Lack of local commercial services

Present day communities are dependent on commercial services. They are an essential aspect of the transition from a subsistence to a market economy, and have to be increased if the local economy is to accelerate. However, access to capital, adequate lines of credit, market information and accessibility, saving methods, cash exchange means, simple management bookkeeping, secretarial services and other essential fiscal services are currently non-existent in many suburban communities in the Global South. The lack of these services is occurring at a time when a community has to develop commercially or perish. The over-abundance of small shops limits the range each can offer, so that inventories overlap and none is able to expand to a profitable size. The same is true of the numerous tiny industries and sub-divided small farming plots that are unable to produce significant income.

Many local communities seek to initiate new industrial and commercial enterprises but find it a near-impossible task. Distances to markets and suppliers are prohibitive. Limited availability of capital funding, high start-up costs, and the absence of local business facilities deter the undertaking of new ventures. Intense outside competition makes it difficult to determine which markets to target. High local prices and limited variety of goods at local shops leave the consumer inclined to look elsewhere first. Because such communities cannot find the means to start up and sustain their own consumer businesses and competitive industries, their economic resources continue to dwindle and the quality of their economic well-being is increasingly determined by outside interests.