United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
In the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development the role of entrepreneurship in improving the quality of life for ordinary people, including disadvantaged groups is recognized, as it contributes to building resilient infrastructure, promoting inclusive and sustainable industrialization, and fostering innovation.
In regard to the SDGs under review in 2019, entrepreneurship is linked to SDGs 4 and 8. SDG target 4.4 aims to substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment and decent jobs and entrepreneurship.
Concurrently, SDG target 8.3 sets out to promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), including through access to financial services.
MSMEs are a key part of the equation as agents for and beneficiaries of inclusive development. In most countries, MSMEs are the main drivers of employment and important facilitators of income generation, poverty eradication and inequality reduction for the majority of the population, including disadvantaged groups.
MSMEs are one of the best tools to address the challenge of creating 600 million new jobs by 2030, particularly for the youth as they provide sixty to seventy percent of formal employment in developing countries and eighty percent in subSaharan Africa.
Moreover, transformational entrepreneurs create new products and business models and offer dignified employment, and their success leads to broader improvements in the quality of life and even bolsters fiscal sustainability. (Read more…)
