In this Policy Brief, Dr Luke Heslop draws on his research showing that micro-entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka rely primarily on informal networks, whilst formal advisory systems are fragmented, poorly targeted, and do not align with the realities of small-scale survivalist enterprise.
In Sri Lanka, micro-entrepreneurs form the backbone of everyday economic life, and these enterprises are often the first to experience economic shocks and the last to recover, making them central to economic resilience. Policy responses have usually focused primarily on finance, formalisation, and skills training, with little attention to business advice.
In this Policy Brief, Dr Heslop recommends to:
- Recognise informal advisory networks as core infrastructure for enterprise support.
- Reconfigure advisory delivery through trusted, locally embedded intermediaries.
- Rebalance enterprise policy towards integrated support beyond finance.
See the full policy brief here