International Council for Small Business (ICSB)

08/23/2026

Are we measuring what truly matters?

This week’s ICSB Sunday Times brings together three stories that challenge some of our most familiar assumptions about entrepreneurship, growth, and progress.

We explore why a tiny share of fast-growing “gazelle” firms creates a disproportionate share of new jobs—yet often struggles to access the capital needed to grow.

We revisit Mahbub ul Haq, who helped engineer extraordinary economic growth in Pakistan, only to challenge the very measures of success he had helped advance when he saw that rising GDP could coexist with deep inequality.

And we highlight new research connecting design thinking, Inner Development Goals, and sustainable entrepreneurship, reminding us that developing human capabilities may be just as important as measuring economic outcomes.

Different stories. One underlying question:

If our traditional measures fail to capture where jobs, progress, and human potential really come from, are we measuring what truly matters?

ICSB Sunday Times explores why a tiny share of fast-growing “gazelle” firms creates a disproportionate share of new jobs yet often struggles to attract capital; revisits Mahbub ul Haq’s realization that economic growth alone cannot tell us whether people are actually prospering; and highlights...

08/17/2026

In 1979, an MIT report upended economic orthodoxy by arguing that small firms, not corporate giants, created most new jobs. It made its author’s name.

Fifteen years later, he corrected himself.

The engine wasn’t small firms. It was fast-growing ones. David Birch called them gazelles — depending on the period and definition applied, somewhere around 3–4% of firms, responsible for the large majority of net job creation.

That insight is no longer a provocation. It is built into official statistics. The Eurostat-OECD Manual on Business Demography Statistics formally defines high-growth enterprises and treats gazelles as their young subset — a measured category, tracked across countries.

A small minority of firms generates most new employment. Nearly fifty years after economists first proved it, the money to grow them still isn't there. The OECD–ICSB Forum takes up the scaleup financing gap in Paris this October.

08/16/2026

What happens when ChatGPT meets ICSB?

This week’s ICSB Sunday Times looks at a question I think we will be asking much more often: How is AI changing the way knowledge is discovered?

Since June, AI assistants have generated more than 500 visits to ICSB.org, with ChatGPT accounting for 83% of identifiable AI-assistant traffic.

But this edition goes beyond AI. https://icsb.org/sunday-times/central/aug-16-for-msmes-worldwide/

We revisit Simon Kuznets and the origins of GDP — and the enduring question of whether we are measuring what truly matters.

And in our Focus on Research, we look at new evidence on how fintech platforms assess SME credit risk and the role of paid-up capital.

Three stories. One common question:

As technology changes how we understand businesses and economies, are we also changing what — and how — we choose to measure?

☕ Pour yourself a mocha frappe and enjoy this week’s Sunday Times.

Read the August 16 ICSB Sunday Times

AI is changing not only how we search for knowledge, but how knowledge finds us. New ICSB website intelligence reveals that readers are increasingly discovering ICSB through ChatGPT and other AI assistants, opening a new chapter in how research, ideas, and institutions reach global audiences.

08/09/2026

This week’s ICSB Sunday Times is out.
Two percent. Not twenty.
Women-led startups receive only about 2% of global venture capital investment. https://icsb.org/sunday-times/central/aug-9-for-msmes-worldwide/
At the same time, small firms across OECD economies more than doubled their use of AI between 2023 and 2025—from 7% to 17.5%.
Sounds like progress.
But large firms moved from 30.4% to 52.1%.
Small firms ran faster and finished further behind.
These two stories point to the same challenge: talent, ambition, and technology are moving quickly, but the systems surrounding entrepreneurs are not always keeping pace.
This week, we explore:
• The widening AI adoption gap between small and large firms
• Why women-led startups still receive only 2% of global VC
• New research introducing the idea of “fempreneurial intelligence”
• Newly released plenary talks from the 2026 ICSB World Congress
The next generation of entrepreneurs is ready.
The question is: Is the ecosystem ready for them?
☕ Read this week’s ICSB Sunday Times.

CSB Sunday Times explores a growing paradox: small firms are adopting AI faster than ever, yet falling further behind their larger counterparts, while women-led startups continue to receive only about 2% of global venture capital.

07/29/2026

Eight young women walked into the United Nations with something to say.

Some were university students. Some were still in high school. One was in middle school.

But on June 26, those distinctions mattered a little less.

At the MSME Day Youth Forum at United Nations Headquarters in New York, each of them was given the same thing: a global stage, a microphone, and the opportunity to share an idea that was entirely her own.

For a few minutes, the room belonged to them.

Alina Sharifi, University of Pittsburgh
Priya Tapia-Pereira, Bucknell University
Mireya Tapia-Pereira, Silver Spring International Middle School
Adaeze Acholonu, Phillips Exeter Academy
Anjola Agboola, Phillips Exeter Academy
Lucy Lu, Duke University
Tiffany Egwim, University of Maryland
Tessa Egwim, Springbrook High School

Look at that list again.

Two of the pairs are sisters. The Tapia-Pereiras and the Egwims.

That is not a coincidence of scheduling. An older sister does something visible and difficult, and a younger sister decides it is available to her.

Sometimes the most powerful pipeline is not institutional at all. It runs through a family.

That is why the ICSB is working to establish an ICSB MOMS Network. Behind every conversation about the next generation of women entrepreneurs is an earlier question: what conditions made it possible for those young women to imagine themselves there in the first place?

Congratulations to all eight. The measure of the day is not only what happened on the stage. It is what happens in the houses they went home to, where a younger sister watches, and quietly moves the whole thing into range.

Eight young women walked into the United Nations with something to say.Some were university students. Some were still in high school. One was in middle school.But on June 26, those distinctions mattered a little less.At the MSME Day Youth Forum at United Nations Headquarters in New York, each of the...

07/26/2026

This edition explores how entrepreneurship creates lasting institutions, shapes societies, and drives meaningful progress. We reflect on the ninth anniversary of UN MSMEs Day, examine why the future of prosperity requires looking beyond GDP, celebrate the global energy of the 2026 ICSB World Congress, and highlight new research on how family ownership influences entrepreneurial decisions in an increasingly uncertain world. Together, these stories reinforce a common theme: advancing human-centered entrepreneurship for a more resilient and inclusive future.

This edition explores how entrepreneurship creates lasting institutions, shapes societies, and drives meaningful progress. We reflect on the ninth anniversary of UN MSMEs Day, examine why the future of prosperity requires looking beyond GDP, celebrate the global energy of the 2026 ICSB World Congres...

07/11/2026

CALL FOR RESEARCH PAPERS:

Paris. October 21 to 23, 2026. The world's SME community is coming.

ICSB is proud to announce the Call for Papers for the ICSB-OECD SME World Forum, under the theme "SMEs at Frontier Speed."

https://smeworldforum.icsb.org/

Why frontier speed? Because AI, deeptech, and global markets are not waiting for small businesses to catch up. The frontier is moving. Our research, our policies, and our teaching must move with it.

This is not a typical conference. Each day has its own home and its own purpose:

Day 1, OECD Headquarters: research meets policy. Paper sessions and dialogue with the OECD community.Day 2, Station F: the world's largest startup campus. Where ideas meet practice, founders, and frontier technology.Day 3, the French Senate: where insights become policy recommendations, delivered in one of the great halls of European decision-making.

Research to practice to policy. Three days, three venues, one arc.

We invite papers across six tracks:

SME AI adoption and skills

Deeptech entrepreneurship and incubation

Scale-up finance

Women's entrepreneurship

Human-centered entrepreneurship

New and emerging topics

To researchers, policymakers, and practitioners around the world: bring us your boldest work. The frontier rewards those who show up.

Priority submission deadline: September 10, 2026

Submission details: https://smeworldforum.icsb.org/

See you in Paris.

07/09/2026

A night to remember at the ICSB World Congress 2026 in Washington, D.C. Thankful for the people, experiences, and memories that made it truly special. ⭐️

07/08/2026

Gala Night at ICSB World Congress 2026 - Washington D.C. ⭐️

07/03/2026

Wrapping up ICSB World Congress 2026 in Washington, D.C. with inspiring presentations and meaningful connections