Just good development: why it took us so long to get there
Several years ago, Rob Hitchins, Aly Miehlbradt, and myself were running a small workshop on market development at a Swiss Development Corporation event in Nottwil, Switzerland organized by SDC’s Income and Employment division. We were in the middle of a long-winded and complicated definition of our subject which, of course, included multiple diagrams of doughnuts, scale, sustainability, and impact, when a participant at the back of the room chirped up and said ‘Isn’t what you are talking about just good development?’ And, indeed, it is! This short article is about how this kind of enterprise development, since its genesis in the late 1990s, became ‘good’. It touches on some of the early origins of enterprise support services and microfinance in the late 1980s and the recognition that the poor could pay market rates for loans or other key inputs, as long as these investments, however small, had clear impact and short-term returns.DCED (Donor Committee for Enterprise Development) (2001) Business Development Services: Guiding Principles for Donor Intervention in Business Development Services [online] <https://www.enterprise-development.org/dced-guidance/business-development-services-dced-guiding-principles> [accessed 21 January 2020].
Haldar, A. and Stiglitz, J. (2016) ‘Group lending, joint liability and social capital: insights from the Indian microfinance crisis’, Politics and Society 44(4): 459–97 <https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0032329216674001>.
Hyden, G. (1983) No Shortcuts to Progress: African Development Management in Perspective, Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Kilby, P. (1971) ‘Hunting the Heffalump’, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development 1–40.
Porter, M. (1985) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Schumacher, E. (1973) Small Is Beautiful, London: Blond and Briggs.
Staley, E. and Morse, R. (1965) Modern Small Industry for Developing Countries, New York: McGraw-Hill.
DCED (Donor Committee for Enterprise Development) (2001) Business Development Services: Guiding Principles for Donor Intervention in Business Development Services [online] <https://www.enterprise-development.org/dced-guidance/business-development-services-dced-guiding-principles> [accessed 21 January 2020].
Haldar, A. and Stiglitz, J. (2016) ‘Group lending, joint liability and social capital: insights from the Indian microfinance crisis’, Politics and Society 44(4): 459–97 <https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0032329216674001>.
Hyden, G. (1983) No Shortcuts to Progress: African Development Management in Perspective, Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Kilby, P. (1971) ‘Hunting the Heffalump’, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development 1–40.
Porter, M. (1985) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Schumacher, E. (1973) Small Is Beautiful, London: Blond and Briggs.
Staley, E. and Morse, R. (1965) Modern Small Industry for Developing Countries, New York: McGraw-Hill.
DCED (Donor Committee for Enterprise Development) (2001) Business Development Services: Guiding Principles for Donor Intervention in Business Development Services [online] <https://www.enterprise-development.org/dced-guidance/business-development-services-dced-guiding-principles> [accessed 21 January 2020].
Haldar, A. and Stiglitz, J. (2016) ‘Group lending, joint liability and social capital: insights from the Indian microfinance crisis’, Politics and Society 44(4): 459–97 <https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0032329216674001>.
Hyden, G. (1983) No Shortcuts to Progress: African Development Management in Perspective, Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Kilby, P. (1971) ‘Hunting the Heffalump’, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development 1–40.
Porter, M. (1985) Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Schumacher, E. (1973) Small Is Beautiful, London: Blond and Briggs.
Staley, E. and Morse, R. (1965) Modern Small Industry for Developing Countries, New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Value chain financing: evidence from Zambia on smallholder access to finance for mechanization
- Developing agro-pastoral entrepreneurship: bundling blended finance and technology
- Building frontline market facilitators' capacity: the case of the ‘Integrating Very Poor Producers into Value Chains Field Guide’
- Boosting financial inclusion through social assistance reform: evidence-based approach in selecting a payment system
- Impact of COVID-19 on livestock exports from Somalia and the Horn of Africa
Browse our other journals
