Place Based Economic Development with Simon White

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Simon White

Simon White

Simon White is a specialist in place-based economic development, private sector and business development and business environment reform.

Private sector

Private Sector Development

This article introduces the concept of the private sector and private sector development. It answers the questions: What is the private sector? What is private sector development? This topic is important, not only for economic development and job creation, but also because it is increasingly used to deliver social services.

Innovation Informal Economy

New insights on the informal economy

I recently co-authored a Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) research report (with Will Nielsen) entitled Dealing with Firm Informality. There is a lot of new debate on this topic. For some examples, see this recent World Bank publication on The Long Shadow of Informality: Challenges and Policies, and the

Business in fragile and conflict

Private Sector Development in Fragile and Conflict Affected Situations

Some of the most difficult countries to work in are classified as fragile and conflict-affected. In this article, I focus on some of the challenges to supporting private sector development in these countries. This is based on a recent report I wrote on Business Environment Reforms in Fragile and Conflict-Affected

SME Test

The SME Test: Assessing the impact of new laws and regulations on SMEs

New laws and regulations quickly accumulate and cause administrative overload for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because the costs of compliance are often disproportionately higher than for large enterprises. In many countries, the number of laws and regulations adopted each year to which SMEs must comply is increasing dramatically. While

Asia informal economy

Addressing informality through local business advocacy

While many business organisations represent formal businesses, it is important for local business advocacy to consider the issues faced in the informal economy. Earlier this year, I was commissioned by the International Labour Office (ILO) in the Asia Pacific Region to write a research report on the impact of government

Youth Entrepreneurship Blue Economy

Youth Entrepreneurship for the Blue and Green Economies

Simon White | This article explores the role of youth entrepreneurship in green and blue growth.

How market systems development projects connect with business environment reforms to improve the ways markets work for the po

Are market systems development projects too cool for rules?

This article looks at how market systems development projects can better connect with business environment reforms to improve the ways market work better for the poor. It has been written by Ines Bentchikou from the International Labour Organisation in Geneva and Simon White. Ines works with The Lab at the