SME Policy Push: APEC ministers in Guangzhou urged lower barriers for small and medium firms, calling for simpler rules, better IP protection, and stronger innovation ecosystems—especially for rural, women-led and underserved businesses. Bureaucracy Crackdown for Small Producers: Romania’s PM Vasile Tofan told regulators to simplify food-safety and testing rules so artisanal entrepreneurs can sell to schools and hospitals without paperwork costs that can exceed delivery value. Startup Building in India: Kanara Entrepreneurs (KE) Bengaluru launched a six-month “Startup Builder Cohort 2026” for up to 20 first-time founders, with weekly mentoring and hands-on customer validation. AI Profitability Lesson: China’s SenseTime reported H1 profit and said it’s moving from chasing bigger models to selling enterprise AI productivity tools. Corporate Finance Stress: Vietnam’s corporate bond market is seeing rising maturity pressure as refinancing gets harder with high borrowing costs, led by real estate issuers. Foreign Traders Under Fire (Kenya): Kenya ordered shutdowns of small retail and hawking run by foreign nationals from Sept 7, while welcoming foreign investment tied to larger capital and job creation. Big Space Funding: India’s Pixxel raised $100m in a Series C led by Temasek and Seraphim to expand Earth observation sensing and software. India AI Infrastructure: TCS unit HyperVault secured land in Hyderabad for a 1GW AI data centre campus with up to Rs 70,000 crore investment.