from donor countries is as important as working with parliaments in recipient countries. To achieve true prosperity for our integrated planet, we must work together to help give the poorest among us the chance to find their way out of poverty.

Access to Finance --- Accountability --- Concessional Lending --- Corruption --- Debt --- Debt Markets --- Elections --- Finance --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Free Press --- Global Economy --- Good Governance --- Governance --- Leadership --- Legal Framework --- Living Standards --- Parliamentary Government --- Poverty --- Poverty Monitoring & analysis --- Poverty Reduction --- Public Sector Development --- Rule of Law --- Small Businesses --- Trade Reform --- Transparency

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Jill Bamburg presents the first book to deal with a central issue for almost all small businesses: how to preserve one's values while simultaneously maintaining growth and competitiveness in the marketplace.

Small business. --- Small business --- Entrepreneurship --- Social responsibility of business --- Success in business --- Management Styles & Communication --- Management --- Business & Economics --- Business --- Corporate accountability --- Corporate responsibility --- Corporate social responsibility --- Corporations --- CSR (Corporate social responsibility) --- Industries --- Social responsibility, Corporate --- Social responsibility of industry --- Businesses, Small --- Medium-sized business --- Micro-businesses --- Microbusinesses --- Microenterprises --- Small and medium-sized business --- Small and medium-sized enterprises --- Small businesses --- SMEs (Small business) --- Social responsibility --- Business ethics --- Issues management --- Business enterprises --- Social aspects --- Size

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In Sub-Sahara Africa, the sector of informal micro-enterprises (IMEs) is already employing a large share of the labour force in both urban and rural areas. There are even indications that in the past decade it has been a source of employment and incomes for nine out of every 10 new entrants to the labour market. This study reviews the ways in which the owners and workers of IMEs have acquired the vocational and management skills that they are using in the operation of these ventures. It reviews the contributions of all the different training providers, including public sector training institutes, private sector training providers, and training centres run by NGOs and other non-profit organizations. Its findings confirm the notion that the training efforts of these formal training providers are only to a limited extent relevant for the IME operators, and that many of the poor and other vulnerable groups do not have ready access to these programmes. The study finds that informal apprenticeship training is by far the most common source of various skills - in some countries it is likely to be responsible for 80-90% of all ongoing training efforts. Informal apprenticeship training presents a number of important advantages: it is practical, hands-on training at an appropriate level of technology, takes place in the real world of work, offers good prospects for post-training employment and is essentially self-financing. At the same time it has a number of limitations: the training quality is often modest, there is a risk of ‘incomplete’ transfer of skills and knowledge, limited infusion of technological progress, and uncertainties with regard to the duration of the apprenticeship period, the training programme and the skills acquired at the end of the training. The study concludes that there is a major challenge to improve the transfer of relevant skills to IME operators, through both pre-employment training and skills upgrading. In view of the scope of the challenge to provide hundreds of thousands IME owners and workers, as well as large numbers of out of school youths, with relevant practical and management skills, it suggests to build upon the strengths of the existing practices of informal apprenticeship training and to remedy its weaknesses by involving professional training providers in upgrading its training organization and delivery, quality and efficiency, and final training outcomes. It reviews the results of a number of innovative interventions in different African countries that are working in this direction. Finally, the study suggests that there is an interesting potential in‘business-embedded training’ provided by private companies as part of their regular business operations.

Occupational training --- Vocational education --- Businesspeople --- Small business --- Training of --- Business people --- Business persons --- Businesspersons --- Entrepreneurs --- Professional employees --- Education, Vocational --- Vocational training --- Work experience --- Education --- Technical education --- Job training --- Manpower development and training --- Manpower training programs --- Training --- Education and training services industry --- Practice firms --- Businesses, Small --- Medium-sized business --- Micro-businesses --- Microbusinesses --- Microenterprises --- Small and medium-sized business --- Small and medium-sized enterprises --- Small businesses --- SMEs (Small business) --- Business --- Business enterprises --- Industries --- Size --- Professional & Vocational Education. --- Learning & Instruction. --- Professional education. --- Vocational education. --- Learning. --- Instruction. --- Learning process --- Comprehension --- Education, Professional --- Career education --- Education, Higher

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Agricultural industries --- Rural development --- Small business --- Industries agricoles --- Développement rural --- Petites et moyennes entreprises --- Management. --- Gestion --- 911.3:63 --- EUR / Europe - Europa --- 338.723.6 --- 338.722.0 --- 338.754.4 --- Agricultural geography --- Gebruik en vruchtbaarmaking van de landbouwgrond. --- Landbouweconomie: algemeenheden. --- Levensmiddelenindustrie. --- Social Sciences and Humanities. Agricultural Economics --- Farm economics --- Farm economics. --- Développement rural --- Businesses, Small --- Medium-sized business --- Micro-businesses --- Microbusinesses --- Microenterprises --- Small and medium-sized business --- Small and medium-sized enterprises --- Small businesses --- SMEs (Small business) --- Business --- Business enterprises --- Industries --- Agribusiness --- Management --- Landbouweconomie: algemeenheden --- Gebruik en vruchtbaarmaking van de landbouwgrond --- Levensmiddelenindustrie --- Size