Enter Growth

Enterprise for Pro-Poor Growth

Contribute to pro-poor economic growth and quality employment for women and men, through an integrated programme for development of micro and small enterprises.

Enterprise for Pro-poor Growth, or Enter-Growth for short, is a project of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), and the Ministry of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion. Its goal is to contribute to pro-poor economic growth and quality employment for women and men, through an integrated programme for development of micro and small enterprises.

Micro and small enterprises are the engine of growth in Sri Lanka, especially outside Colombo and the Western Province. They are vital to local economic development, which creates jobs and reduces poverty. From 2000 to 2005 the ILO, Sida and the Government therefore collaborated on the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) project. This built a capacity to provide SIYB training in partner organizations throughout the country. The programme is now coordinated by the SIYB Association of Sri Lanka, with limited technical support from Enter-Growth.

Business training is, however, just one element in the successful promotion of small enterprise. Since economic growth in many provinces is still lagging behind, the same three partners agreed on a project that promotes small enterprise in a more holistic manner, and targets North-West and North-Central provinces Kurunegala, Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Pollonaruwa.

The project design is based on extensive consultations with provincial and district stakeholders from the Government, the private sector (micro and small enterprises in particular), and NGOs. It seeks to address issues that relate to:


	The market access of micro and small enterprises;
	The policy and regulatory environment for micro and small enterprise growth.
	Enterprise culture - the way enterprise is perceived and valued in society.

The project's most basic assumption is that none of the constraints in these areas can be addressed without dialogue with and between the stakeholders in the districts, and that they need to take the lead in finding and implementing solutions. Enter-Growth's role is that of a facilitator in this process.

After a first project concept in 2003, and a final document in 2004, the project started in June 2005, for a period of 3 years. It has a head office in Colombo, and offices in each of the four Districts covered.