Business Development Services for Small Enterprises: Guiding Principles for Donor Intervention

The paper states that the guiding principles for donor intervention on the development of Small Enterprise (SE) centre on the key elements of market assessment, program design and evaluation. The paper further states that the development of Business Development Services (BDS) markets to provide greater outreach and sustainability shifts donor focus to the approach and impact, and may involve less control and predictability for the donor than an institutional development approach.

It assesses the generally unsatisfactory performance of past interventions in BDS, reviews current innovations and good practices, and develops a more effective strategy for BDS as one instrument of private sector development and looks at the implications for donors.