Worldwide, around 55 percent of workersare self-employed, and about three-quarters of these arelikely to be subsistence entrepreneurs. These self-employedworkers include farmers and own-account workers, many ofwhom work in small household enterprises without pay. Alarge proportion of these workers live in poor or vulnerablehouseholds. In Sub-Saharan Africa, for instance, close to 80percent of the self-employed are poor. While numerouscountries have adopted programs that aim to promoteself-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship (SSE), thedesign of such programs seems ill suited to respond to theneeds of those who engage in entrepreneurial activities notby choice, but by necessity. This note discusses thepotential public policy role of programs aimed at improvingthe livelihoods of subsistence entrepreneurs . It begins bylooking at the characteristics of self-employed workers, thedifferent types of entrepreneurs, and the constraints theyface. It then analyzes the potential role of public policyin improving the earning opportunities of subsistenceentrepreneurs, the types of programs that could be used, andgeneral issues to be considered when designing andimplementing pilot interventions. The note has four mainmessages:identify interventions to support subsistenceentrepreneurs, the evidence of what works is limited,interventions that complement safety net programs, adopt amore systematic approach to designing, implementing, andevaluating new programs.
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