Fighting poverty through enterprise

In the developing world, millions of people are sunk in extreme poverty without any prospect of escape.

Poverty crushes down men, women and children. It condemns them to bare survival, depriving them of essential public goods, while refusing them the right to live in dignity. Exacerbated by ongoing daily injustice, poverty often causes desperate acts: family separation, migration, revolt, violence. Poverty is the enemy of peace.

The poor are prime victims of a deteriorating environment, even if, in spite of themselves, they contribute to deregulating ecosystems.

The great challenges of our time are linked to poverty: unemployment, malnutrition, difficulty in accessing drinking water, education, training, medical care, as well as climate change and declining biodiversity. Poverty lies at the heart of the world’s problems.

A major characteristic of poverty is exclusion from economic activity. The poor do not have a regular job, they are unable to sell or produce on an ongoing and profitable basis. At best, they have occasional and fluctuating revenues that they derive from extreme hardship. Their consumption is marginal and unstable. Economic exclusion pushes them towards social exclusion.

Yet everything can change the day a woman or a man is put in a situation where she or he can produce goods or services that correspond to market demand. A poor person can become a small entrepreneur and run a very small enterprise which will generate regular income.

The small enterprise must, first and foremost, be sustainable. This implies that the entrepreneur must have learned all about the business and be equipped with tools which will allow adapting production to market demand. She or he must be backed by expertise and support. Only if all these conditions are met, will the enterprise be profitable. Regular income generation will draw the poor person out of extreme poverty and help him or her attain economic and social autonomy. The small-scale enterprise is a significant lever for human development.

However, developing countries often lack the technical means to help blossom and support such activities. Without backing and the means to organize themselves, poor and isolated people will never be able to create a robust and profitable micro-economic fabric.

Professional support can play a key role in resolving such deficiencies provided that the market is correctly analyzed, the real needs identified and the local culture and traditions respected. A truly supportive system will attract the potential beneficiaries, mobilize local expertise and obtain the backing of local authorities. It will bring together the necessary investments and put in place training programs and technical support.

Our experience shows that by applying this approach, it is possible, in a given region, to create hundreds or thousands of small-holder activities that are sustainable, rooted in the market and profitable. Small-holder farming activities are a clear demonstration of this concept: they supply local markets, help reduce food imports and represent a major source of economic activity and employment.

The market dynamics can be a valuable tool in the struggle against poverty.