of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and around the world. It employs people, creates goods and services, and innovates to help us all live better lives. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of the private sector in virtually all economies in the world. In ASEAN Member States (AMSs) they account for some 96 percent of all enterprises, and between 50 and 85 percent of domestic employment outside the agricultural sector. Moreover, MSMEs are often the vehicle by which women and young people enter the money economy.
This has historically been the case in this region, but recent trends in the global economy are further expanding the role that MSMEs are playing in promoting growth and development. The rapidly expanding digital economy in some ways makes market entry easier than in the past, creating new economic spaces and more entry points for a far broader range of entrepreneurs and enterprises than ever before in history. Micro and small enterprises feature prominently among the rise and spread of the so-called micro-multinationals across the globe.
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