Bootstrap Capital

The microenterprise strategy — helping people start small businesses — came to the United States from less-developed countries such as Bangladesh in the late 1980s. Since then over 200 programs have opened their doors in nearly every state. This book identifies the current discourse on microenterprises, discusses how this approach represents a departure from traditional economic development and social welfare strategies, and examines the wide range of results. Servon, a professor at Rutgers University, examines the potential and limits of these programs through extensive interviews and case studies of five diverse microenterprise programs in different U.S. regions.
Read Chapter One online (in PDF format).