Informality affecting small enterprises, and the challenges they face to become an innovation-based engine for economies' growth, are topics to be analyzed during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) SME Summit taking place in Lima on November 17.
According to Peru's Foreign Trade Society (ComexPeru) General Manager Jessica Luna, the event will be attended by representatives of bloc's economies.
The top executive highlighted the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the generation of employment and business alternatives in APEC nations.
“Micro and small enterprises represent 94% of companies operating in Peru. They employ 7.7 million people [45% of the country's Economically Active Population] and contribute 21.6% of GDP," Luna detailed.
However, the officer warned 83.1% of these productive units operate in the informal sector. The situation affects not only the government -which does not benefit from taxes generated by their economic activity- but also small enterprises themselves.
She explained small informal enterprises cannot access the banking system for financing, nor can they be integrated into formal enterprises' production chains to access innovation and new technologies.
“Likewise, businessmen and their employees do not receive social benefits such as health insurance, retirement pension, among others,” the Manager affirmed.
ComexPeru's General Manager stressed the need to promote formalization among Peruvian SMEs. She noted said task is not only within the government's responsibility. However, it is also up to medium and large enterprises, which can foster formalization among their partner companies.
APEC SME Summit 2016 will focus on innovation, featuring presentation of some modern e-commerce tools small enterprises could implement to develop and achieve internationalization.