Kirk Magleby, author of Microfranchises as a Solution to Global Poverty, observes that:
“In much of the world, formal jobs are so scarce that the vast majority of people are forced into self-employment in the informal sector whether they like it or not. These reluctant micro entrepreneurs operate hundreds of millions of tiny, low -productivity, copycat businesses that seldom generate profits, build little wealth, and create few jobs.”
“The developing world suffers an acute paucity of strong small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), dooming far too many countries to low economic growth rates, high unemployment, social unrest, and all the other pathologies that breed in poverty.”
In most developed countries, small- and medium-sized businesses typically employ 60% or more of the population and are the key to overall economic growth and prosperity.
The optionsforlife team objective is to help increase the number of SMEs in developing countries by making small business ownership and operation opportunities more accessible to and feasible for people with little in the way of capital, education and business development experience.
In the United States and abroad ...
Technological advances and multi-national companies serve important roles, but when they drive local small- to medium-sized businesses out of business, lower and middle income people suffer.
Many products that were once made locally, for example, are now made in a few, large manufacturing centers. This lowers the cost of products to low- to middle-income consumers, but it also reduces local job opportunities and extracts wealth from the community. Local manufacturing and distribution, on the other hand, create a community economic multiplier effect.
optionsforlife is committed to low-income community economic development. We help by creating small business ownership opportunities for low income people that are dependent upon and committed to the social and economic well-being of their respective communities.
