Encouraging new enterprises involves providing advice, technical support, information and resources to help individuals to set up their own businesses in the form of sole traders, partnerships, cooperatives, or community enterprises. Programs and projects include:

• Provision of finance for new businesses

  Micro-enterprise financial support is key to enabling small businesses. SME's often experience difficulty in accessing traditional lending and investment institutions. Micro-enterprise financing is a specialist area and is well documented. There are many examples of largely private successful micro-enterprise support institutions. Most require seed capital before becoming self sustaining, through revolving funds. Local authorities assist these schemes through meeting with micro-enterprise institutions to assess the forms of support needed and ways of collaboration. It is not usual for local authorities to act as direct providers micro-finance schemes. Local government generally do not possess the skills and resources to do this. Their role is to usually identify needs and encourage institutions and private sector players to intervene in this sector.

• Provision of micro and managed workspace

  The provision of micro and managed workspaces to support new enterprises is one of the most effective ways to assist new businesses, especially when tied to technical and administrative support and mentoring programs.

• Providing technical advice on business management

  First time business owners require a variety of information. This includes to know how to produce his or her product, finance, business planning, marketing, some aspects of the law including employment, taxation, safety at work, environmental legislation. The provision of training and support in these areas meets these basic needs best practice reveals success of  one stop shops or independent advisers. As in most areas of technical assistance, it is usually better for the local authority to enable the provision of these services rather than provide them itself, again an issue of skills and resources. Charging for these services can be difficult, and some agencies give a limited number of consultations and then make modest charges thereafter.

• Supporting the establishment and implementation of formal and informal business networks

  People learn from each other. Networks facilitate that learning. Active involvement in business networking is also important for developing a customer base, acquiring intelligence for expanding businesses and developing collaborative relationships with businesses in the same sector.

• Conducting business mentoring programs

  Good practice suggests that by linking new and small business owners with established businesses, significant benefits can result for both businesses. These need not be formal networks. In addition, informal networks of mentors and new businesses can create further benefits by developing supplier linkages, establishing critical mass for specialist training and so on.

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