PURPOSE: The United Nations General Assembly declared 27 June as Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Day, to raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development and the global economy. Policymakers must move beyond recovery and consider ways in which to lower and eliminate barriers faced by MSMEs, improve the business environment and access to finance, markets and technology in these fragile times. It is critical that countries and their development partners continue to support and empower MSMEs and unlock their full potential through inspiring innovation, creativity and decent work for all.

FORUM: “Galvanizing MSMEs Worldwide by Supporting Women and Youth Entrepreneurship and Resilient Supply Chains.” Micro-, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises Day 2023. This MSMEs day will also focus on supporting resilient supply chains to ensure workers and the environment benefit. Supply chains are a critical component of global trade and commerce, and conflicts, disasters, and pandemics can quickly impact their functioning, increasing costs and making transactions more difficult. Therefore, policymakers and businesses must join forces to ensure economically viable, socially, and environmentally sustainable supply chains. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #smallbusinesses, #27June, #MSMEday, #MSMEs.

EVENTS: Join the all-day celebrations of the Micro-, Small, and Medium-sized Enterprises Day 2023 at the United Nations Headquarters on Tuesday, 27 June 2022, from 09:30-17:30 EST and 15:30-23:30 CEST.

Panel discussion 1: Galvanizing MSMEs Worldwide by Supporting Women and Youth Entrepreneurship and Resilient Supply Chains. Multiple simultaneous shocks and crises have disturbed the global working environment for entrepreneurs and micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). In addition, conflicts, commodity dependence, geopolitical tensions, and pandemics drive social and economic instability, making MSMEs extremely vulnerable to rising inflation and supply chain disruptions. Among the most vulnerable, women- and youth-owned enterprises are often at risk of external shocks. This is when the percentage and overall number of business formations by women and youth are increasing worldwide. However, facing limited access to affordable finance, capacity-building support, partnership networks, and global markets, women and young entrepreneurs need help to overcome the numerous challenges that frequently stifle the growth of their businesses, confining many of them to informality or necessity entrepreneurship. Policies that strengthen capacities and support MSMEs development and entrepreneurship for women and youth need to be at the forefront to address those challenges, lower and remove barriers, and provide an operating environment for women- and youth-owned businesses to grow, thus contributing to the full achievement of SDGs 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 and the "leave no one behind" promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals.

Panel discussions 2: Resilience and Rebuilding: MSMEs for Sustainable Development at the forefront of building back better and stronger from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Climate crisis and Conflicts. Entrepreneurs' adaptability and resilience have aided in responding to economic shocks, increasing the participation of women, youth and other disadvantaged groups part in the local, national and global economy. The event will feature micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises, including women and youth-led social start-ups, alongside global leaders to highlight progress, gaps and challenges that MSMEs and entrepreneurs continue to encounter, undermining their contributions to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. Register to participate , download the programme and watch the livestream on UN Web TV.