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Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

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Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME’s) are the driving force for the promotion of a Caribbean. Due to its significance, all of the Caribbean countries either developed or developing are concentrating on the development of SME’s. It is an important fact that encouraging entrepreneurship through (SME’s) is a key to improve competitiveness, boost trade volume, fostering economic activities and creation of job opportunities. Small enterprises are considered as main driver for innovation, poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. Due to innovation in SME sector, the production capacity may amplify which has significant impact for the promotion of economic and social development in the Caribbean.
In the Caribbean, although there has been a long history of entrepreneurship spirit, the SME development was slow and limited to the few sectors that were available. It was only in the early eighties where some diversification took place with the start of the tourism development. Since then, Tourism has become the main economic activity of many countries and destinations in the region. Two decades later, all related SME developments in the hospitality, the light manufacturing, agro-processing and the service sectors seems to be insufficient to give us a competitive edge in keeping up with the world’s economic and social developments. One thing everybody agrees on is that, regardless the size or the nature of any economy, no effective Globalization is possible without SME Development. In fact, gradually the SME Sector is becoming the major source of employment and tax generation. In the large economies, the SME development has covered almost all sectors and has shown several measured successes that has attracted the full attention and support of Governments and the Decision Makers. They became the measuring sign of economic growth and stability.

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