Missing Middle

Missing middle is Tavneet Suri’s term in Piles of cash and a town of solutions in Kenya, Nigeria (Summer School) for the shortage of firms between one-person businesses and large corporations. The episode defines the missing range roughly as businesses with five to twenty employees.

The concept matters because job creation depends on firms that can move beyond owner-operated survival. Lariat Alhassan and Larklux Paint show one micro version: a good product and active demand did not automatically become a larger employer without capital, staff, records, office credibility, and wider institutions.

Key Claims

• Many developing economies can have abundant entrepreneurship while still lacking firms that grow into steady employers.
• Small Business Financing Gap is one mechanism: banks cannot easily lend without formal records, collateral, or trusted enforcement.
• Direct Entrepreneur Grants can help some firms cross early scale thresholds, but do not replace durable financial and legal infrastructure.
• The missing middle is a jobs problem, not only a founder-growth problem.

Connections

• Nigeria, YouWin Program, and Lariat Alhassan - source case.
• Development Economics and Evidence-Based Development Policy - field and policy frame.
• Human Capital Development - complementary growth input through health and education.