CONTEXT
The challenge of job creation is immense. 28 million jobs will be needed each year in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia alone to employ the growing number of young people entering the working age population. This requires a substantial increase in both wage and entrepreneur employment. And increasing productivity and business growth is essential to creating more and better jobs in the long term. The importance of a dynamic private sector in creating jobs and meeting development challenges is well recognized both within the World Bank Group and among our client countries. Our client countries, for example, spend millions of dollars on SME development programs, but there are many challenges to making these investments effective and, to this end, policy choices must be evidence-based.
What difference does business dynamism make to jobs and economic transformation in developing countries? What helps businesses and entrepreneurs innovate, adopt cutting-edge technologies and become superstars? And what is the appropriate role of public policy in driving such changes? The World Bank’s Business, Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ETIFE) Unit, a team of microeconomists and development practitioners, strives to provide evidence-based and operationally relevant solutions to these questions. The team’s expertise lies in the key areas of innovation and technology adoption, business growth and productivity, and small and micro entrepreneurs.