--- title: "Why Robert Nikic Focuses on SDG 8 and SDG 9" description: "Why Robert Nikic's work focuses on decent work, growth, industry and infrastructure, and how those two goals connect to the other fifteen." canonical: "https://robertnikic.com/blog/why-sdg-8-and-9" author: "Robert Nikic" advisory_role_profile: "https://reseated.com/robert-nikic" type: "Article" published: "2026-11-01T12:00:00.000Z" updated: "2026-11-01T13:07:51.059000" --- # Why SDG 8 and 9, and Not the Other 15 Why Robert Nikic's work focuses on decent work, growth, industry and infrastructure, and how those two goals connect to the other fifteen. **In short:** Why Robert Nikic's work focuses on decent work, growth, industry and infrastructure, and how those two goals connect to the other fifteen. All 17 Sustainable Development Goals matter. So people reasonably ask why Robert's work focuses on just two of them. Here are his answers. ### Why focus on only two goals? Because you can't be useful on seventeen. Every goal is enormous. Each one has its own experts, institutions, data and decades of work behind it. Someone who claims to work on all of them is usually doing none of them seriously. I'd rather go deep on the two where I actually have something to add. ### Why these two? Because they're the ones I've lived. SDG 8 is decent work and economic growth. SDG 9 is industry, innovation and infrastructure ([UN, Goal 8](https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8); [UN, Goal 9](https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal9)). Together, they describe the world a small business operates in: whether it can get credit, reach customers, hire fairly, rely on infrastructure and adopt new technology. I came to the United States as a refugee. My family lived the jobs side of SDG 8, starting over in work well below their skills. Then I built companies, failed at some and built one that grew without outside investment. I've lived the business side of both goals. That's the experience I bring. ### Isn't that a narrow view of development? It's a focused one. And I'd argue it's central. Almost every other goal depends on people having decent work and economies that grow. Poverty falls when people earn more. Health improves when families can afford care. Education pays off when there are jobs for graduates. Equality improves when women and newcomers can start businesses and get credit. SDG 8 and 9 are a lot of the engine behind the rest. ### Which other goals do they connect to most? Several, directly: - **SDG 1, no poverty.** Jobs and small business income are the most reliable way out of poverty. - **SDG 4, quality education.** Skills only pay off when there's work that uses them. That's why the share of young people out of work, school and training matters so much. - **SDG 5, gender equality.** Young women are twice as likely as young men to be out of work, school and training ([UN, Goal 8 report](https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2026/Goal-08/)). Access to credit and markets for women-owned businesses is a gender issue and an economic one. - **SDG 10, reduced inequalities.** Who gets credit and who gets connected decides who gets ahead. - **SDG 17, partnerships.** Trade and investment between countries are how small firms reach bigger markets. ### Why not climate, which seems more urgent? Climate is urgent. It's also an area where I'm not the expert, and there are many brilliant people working on it full time. But SDG 9 isn't separate from climate. Target 9.4 is about upgrading infrastructure and industry to be cleaner and more efficient ([UN, Goal 9](https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal9)). The small businesses I care about will be a big part of that transition, as buyers and builders of cleaner technology. When they can't get credit, they can't upgrade. ### What do you think is the most neglected part of SDG 8 and 9? Small business credit. Globally, only 32.7% of small enterprises have a loan or line of credit. In least developed countries it's 18.8% ([UN, Goal 9 extended report](https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2026/extended-report/Extended-Report-2026_Goal-9.pdf)). That means most small businesses in the world are trying to grow with no access to the most basic financial tool there is. Target 9.3 is supposed to fix that. It gets far less attention than the big infrastructure projects. I think it deserves more. ### And the second most neglected? Informal work. 57.9% of the world's workers are in informal employment, a share that has barely moved since 2015 ([UN, Goal 8 report](https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2026/Goal-08/)). Informal businesses can't easily borrow, sign contracts or grow. Making it easier and cheaper to become formal would help millions of businesses at once. ### Does focusing on business mean ignoring workers? No. That's a false choice. SDG 8 is literally named decent work and economic growth. Both halves. A business that grows by treating people badly isn't the goal. A business that creates good jobs, pays fairly and gives people a chance to move up is. Small businesses employ most of the world's workers. When they do better, workers usually do better too. ### How does this connect to your business career? Directly. Every barrier SDG 8 and 9 describe, I've seen founders hit: expensive payments, credit that doesn't fit, markets that are hard to reach, infrastructure that fails. My business experience is why the council work is credible. The council work is how that experience reaches the people who write the rules. ### Do you ever work on other goals? When they intersect with these two, yes. When a conversation about youth employment turns to education, or a conversation about credit turns to gender, I follow it. But I don't claim expertise I don't have. ### How do SDG 8 and 9 relate to each other? They're two halves of the same engine. SDG 9 builds the conditions: infrastructure, industry, research, connectivity, access to credit and markets. SDG 8 is what those conditions produce: growth, productivity and decent jobs. You can't get far on SDG 8 without SDG 9. A country can't create good jobs at scale if businesses can't get power, internet, credit or access to markets. And SDG 9 investment that doesn't create decent work misses the point. That's why working on both together makes more sense than working on either alone. ### What can an ordinary founder do about any of this? More than most think. Pay people fairly and on contract. Build entry-level paths for young people. Pay your own suppliers on time, since a late payment from you is a cash crisis for a smaller firm. Accept the payment methods your customers actually use. Buy from local and small suppliers when you can. And when a rule or a cost makes it harder to grow, say so publicly. Every one of those moves an SDG 8 or 9 indicator a tiny bit. Multiply that across millions of businesses and it adds up. ### What would success look like? Small, specific changes that make it easier for a small business to grow. A lender that accepts purchase orders as evidence of income. A border process that goes online. A payment system that settles in a day. A procurement rule that lets a 10-person company bid. None of those are headlines. All of them move SDG 8 and 9, and with them, a lot of the other fifteen. ### Where can I read more? - [His role on SDG 8 & 9](/blog/un-sdg-8-and-9) - [Where the world stands on SDG 8 & 9 in 2026](/blog/sdg-8-and-9-in-2026) - [His story](/blog/from-refugee-to-inc-5000) Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and Advisory Council Chair at Reseated Councils (United Nations SDG 8 & 9). He writes about what he has seen build and break companies, and about the rules that decide whether small businesses get a fair shot. Read his writing on [Medium](https://medium.com/@robertnikic), the Open Doors newsletter on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertnikic) and daily posts on [X](https://x.com/robertnikic).