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Technology – the key to increasing the productivity of microenterprises
01.06.1991
It is widely accepted that microenterprises are an important source of goods and services, income, and employment in developing countries, particularly for low-income groups. This is illustrated by the growth in recent years of the numbers of programmes which target credit particularly at the enterprises of low-income people. This article discusses the importance of technologies to the survival, growth, and expansion of those all-important production and processing microenterprises, and argues that credit alone is insufficient to generate the productivity increases needed for long-term economic growth and poverty alleviation. The article analyses how external assistance can support technology innovation and dissemination, and examines the role of technological assistance in microenterprise programmes and ways in which development agencies can provide this assistance.