Grassroots services energize small businesses in Yinan township

In Mamuchi township of Yinan county, Linyi, East China's Shandong province, a business license for a small local products store now takes just a few days — with township staff handling the application — instead of a trip to the county seat.

The township, rich in red tourism resources, has scattered street shops, village stores and farm produce stalls that form the "capillaries" of rural consumption. This year, it has made individual businesses and street shops a service priority, delivering registration, policy briefings, safety inspections and assistance to their doorsteps.

The township has sorted out high-frequency items such as registration, licensing and information changes, assigning one designated aide per business to organize materials and submit applications, cutting both procedures and waiting time. For owners unfamiliar with smart devices, services extend from the counter to their homes.

Officials' visits are scheduled door by door, explaining how to benefit from relief policies, when annual reviews are due and which filing path to take. Problems found on visits — a stalled shop expansion, confusion about business types for livestreaming, missed inspection deadlines — are logged and answered promptly at the window. "Explaining policies in the store works better than posting them on the wall," one official said.

A dynamically updated ledger of small and micro businesses underpins the response mechanism: early intervention for prospective registrants, regular follow-ups for the registered, and case-based assistance for those in difficulty. A new company founder said the township aide came to the door even before the company was established, teaching everything from name verification to business scope, so "the license arrived and we started livestreaming right away".

Regular inspections by integrated law-enforcement and service teams cover food safety and fire and electric hazards, with on-the-spot reminders and follow-up lists instead of one-off penalties. "We are not nitpicking — we are helping them keep the store running steadily," an inspector said.

The township said it will expand door-to-door agency services, sharpen policy briefings and improve inspection-assistance coordination, so that better business environment at the grassroots can lift rural industries.

Editor：韩蒙蒙