Project: Entrepreneurship and Microenterprise
Purpose: Create a policy proposal that will increase youth social entrepreneurship in a developing
nation.
Questions: How can government policies support and sustain innovative, community-focused, youthrun small businesses?
Resources: Entrepreneurship Policy Framework and Implementation Guidance World Bank Website
Additional research for your selected topic
Summary: Imagine that you are an economic policymaker for a small developing nation. Use what
you have learned about public policy, entrepreneurship, and microenterprise to craft a
proposal for legislation that will support and sustain youth entrepreneurship. In particular,
consider policies and programs that will encourage young people to start small
businesses that are both economically and socially beneficial.
Developing Nations: Developing nations are nations in which most people live on significantly less money and have much more limited public services than people in industrialized nations. Incomes in developing nations are usually less than $2 a day. About five out of every six people in the world live in a developing nation. Examples of developing nations include Nicaragua, Madagascar, Albania, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Uganda, and Serbia.
Introduction: Microenterprises, or businesses with a sole proprietor and fewer than six employees, can be significant drivers of economic growth. They can also support community development in other ways, providing social and environmental benefits to a region. Young people around the world (between the ages of 15 and 24) are three times as likely as older adults to be unemployed. However, young people also have great potential to become entrepreneurs themselves. In this task, you will play the role of a policymaker in a small developing nation. Your job will be to craft policy that helps more young people to start and sustain small businesses that benefit their communities economically, socially, and environmentally.
Assignment Instructions
Step 1: Investigate policies and programs that support and sustain youth entrepreneurship and
microenterprise.
a) Review the content from this course, and draw on prior knowledge and additional research as
needed. If you have not already completed the pre-project written assignment, make sure to
do that now.
b) Consider how new entrepreneurs will gain entrepreneurial skills, access capital, pay taxes,
market their services, grow their businesses, and manage risk. Also, consider how
microenterprises can help communities achieve social and environmental goals in addition to
economic growth.
Step 2: Create a policy proposal for a small developing country.
a) Use the Entrepreneurship and Microenterprise Policy Proposal Template to guide your work.
b) In your proposal, outline the steps the nation’s government can take to help young people
start and sustain small businesses, especially the types of microenterprises that have social
and environmental benefits for the community.
c) Support each component of the proposal by citing evidence from the texts in the Resources
section of this project, or from additional research.
