Business's period of relative impoverishment (9)
I believe the answer is:
brokerage
'business's' is the definition.
(brokerage is a kind of business)
'period of relative impoverishment' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'period' could be 'rag' (rag is a kind of period) and 'rag' is found in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for brokerage that I've seen before include "Payment to agent" , "Business that acts as intermediary between buyer and seller" , "agent's commission" , "Securities firm" , "Dealer's commission" .)