Over the past twenty years, and across the world, there has been a growing consensus that Private Sector Development is the most effective means of creating jobs and wealth in society. Amongst he first developments taken in the transformation of centrally planned economies has been the dismantling of the large and often inefficient state owned industries through restructuring and privatisation.

However a critical consequence of the demise of these industries has been large scale reduction in employment levels in what remains of those businesses. To correct this job deficit, reliance has been put on the small and medium sized business sector and a toolkit of measures has been used to encourage the growth of this sector. These include developing business support services, providing workspace, devising accessible business finance packages and encouraging individuals into entrepreneurship.

Government has had to learn to play a new kind of role – one which enables rather than directs. This has meant developing new legislation governing business, typically cutting red tape so that transactions are freer from bureacratic impediments. At the same time it has had to develop standards for protecting consumers and increasingly, recognise obligations that arise from membership – or prospective membership- of the EU and the WTO.