cottage industry
noun [ C ]
ukus WORKPLACE
a small business in which people work in their own homes:
They make and market beeswax cosmetics products as a cottage industry.
Traditional cottage industries such as handicrafts continue to play a role in the economies of all Asian countries.
used to talk about a business activity in which there are many individuals or small companies working in ways that are unusual for larger companies:
Turning what was basically a cottage industry into a thriving business took energy and determination.
At first computer games were produced by a cottage industry of home programmers.