Private Sector and Enterprise Development: Fostering Growth in the Middle East and North Africa

This important and well-researched book examines the challenges to private sector growth in 12 Middle East and North African countries, assessing comparative performance against a number of indicators and focusing on the special role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurial activity.

Author Lois Stevenson highlights the variation among countries in private sector dynamism and performance, the major government policy initiatives supporting private sector and SME activity in each country, and the perspectives of government officials, researchers, and other stakeholders on research, policy, and institutional capacity needs. She concludes with a framework for guiding a comprehensive set of policies and strategies to unleash the potential of entrepreneurship as a platform for future private sector growth.

Private Sector and Enterprise Development will be an invaluable resource for the policymaking, research, and donor communities, for stakeholders involved in building capacity in private sector and SME policy development, and for scholars interested in entrepreneurship and development in the Middle East and North Africa.

The author

Lois Stevenson, a leading authority on the role of entrepreneurship and SMEs in development and government policy, is a Visiting Research Fellow with IDRC. Before joining IDRC, Lois spent several years with the Government of Canada, holding directorate positions related to economic framework policies, innovation policy, small business policy, and entrepreneurship development. She has consulted for the OECD and for the International Labour Organisation, and was a Visiting Researcher with the Swedish Foundation for Small Business Research. Lois is a past President of both the International Council for Small Business and the Canadian Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and a founding member of the Middle East Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. She also spent 10 years as a university professor, teaching and researching in the areas of entrepreneurship and small business management. Lois has authored (or co-authored) 12 books on entrepreneurship-related issues and over 45 articles and papers for refereed journals and conference proceedings, including several on women entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship policy.