Competitive, safe, reliable and cost-effective goods and services are a key prerequisite for enhancing an industry’s competitiveness and export market share in tradable goods and services. Industries therefore have a continuous need for market information, know-how, restructuring and upgrading. This is usually supported by investment and technology inflows for process upgrading, as well as by productivity and quality management improvement.

SMEs make up more than 90% of all businesses worldwide and are essential to the ‘path out of poverty’ for many developing countries. The nurturing of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries is crucial to meeting the goal of improving the impact of business on society.

UNIDO strengthens the contribution of the private sector to Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development (ISID) through fostering conducive business and investment environments and through implementing SME support programmes, including those promoting SME clusters and related technology transfer and diffusion. 

UNIDO provides a host of related services to enhance the contribution of the private sector to poverty eradication, with interventions at the policy, institutional and enterprise levels. UNIDO advances policy environments that are conducive to  spurring  investment opportunities for SMEs. It also supports government policies and develops capacities that improve the competitiveness of private sector enterprises, and link-up with markets for acquisition of skills, technology, finance, and global partnerships, including through export consortia SME clusters and innovation.