E- Global Congress Hosted online from Dubai, U. A. E., E - Conference. Date: 30th June 2025 Website: https://eglobalcongress.com/index.php/egc ISSN (E): 2836-3612 30 | P a g e SMALL BUSINESS AND PRIVATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP – THE BASIS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Karimova Komila Daniyarovna Associate Professor Candidate of Economic Sciences, Tashkent State University of Economics Independent researcher, Tashkent, Uzbekistan It is known that small business and private entrepreneurship have taken a strong place in the experience of countries around the world with their high results and successes, and in most nations their share in the gross domestic product is 60-70 percent. The development of small business serves to create favorable conditions for the dynamism and effective competition in the economy, stimulate demand by expanding the consumer sector, fill the consumer market with goods and services, protect the environment, and increase budget revenues. Accordingly, many developed countries seek to comprehensively support the activities of small business. If we look back at the past years of Uzbekistan's independence, we see that the direction of small and medium-sized businesses in our country developed relatively slowly compared to neighboring countries, the indicators were barely noticeable, large businesses were in the hands of certain people, and the main layer of the population worked under their control. For ordinary people, entrepreneurship seemed like an insurmountable task. High customs duties, a number of obstacles in acquiring land, opening a business, work that would not be completed if you did not put money in someone's pocket, and even if you started a business, it was not easy to cope with tax collectors who knocked on the door every day. Perhaps that is why people preferred to do business on an empty stomach, but with an open year. As is known, entrepreneurship is an economic activity carried out with responsibility and accountability, taking into account various risks that may arise in the future, based on initiative and activity. It creates a huge creative force in the combination of freedom, creativity and a competitive environment. In particular, small entrepreneurship, which is relatively compact in terms of its scope of activity, is characterized by the ability to quickly adapt to changes in the economy, understand and take into account consumer tastes and interests, fully use internal opportunities, and give impetus to the economy by strengthening the competitive environment. https://eglobalcongress.com/index.php/egc E- Global Congress Hosted online from Dubai, U. A. E., E - Conference. Date: 30th June 2025 Website: https://eglobalcongress.com/index.php/egc ISSN (E): 2836-3612 31 | P a g e Another aspect is that small business is an important factor in creating a competitive environment in the economy and ensuring its flexibility. The competitive environment in the economy can be said to be an economic competition (struggle) between producers and consumers of various products and services in order to achieve favorable conditions and maximize the expected profit or economic benefit. The emergence and operation of monopolies in the economy is an objective process. Their complete elimination is considered impossible. In some cases, the state's fight against monopoly may not immediately produce sufficient results. Here, small business entities come to the rescue. The level of monopoly in the market can be reduced by creating new small production entities and creating sufficient conditions for their development. Also, this sector is one of the main aspects in restoring and ensuring the balance of supply and demand in the consumer market. Currently, there are no cases of fear of a strong shortage of any product in our country, be it food products, clothing or household goods. Because, by the nature of their activities, small entrepreneurs, who are extremely sensitive to even insignificant changes in consumption, quickly express their attitude to any shortage in the market. They try to restore the balance of supply and demand in the market by first importing the product, the price of which has increased due to the shortage, from other regions or foreign countries, and in the medium or long term by establishing its national production. As of May 12, 2025, the number of enterprises and organizations operating in the republic amounted to 446.9 thousand, of which 377.8 thousand, or 84.5 percent, were small enterprises and microfirms. Table 1 Information on the demographics of enterprises and organizations of the Republic of Uzbekistan 1 Years Enterprises and organizations From that business entities From that small businesses 2019 324 896 262930 255728 2020 395 982 334767 381097 2021 501 743 439 927 436 742 2022 548 701 484 935 481 138 2023 488 761 425 958 422 282 2024 469 261 404 755 400 491 2025 12.05.2025 to the state 446 876 381 890 377 833 1 Prepared by the author. https://eglobalcongress.com/index.php/egc E- Global Congress Hosted online from Dubai, U. A. E., E - Conference. Date: 30th June 2025 Website: https://eglobalcongress.com/index.php/egc ISSN (E): 2836-3612 32 | P a g e By region, the largest number of operating enterprises and organizations is in Tashkent city - 22.6 percent, Tashkent - 9.6 percent, Samarkand - 8.8 percent, Fergana - 8.1 percent and Kashkadarya region - 6.5 percent. The significant share of business entities in the total number of operating enterprises and organizations was in Tashkent city - 90.1 percent, Navoi - 87.6 percent, Khorezm - 86.9 percent and Bukhara regions - 86.7 percent. In order to create the most favorable investment climate for attracting direct investments in our country, a wide range of measures have been taken to liberalize the economy, limit interference in the activities of business entities, reduce and simplify licensing and permitting procedures, ensure free access to investments, as well as create the necessary infrastructure in the regions. As a result, the number of enterprises with foreign investment is increasing every year. Among the regions, the largest share of the total number of operating enterprises with foreign investment is in Tashkent - 64.4 percent, among the regions - Tashkent - 12.1 percent, Samarkand - 3.7 percent, and Surkhandarya - 3.4 percent. Table 2 Information on enterprises and organizations with foreign investment as of May 12, 20252 Regions Total From that qo‘shma korxona xorijiy korxona Republic of Uzbekistan 16 007 4 043 11 964 Republic of Karakalpagistan 160 67 93 regions: Andijan region 330 118 212 Bukhara region 335 119 216 Jizzakh region 224 97 127 Kashkadarya region 149 76 73 Navoi region 278 111 167 Namangan region 235 101 134 Samarkand region 598 254 344 Surkhandarya region 546 62 484 Syrdarya region 237 79 158 Tashkent region 1942 454 1488 Fergana region 510 208 302 Khorezm region 154 59 95 Tashkent city 10309 2238 8071 2 Prepared by the author. https://eglobalcongress.com/index.php/egc E- Global Congress Hosted online from Dubai, U. A. E., E - Conference. Date: 30th June 2025 Website: https://eglobalcongress.com/index.php/egc ISSN (E): 2836-3612 33 | P a g e Over the past five years, the total number of enterprises operating with foreign investment in Uzbekistan has increased by 1.3 times, while the share of foreign enterprises (in relation to the total) has increased from 53.2% to 74.7%. As of May 12, 2025, out of 16,007 enterprises operating with foreign investment, 4,043 were joint ventures and 11,964 were foreign enterprises. Small business and private entrepreneurship make a significant contribution to the growth and development of society. These sectors can quickly adapt to changing economic conditions, implement new technologies, and solve social problems. Through entrepreneurial activity, changes occur in society and can become an important factor in ensuring economic stability. Therefore, supporting and developing small business and private entrepreneurship is essential for the state and society. https://eglobalcongress.com/index.php/egc