SMEs are at the heart of the global economy.
SMEs means small and medium-sized enterprises. That translates to fewer than 50 employees for small and under 250 for medium. According to Wikipedia, in the European Union, SMEs comprise approximately 99% of all firms and employ about 65 million people. In many sectors, SMEs are also responsible for driving innovation and competition. Globally, SMEs account for 99% of business head count and 40% to 50% of Gross Domestic Product.
It has been fashionable in some circles in the US to put down technology-based SMEs as "lifestyle companies." The notion is that if the company cannot be expected to grow to several hundred employees it is somehow trivial. 50% of GDP is quite obviously not trivial.
A couple of years ago I had an interesting interchange with a successful entrepreneur whose company now qualifies as medium-sized. I expressed my frustration that entrepreneurs are pointed to huge successes like Microsoft and Google as models to be emulated. I said, "A nice, little company grossing perhaps $10 million annually and returning $1 million to its owners is clearly a good thing." He smiled, with a knowing twinkle in his eye, and said, "I know."
How would you feel about an annual income of $1 million?
Comments