Examining some of the growing pains of the small business sector the past decade or so has witnessed the impressive growth of the small business sector, particularly in the context of its role as a provider of both substantive employment and as an income supplement for individuals and families already formally employed but in need of alternative additional money-earning options to subsidise existing incomes.
Arguably the biggest impact that the small business sector has made locally is that of fostering the growth of an entrepreneurial spirit among small business owners, many of whom, up until just a few years ago, knew little about running a business. It was the need to raise their standard of living and better provide for their families that mostly pushed them in the direction of becoming business owners.
The risks associated with these leaps of faith were high since many of these small business startups were created out of limited savings and through borrowing from the informal lending sector; the formal one, particularly commercial banks, having struck a posture that frowned upon providing loans to mostly first-time, small entrepreneurial adventurers.
