Word: small
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...private businesses launched in France is soaring. June saw an all-time record, and figures in July were only slightly off that pace. French officials estimate that by the end of 2009 France will be about half a million new firms better off. In 2008 just 328,000 small companies were created, and in 2007 the figure...
...world's worst economic crisis in 50 years is as surprising as its cause. The motor driving all that bustling start-up action is an innovation known as auto-entrepreneur, a government scheme introduced in January to help would-be bosses bypass the formidable process of founding a small business. The scheme cuts through the jungle of administrative red tape usually required to launch a company, and dramatically lightens the heavy taxes and social charges companies pay. While other firms face set charges whether business is booming or bust, auto-entrepreneurs are taxed only on sales. (See pictures...
...surprisingly, the scheme has accounted for more than half of all new companies founded thus far this year. "The auto-entrepreneur plan has been an impressive success, beyond what we'd been counting on," noted Hervé Novelli, secretary of state for small- and medium-size businesses, in late July...
Still, any movement that reverses the long-held negative attitudes in France about starting a small business has got be good in the long term. "There are a lot more people out there in France who would love to try their hand at running a business and selling a service, but haven't even tried," says Aurore Longuet, a spokeswoman for the Economy Ministry's small- and medium-size business secretariat. "What we're saying to them is, 'Give it a try - it's easy now, and you have nothing to lose...
...beyond its original bases in the impoverished suburbs of the capital like Apopa and Soyapango. It has now taken root in San Miguel, the country's second-largest city, and the port of La Union, which they now utilize for trafficking drugs abroad. Nowadays, gangs threaten businesses large and small, demanding kickbacks for not shutting them down. They are even said to force the country's public transportation system to pay millions of dollars annually in protection money. (Read about U.S. programs that attempt to turn around gang members...