Quotes on PSD

This page offers a  collection of 'quotable quotes' on Private Sector Development (PSD) - comments and extracts of speeches by prominent individuals, academics and development practitioners, as well as quotes from publications, that illustrate the crucial role of PSD for development and poverty reduction.

"It is the absence of broad-based business activity, not its presence, which condemns much of humanity to suffering. Indeed, what is utopian is the notion that poverty can be overcome without the active engagement of business." (Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General, Meeting on "The Business Contribution to the Millenium Development Goals", Paris, France, 14 June 2005)

“A vibrant private sector, generating jobs and incomes, building a sound tax base is what reduces poverty.” (Nemat Shafik, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, quoted at www.daedalusexperiment.com) 

"The job of aid is to kick-start business-led growth and not to replace it. [...] (I)t is wealth creation, jobs and livelihoods above all which will help poor people to lift themselves out of poverty. Aid is a means to an end, not an end in itself.” (Andrew Mitchell, UK Secretary of State for International Development, Speech on wealth creation at the London School of Econonmics, 12 October 2010)

PSD is “fundamentally about people: releasing and harnessing their productive potential and satisfying their human needs and desires; and creating pluralistic societies which provide both human freedom and human security”. (DAC Guidelines in Support of Private Sector Development 1993, quoted here)

“Business is the surest way to eradicate poverty.” (Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, quoted at www.daedalusexperiment.com)

"...the private sector is the main engine of job creation and the source of almost 9 of every 10 jobs in the world. Between 1995 and 2005, the private sector accounted for 90 percent of jobs created in Brazil, and for 95 percent in the Philippines and Turkey. The most remarkable example of the expansion of employment through private sector growth is China. In 1981, private sector employment accounted for 2.3 million workers,  while state-owned enterprises (SOEs) had 80 million workers.  Twenty years later, the private sector accounted for 74.7 million workers, surpassing, for the first time, the 74.6 million workers in SOEs." (World Bank, World Development Report 2012, p.7)

"No country has grown on a sustained basis in recent times without successfully integrating itself into global markets. For a country to grow it has to be part of the global goods and services market and it must also be able to access global capital.  And it is the private sector that holds the key to that integration. If the private sector is going to deliver its full development potential in this regard, then countries need to get the climate right for both domestic and foreign investment." (Andrew Mitchell, UK Secretary of State for International Development, Speech on wealth creation at the London School of Econonmics, 12 October 2010)

“Business is the undeniable engine for growth. It provides people with a sense of ownership over their own destiny.” (Marcela Escobari, Executive Director, Center for International Development, Harvard Kennedy School, quoted at www.daedalusexperiment.com)

“No country, anywhere on earth, has achieved long-term economic growth and meaningfully reduced poverty by relying on foreign aid the way the world’s poorest countries do today.”  (Dambisa Moyo, Oxford-trained Zambian economist and best selling author, quoted at www.daedalusexperiment.com)

Private sector development as a way to end aid dependency

Our generations, for the first time ever, have the huge opportunity to help people to move beyond mere survival. To a place where people and economies can grow. Where the private sector can unleash its immense development potential; where individuals can create their own wealth; and where countries can begin to rely on their own economies and not on the cheques or the charity of others.“ (Andrew Mitchell, UK Secretary of State for International Development, Speech on wealth creation at the London School of Econonmics, 12 October 2010) 

"The very notion that development as industrialisation has been eliminated from the discussion of foreign aid is unacceptable. If countries are unable to use the industrial policies they will need to transform their domestic industries, diversify their economies and build up their own tax bases over time, how will they ever get off the foreign aid bandwagon? " (Rick Rowden, Blog post on The Guardian, "Poverty Reduction is not development")

"The continuance of poverty on such a massive scale and its stubborn resistance to the traditional solutions - government expenditure, foreign aid, and private philanthropy — indicate need for alternative ways to move masses of people up the income scale. During the past fifteen years, interest in private sector alternatives has increased, especially in “market-based solutions” [MBS], initiatives that use the market economy to engage low-income people as customers, offering them socially beneficial products at prices they can afford, or as business associates — suppliers, agents, or distributors — providing them with improved incomes. [...] When the business model is sound, an MBS can achieve self-sufficiency, thus weaning it from dependence on investors and donors, and operate at or near scale, thereby reaching enough people to make an impact on poverty rates. (Monitor Group Report, Promise and Progress. Market-based Solutions to Poverty in Africa, p.3.)

PSD and public-private partnerships as key components of development policy

"The donor community needs to overcome its distaste for the profit motive and realise that this is what drives the innovation and dynamism of the private sector. It can present benefits as well as costs, opportunities as well as threats and advantages as well as disadvantages. In development terms, the private sector is neither a good thing nor a bad thing; it is a necessary thing." (Peter Davis, Overseas Development Institute, Blog post on The Guardian, "The private sector must assume a central role in development")

"If we want to make a real change for the people in developing countries, we must pool our resources. We need private capital and the expertise of our industry if we are to create jobs and generate income in our partner countries, introduce environmentally sound technologies that will not harm our global climate, and provide opportunities for trainees. Businesses can intervene in areas that are difficult for the state to access and make a very specific contribution to resolving global problems." (Hans-Juergen Beerfeltz, State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, on public-private partnerships, quoted here)

_{Photographs courtesy of Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi and Katalyst.}