To ensure a balanced economic development the number of small enterprises should be increased at least by five times. Then, small businesses in their mass could become a guarantee of irreversible economic reforms and a condition for sustainable development of the country. Small business is a traditional sphere of female labor and prospects for its development are especially important given rapidly growing female unemployment.
Women head approximately one fourth of new businesses.
Development of small businesses engenders new environmental problems. They become a source of pollution due to primitive conditions of labor and shortage of resources, lack of sanitary control and weakness of infrastructure. Under favorable conditions, these enterprises might become cells of environmental culture. In Russia, a system of support for small business is just beginning. However, it is already bureaucratized and inefficient.