86
Intellectual Output O1: Youth Beliefs and Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship 2017-2-EL02-KA205-003332
Intellectual Output O1:
Youth Beliefs and Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship
2017-2-EL02-KA205-003332
2
Table of Contents
Foreword .............................................................................................................. 4
Acknowledgments ................................................................................................ 5
Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... 6
Executive Summary............................................................................................... 7
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 8
Main strengths of youth entrepreneurship in Partners Countries .......................... 14
Greece ................................................................................................................. 14
Spain ................................................................................................................... 15
Italy ..................................................................................................................... 16
Main areas of improvements of youth entrepreneurship in Partners Countries .... 18
Greece ................................................................................................................. 18
Spain ................................................................................................................... 18
Italy ..................................................................................................................... 19
Main EU Policies on youth entrepreneurship in Partners Countries....................... 20
Greece ................................................................................................................. 20
Spain ................................................................................................................... 22
Italy ..................................................................................................................... 23
Chapter 1: Greece ................................................................................................ 25
Youth unemployment .......................................................................................... 25
Youth entrepreneurship ....................................................................................... 26
Data report and analysis from O1 Research on Youth Beliefs & Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship ................................................................................................. 33
SWOT Analysis ..................................................................................................... 44
Conclusions.......................................................................................................... 45
Chapter 2: Italy .................................................................................................... 46
Youth unemployment .......................................................................................... 46
Youth entrepreneurship ....................................................................................... 47
Data report and analysis from O1 Research on Youth Beliefs & Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship ................................................................................................. 50
SWOT Analysis ..................................................................................................... 59
Conclusions.......................................................................................................... 60
Chapter 3: Spain .................................................................................................. 62
Youth unemployment .......................................................................................... 62
Youth entrepreneurship ....................................................................................... 63
Data report and analysis from O1 Research on Youth Beliefs & Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship ................................................................................................. 65
SWOT Analysis ..................................................................................................... 74
Conclusions.......................................................................................................... 76
Entrepreneurship skills for youth ......................................................................... 77
The importance of developing an entrepreneurship culture ................................. 80
Conclusions.......................................................................................................... 82
3
References ........................................................................................................... 84
The content of this Report does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union.
Responsibility for the information and views expressed in the Report “Research on Youth
Beliefs and Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship” lies entirely with the authors.
4
Foreword
Europe 2020 focuses significantly on young people, with the main goal of reducing the risk of
poverty and increasing the proportion of young people at work. In this respect, it is
recognized that education is of the utmost importance in shaping the attitudes of young
people, their skills and it is vital that entrepreneurial education develops and becomes a
mentality among young people. It should be borne in mind that entrepreneurship is not just
about creating businesses but also about regulating the right environment for the
development of a skilled, innovative, entrepreneurial workforce, able to anticipate change
and face challenges.
Entrepreneurship development is an important requirement for achieving the goal of smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth set out in the Europe 2020 strategy. It is also a vital
element to respond to new economic challenges, to create jobs and to fight social and
financial exclusion. It is well known that the financial crisis that Europe faces calls for
smarter, innovative and inclusive actions in order to embrace entrepreneurship and shelf –
employment a stronger role in the battle against higher unemployment rates among youth
who straggle to enter the labour market to start a career.
This Research was conducted for the purposes of the project “Become Busy – B.B.” (2017-2-
EL02-KA205-003332) which is implemented in the framework of the Erasmus+ European
Programme, by the following Organisations that form its partnership:
Social Innovation and Cohesion Institute – Greece
Greek Association of IT, Telecom Applications & New
Technologies Companies - Greece
MétodoEstudiosConsultores SLU - Spain
YouNet – Italy
For further information on the “Become Busy – B.B.” project, please refer to:
www.becomebusy.eu
5
Acknowledgments
This Research has been a collaborative output between the Partners of the project “Become
Busy – B.B.” that is co – funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. It is
part of the Intellectual Outputs of this particular project and it is focused on youth beliefs
and attitudes towards entrepreneurship.
The Research was prepared by Exarchopoulou Evridikiand Elisavet Tzialla, both from the
Social Innovation and Cohesion Institute. Sections of this report about Spain were prepared
by Almudena Gonzales of Metodo Estudios Consultores SLUand all sections of this report
about Italy were prepared by Cristina di Ponzi of YouNet. Also, Ioannis Vanidis prepared the
electronic questionnaires used to collect data and all charts and figures included in this
paper, as well all valuable technical assistance.
A key source of information for this report was an electronic questionnaire that included
questions regarding entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial learning and personal beliefs which
was translated in all partner languages and distributed on line among youth. In addition, an
extended use of bibliographic research was used in order to collect data from the partners’
countries.
The report authors would also like to acknowledge the assistance received from Charilaos
Vanidis from the Greek Association of IT, Telecom Applications & New Technologies
Companies, who provided support in the planning of the Research and provided valuable
insights in the drafting of this paper.
6
Abbreviations
EU European Union
EC European Commission
NA The Greek National Agency of Erasmus+ Youth Programme
INEDIVIM Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation
SME Small and Medium Sized Enterprise
VET Vocational and Educational Training
YE Youth Entrepreneurship
GEM Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report
IOBE Foundation for Economic & Industrial Research
NSRF National Strategic Reference Framework
NEET Not in employment, education or training
SBA Small Business Act for Europe
7
Executive Summary
The economic and financial crisis that began in the second half of the previous decade has
created a particularly fragile situation for young people of Member States of the European
Union. As a result we see high unemployment rates among young people, rising levels of
poverty and social exclusion, causing many of them to be forced to leave their country, and
sometimes even Europe, and seeking better opportunities. This situation leads to a brain
drain in some Member States, which at the moment, seems difficult to reverse.
Entrepreneurship is an important factor of economic growth and job creation: it creates new
enterprises and jobs, opens up new markets, improves productivity and generates wealth.
Entrepreneurial mindset enhances young people's employability. Entrepreneurship and, in
particular, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the EU economy
and are the most important source of employment for young people. In addition, youth
entrepreneurship can be important in terms of autonomy, personal development and youth
prosperity and therefore it can be seen as one of the solutions to combating youth
unemployment.
Youth unemployment is one of the primary economic and social challenges for many
European Union Member States, including Greece, Spain and Italy, all countries of the
European South. However, youth entrepreneurship should not be perceived as a universal
remedy for solving the youth unemployment problem but it can be a part of national and
European framework of action.
This Research was conducted for the purposes of the project “Become Busy – B.B.” (2017-2-
EL02-KA205-003332) which is implemented in the framework of the Erasmus+ Youth
European Programme, by the Organisations that form its partnership:
Social Innovation and Cohesion Institute Greece
Greek Association of IT, Telecom
Applications & New Technologies Companies
Greece
MétodoEstudiosConsultores SLU Spain
YouNet Italy
8
Introduction
The “Become Busy – B.B.” projectwas submitted for funding under the Key Action 2 of
Erasmus+ Programme in the field of Youth, in the Round 3 of 2017 to the Greek NA
INEDIVIM. It was therefore awarded a grant and started implementation in January 2018.
Key Action KA2 Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good
practices
Action Strategic Partnerships
Which field is the most
impacted?
Strategic Partnerships for youth
Main objective of the
project
Development of Innovation
Project Title Become Busy – B.B.
Acronym: B.B.
Start date:08-01-2018
End date: 07-01-2020
Total duration24 months
Applicant Organisation Social Innovation and Cohesion Institute - Greece
Partner Organisation 1 Greek Association Of IT, Telecom Applications & New
Technologies Companies - Greece
Partner Organisation 2 MétodoEstudiosConsultores SLU - Spain
Partner Organisation 3 YouNet - Italy
Priorities
YOUTH: Promoting entrepreneurship education and social
entrepreneurship among young people
YOUTH: Promoting quality youth work
YOUTH: Promoting empowerment
Most relevant topics
addressed
Entrepreneurial learning - entrepreneurship education
New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of
training courses
Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth
unemployment
The aim of the project is to empower youth employability and access to work place by
introducing entrepreneurship to them. In the framework of the “Become Busy – B.B.”
Project, empowerment is based on the extensive use of ICT, wanting to combine two very
innovative fields for the benefit of young people: youth entrepreneurship and ICT.
9
The economic crisis that began in the second half of the previous decade has created a
particularly fragile situation for young people. As a result we see high unemployment rates
among young people, rising levels of poverty and social exclusion, causing many of them to
be forced to leave their country, and sometimes even Europe, and seek better opportunities.
This whole situation leads to a brain drain in some Member States, which seems difficult to
reverse.
Entrepreneurship is an important factor of economic growth and job creation: it creates new
businesses and jobs, opens up new markets, improves productivity and generates wealth.
Entrepreneurial mindset enhances young people's employability. Entrepreneurship and, in
particular, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of the EU economy
and are the most important source of employment for young people. In addition, youth
entrepreneurship can be important in terms of autonomy, personal development and youth
prosperity and therefore it can be seen as one of the solutions to combating youth
unemployment.
Europe 2020 focuses significantly on young people, with the main goal of reducing the risk of
poverty and increasing the proportion of young people at work. In this respect, it is
recognized that education is of the utmost importance in shaping the attitudes of young
people, their skills and it is vital that entrepreneurial education develops and becomes a
mentality among young people. It should be borne in mind that entrepreneurship is not just
about creating businesses but also about regulating the right environment for the
development of a skilled, innovative, entrepreneurial workforce, able to anticipate change
and face challenges.
This project responds precisely to the selected Priorities, creating an innovative interactive
tool for developing skills and encouraging young people to put their business idea into
practice (in a virtual online environment via a digital simulation platform of a business where
they will have to face problems and develop business ) and at the same time evaluate their
progress. The “Become Busy – B.B.” Digital e-platform aims to become a European tool for
business learning for young people and will therefore be available in English as the main
language and in the languages of the partners. Additionally, it will be accessible to
everyyoung person who wants to use it (open source software).
10
Project Objectives
Europe should invest in entrepreneurial education and training, create a healthy
environment where entrepreneurs can evolve and grow by approaching specific population
groups (such as the young people), and also strengthen the status of entrepreneurs as a
model for young people. Societies that appreciate and reward entrepreneurial behaviour
and business practices, such as strategic risk-taking and innovative thinking, are more likely
to promote the tendency to develop new solutions to social challenges. In this context, the
public's perception of entrepreneurs should be more acceptable, entrepreneurship
education should be increased and special attention should be paid to groups whose "voice
is not strong enough" to be heard by the general public (young people, most of the time).
Through the Europe 2020 strategy and its flagship initiatives on "New skills and jobs",
"Digital Agenda for Europe", "Innovation Union", "Youth on the move", EU promotes and
supports entrepreneurship by reinforcing Business culture and relevant knowledge, skills
and competences that can enhance competitiveness and growth that is smart, sustainable
and inclusive.
The objectives of the project are:
1. To create an attractive, innovative, interactive, business promotion tool that will benefit
many young people across Europe (E-Platform Become Busy – B.B.),
2. To cultivate among young people (through non-formal learning) the concept of
entrepreneurship, to help them become aware of and acquainted with the skills of an
entrepreneur,
3. To make participants in transnational seminars aware of their qualities and potential as
European citizens and to interact in an intercultural environment free of stereotypes and
bias,
4. To spread the E-Platform "Become Busy – B.B." to organizations active in the field of
youth and entrepreneurship so they can use it as an innovative tool (in European and
national level),
5. To strengthen the project’s Partner Organizations by expanding their network of
collaborations.
11
EXPECTED RESULTS DURING THE PROJECT AND ON ITS COMPLETION
Youth 1. They will be able to try to turn their business idea into a virtual
enterprise through the use of the simulation platform without having
to take risks at this stage and then on the basis of their results they will
be able to reshape and adapt their idea,
2. They will virtually manage a business, so they will develop their
business knowledge and learning without the negative feelings of
anxiety and stress for any mistakes, since everything will be applied in a
"virtual" protected environment, having the opportunity to discover
key growth areas and sustainability methods of a business,
3. They will develop key competencies / skills and attitudes (creativity,
initiative, persistence, teamwork, risk awareness and sense of
responsibility) that an entrepreneur should have, since they will have to
solve problems, for example: finance, staff, promotion, etc.
4. They will receive a YouthPass Certificate and Participation Certificate,
which will be an asset in their subsequent professional career.
Recognizing
and
Validating
business
learning
1. Certification of skills and competences acquired as it will have a
detailed content (according to each individual business plan and the
challenges presented and solved) and at which level they were
acquired,
2. An additional qualification for young people in the process of joining
the labor market and finding a job, since they can prove the knowledge
they have acquired,
3. Reinforcing self-confidence of young people so that in the future they
will not hesitate to become entrepreneurs themselves.
Partner
Organizations
&
Stakeholders
1. 25 organizations’ representatives (5 European participants and 20 local)
will be informed for the use of the platform and will share good
practice with each other by spreading the use of the “Become Busy –
B.B.” e-platform to young people in their country by implementing
similar actions and training courses,
2. The addition of an extra field of know-how so as to increase the
participation and encouragement of young people in entrepreneurship
by utilizing the intellectual products of the project,
3. The local, regional and national stakeholders will be informed about
the existence of the platform so it can be exploited in the future by
them.
12
Participants of the Project
The project involves the participation of 4 different categories of participants:
1. Participants in the multiplier events - Project Results Dissemination Workshops: these
events are open to the public and it is expected that local entities, NGOs, Education Centers,
Youth Organizations, local media, Stakeholders, government organizations, educational
institutions, Education Executives, etc. will be invited to join.
Since Multiplier Events are open to the public aiming to optimize the publicity of the project,
Invitation – Program will be sent to electronic and printed media, posters will be placed in
places of high interest, and there will be a request for the cooperation of local NGOs and
Youth Organizations to attract a good number of participants. The way they will be involved
in these actions is through their active participation in the Meetings, through discussions,
networking, etc.
2. Participants in the project "Become Busy – B.B." presentation Workshop: the Workshop
is planned to be implemented in order to promote the E- Business Simulation Platform
"Become Busy – B.B." to people working in the youth field (Youth Workers), NGO
representatives, representatives of youth organizations, representatives of Local and
Regional Authorities, Education Institutes representatives, Stakeholders associated with
decision-making in education and entrepreneurship (Chambers, EntrepreneurialEntities,
etc.).
Of course, it will be open to the general public and anyone interested can attend it in order
to increase the dissemination and promotion of the Project. However, for the better
targeting of the aforementioned groups of participants, electronic invitations to a Mailing
Listwill be circulated. Their way of involvement will be through their active participation in
group work activities, tangible use of the “Become Busy – B.B.”E - Platform, completing a
questionnaire, etc.
3. Participants in Learning Activities: The project foresees the implementation of a Pilot and
2 Transnational Seminars. Participants in these Activities will be young people between 18
and 28 years old and will be selected after the Partners’ Publication of an Open Call, with the
following selection criteria:
Age,
Interest in Entrepreneurship,
13
Existence of a business idea,
Development level of their business idea,
Incentives and expectations of participation,
Knowledge of the English language,
Computer skills and Internet use.
The activities will be implemented using non - formal learning methodologies with the
simultaneous use of the “Become Busy – B.B.”Ε - Platform (IT tools).
4. Participants in the Project Survey: this paper is based on the data collected by the Survey
conducted by project partners and it is the basis for the preparation of the educational
material, the content of the Learning Activities and forthe design of the E- Business
Simulation Platform "Become Busy – B.B.".
Redman and Mory (1923) defined research as a “systematized effort to gain new
knowledge”. Research methodology refers to the process of obtaining logical and systematic
information of any studies.Research methodology is the process of obtaining logical and
systematic information on any subject and there are various methods used to gather and
collect data and information needed for a study (report, paper, etc). As Kothari (2004) states
there are methods such as descriptive vs. analytical, applied vs. fundamental, qualitative
vs. quantitative, conceptual vs. empirical.
In our case the Research Methodology selected was the Qualitative method with the use of
questionnaires. According to Kothari (2004), “attitude or opinion research i.e., research
designed to find out how people feel or whatthey think about a particular subject or
institution is also qualitative research”. Therefore, we decided to use the Qualitative
Research Methodology as it can give us the opportunity to identify the variousfactors which
motivate youth people to behave in a particular manner or which make them likeor dislike a
particular thing towards entrepreneurship.
To sum up, a questionnaire was created, translated in all partners’ languages and distributed
on line to youth. Our sample was young people aged 15 to 30and it consisted of
440individuals.The sample was divided in two age subgroups because we want to research
the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of young people (15-18 years) who have not yet
finished the formal education (data on entrepreneurial learning within the education system
in partners’ countries) and young people (18-30) who have completed both basic and higher
education and their need is to find a job/profession.
14
Main strengths of youth entrepreneurship in Partners Countries
Greece
Starting to talk about Y E in Greece and ways to empower individuals towards it, it would be
useful to give some interesting facts. Greece is a bright exception in the EU, because despite
the particularly difficult economic environment that led to the disappearance of 37% of
SMEs in the last 4 years, 50% of youth say they prefer self-employment, while 31% are
already self-employed, compared to 15% in the EU.
Entrepreneurship is an outlet for young people in Greece, in particular for those who seek
economic independence and a way out from unemployment. Therefore, through
entrepreneurship, youth have the possibility to promote their innovative ideasfrom the
stage of just being a business idea to the stage of conceptualization and implementation. As
a result, we see new innovative products and services being into production with the use of
IT since young individuals have an inclination to better understanding of new technologies
anduse of them for their benefit.
On the qualitative characteristics of entrepreneurship in Greece, Greeceis at a high stage,
both in terms of aspiring and young peoplebusinessmen. It is not paradoxical that the
entrepreneurship of the originalstages is moving at high levels following the course of the
established onesentrepreneurs and therefore pushing business to businessabove. The
tertiary sector (services sector), with the manufacturing activity to follow, is the primary
sector where we find most businesses in Greece.
Furthermore, innovation plays an important role in the overall impact of entrepreneurship
on youth. Innovation refers to any change to a product or service that a
business/organization is placing on the market. Innovation in new entrepreneurship in
Greece is at quite high levels. According to IOBE (2013), Greece is in the 8th place with new
business ventures being characterized as innovative in more than 30% of the cases.
Another important variable in the development of successful youth entrepreneurship is the
technology and the use of ICT in everyday business. Namely 17.1%of new enterprises are
based on the use of entirely new technologies and in contrast with a 24.2% that use both
new and outdated technologies. Nevertheless, itcan still be argued that there is an
increasing tendency to use of ICT by young and aspiring entrepreneursas they are well aware
15
that technology contributes to the improvement of key business processes as business
performance works more effectively.
In addition, youth participation in education compares well with other OECD countries, and
completion rates for high school and tertiary education among young people are above most
other EU member states. However, there is not yet a direct link to university research and
innovation to boost entrepreneurship and therefore many graduates earn less from their
time in education than their peers elsewhere, as indicated by standardized assessment
results, or their professional skills.
Finally, young entrepreneurs in Greece are mostly aged 28 to 32 years old, an element that
shows that they have completed their studies or even have somework experience and
necessary financial capital, factors that make upan advantage over individuals aged 24 and
28 years old, who, due to their relatively younger age, do not still gather relevant knowledge
and resources and have not developedsimilar capabilities.
Spain
According to OECD reports, youth entrepreneurship rates in Spain are among the lowest in
Europe, together with Bulgaria; only a 2.6% of the total working population starts its own
business.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report for Spain for 2017-2018, shows that age is an
important factor when it comes to start a business. Given that over the years accumulate
knowledge and experiences that may be key to the identification and exploitation of
business opportunities, the average age of entrepreneurs usually increases as they progress
in the entrepreneurial process. Therefore, age is probably one of the most distinctive
features to characterize the people involved inthe different stages of the entrepreneurial
process. At least the data collected by the GEM projectin Spain during 2017, they
corroborate this,that the average age of the people who wereidentified as potential
entrepreneurs it was 38.4 years, while the age of those who qualified as entrepreneurs in
the initial phase and as consolidated entrepreneurs was on average of 40.0 and 49.7 years,
respectively. Also, among the people recently involved in business abandonment, the
average age was 46.2 years.
If, instead of an average value, the distribution of the entrepreneur population is compared
by age brackets, the potential entrepreneurs identified in 2017 were almost equally divided
16
by ages of 25 to 34 years (23.4% of all cases), from 35 to 44 years (27.7%) and from 45 to 54
years (27.5%), and to a lesser extent by ages of 24 years or less (15.3%) and 55 years or older
(6.1%). However, for entrepreneurs in the initial phase, the most characteristic age bracket
was that of 35 to 44 years old (33.3%), followed by similar weights between them for the 25
to 34 years old segment (25.3%) and 45 to 54 years old (23.5%), and the weight of the 55-64
years old segments (9.5%) and 24 years old or less (8.4%) being a minority. Also,
consistently, the age group with the highest concentration of consolidated businessmen was
45 to 54 years old (39.9%), followed by 55 to 64 years old (31.2%), 35 to 44 years old (23.5%)
and the two sections of less.
The entrepreneurship rate, as we have seen, is low, but this is one of the strengths of
entrepreneurship projects.There is fear of failure, so the projects that are launched, are
usually projects with a very solid business plan, and few of them fail; the survival rate of
entrepreneurship projects in Spain is high, and that constitutes a strength, since they
generate employment and economic growth.
Another strength that defines the Spanish entrepreneurs is that the gender gap is smaller
than the European average. Currently, 8 women start businesses for every 10 Spanish men,
a figure that exceeds the average for Europe, where only 6 women for every 10 enterprising
men count.
Although the average age of the entrepreneurs is high, the percentage of young
entrepreneurs between 24 and 35 years is similar to other age groups, so we see that young
Spaniards are prone to start their own business.
Italy
Entrepreneurship education hasbeen gradually introduced across all levels of education in
Italy, both on a national and regional level and it is starting to be recognised as a key
competence.
According to the OECD report on youth entrepreneurship in Italy, Italy greatly supports
entrepreneurship for young people thanks to a set of National Youth Plans, which generated
fundamental institutions such as the Youth Policies Fund, the Youth Department and various
inter-regional strategies in order to raise the profile of such initiatives.
17
It is important to highlight how Italy has been actively delivering non-formal educational
programmes across the country through different initiatives, such as, for example, Leader
for a Day, Innovation and Creativity Camps and Enterprise without Borders. At the regional
level there are many regional strategies and implemented activities which have been
supporting entrepreneurship education. For instance, the regional strategy in Puglia (a
South-Eastern region in Italy) includes a number of entrepreneurial educational activities,
which target different age groups, from young people to elder ones.
In spite of having one of the highest youth unemployment rate in the European Union in
2014, youth self-employment rates in Italy have been rising in these past few years, up to
the point of being substantially higher than the EU average. This is consistent with a national
economy which is based on the small business sector. In 2017, 23.2% of employed people in
Italy were self-employed. That makes Italy one of the European country with the highest
self-employed rate (after Greece with 34,1%).
The high self-employment rate for youth and the fact that the Italian economy is heavily
reliant on small businesses – nearly half of the labour force is employed in small enterprises
which haveless than 10 employees – allows these kind of results influencing the national
economy in total. In fact, despite low rates of activity in the early stages of the
entrepreneurial process, there appears to be untapped potential for entrepreneurship in
Italy. The 2012 Eurobarometer report indicates that 44% of people in Italy would prefer self-
employment to working as an employee, a preference which is higher than the EU average
(37%) (EC, 2012). The two most often cited reasons for preferring self-employment were a
preference for personal independence and self-fulfillment (62%) and freedom to choose
place and time of working (31%).
18
Main areas of improvements of youth entrepreneurship in
Partners Countries
Greece
According to most research and surveys conducted on national and European level, the main
areas of improvement on youth entrepreneurship in Greece are:
→ Low levels of participation in entrepreneurship of youth aged less than 25 years old.
Therefore actions to improve and promote participation of this age group should be
reconsidered.
→ VET, skills improvement and mentoring programmes should be encouraged and
moreover reshaped to fit the needs of young people who are eager to become
entrepreneurs.
→ Link of education to entrepreneurship from school and universities to real work
environment.
→ National programmes to support youth entrepreneurship should be re-evaluated
and include features that meet the real needs of young entrepreneurs.
→ National policies and laws need to be more supportive to youth entrepreneurship.
Procedures to start an enterprise need to be more simplified as well as tax laws
need to be providing incentives.
→ Strict conditions for accessing financial sources for new entrepreneurs.
Moreover, the notions of the younger agebusinessman and businesswomen are treated with
suspicion and as occasional by the Greek society. Therefore, it is vital to cultivate and
improve an entrepreneurship culture.
Spain
The main areas of improvement of youth entrepreneurship in Spain are the following:
→ Promotion of entrepreneurship in young people under 25 years. They are the age
group with the lowest number of entrepreneurs.
→ The second point of improvement is related to training and mentoring, these
programs should be encouraged, especially among young people without
entrepreneurship training, and mentoring programs for new entrepreneurs.
19
→ Financial sources for new entrepreneurs. One of the recurring complaints is the lack
of financial aid to start a business.
→ Simplification of the procedures to start a business.
→ Simplification of tax obligations.
Italy
According to recent European reasearches, the following actions are recommended as the
key priority actions for strengthening the youth entrepreneurship support system in Italy:
→ Development of a national strategy and action plan for youth entrepreneurship;
→ Strengthening of entrepreneurship education throughout the school system,
vocational training (VET) and higher education;
→ Promotion of role models for youth entrepreneurs;
→ Creation of a network of one-stop shops that would provide a single-entry point for
youth looking for information and support related to business creation and self-
employment.
20
Main EU Policies on youth entrepreneurship in Partners
Countries
The European Union, as a supranational entity, designs different recommendations and
strategies to tackle YE. The main recommendations on employment and youth
entrepreneurship are the following:
→ Strategy Europe 2020.
→ EU Youth Strategy 2010-2018.
→ Youth guarantee.
Greece Greece is experiencing a profound economic crisis, the social consequences of which are
obvious especially to youth. Youth unemployment, in particular, exceeds 50% and hundreds
of thousands of young scientists have left the country and emigrated to several European
countries and those who have stayed behind, struggle everyday life with the help of their
family.
Various policy tools have been designed and implemented by severalorganizations to
support youth entrepreneurship, such asdirect grants, vocational training seminars, taxation
facilitations, etc.
Greece, trying to align with the EU recommendations and policies on YE, launched several
programmes to support young entrepreneursin the framework of the NSRF 2014 – 2020
programme for development of the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism.
→ Youth Entrepreneurship Grant Scheme: this programme is designed for youth aged
20 to 40 years old who do not have any previous business activity and are interested
in setting up their own business, under the sectors of Manufacturing, E-Commerce,
Services and Tourism. Grants 50% of the approved expenditure, up to 70.000,00
EUROS.
→ ARRANGEMENT 1.2: Strengthening First Young Farmers' Establishment: this
programme is designed to provide incentives for young people to stay in rural
areasin due scope the renewal of the rural population.
→ Strengthening the self-employment of tertiary education graduates: this programme
is dedicated to unemployed graduates of tertiary education or existing
21
entrepreneurs, graduates of tertiary education, such as architects, mechanical
engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc.
Of course, there are several other co – funded programmes for unemployed who wish to
establish an SME or already existing SMEs from which youth and young entrepreneurs can
apply for a grant but this programmes are not specially designed and addressed to youth.
Therefore, anyone can apply and also the criteria for a grant do not take into account young
entrepreneurs needs.
The Special Entrepreneurship Investment Law Act 3908/2011 concerns young entrepreneurs
up to 40 years of age. It provides for the support of investment projects for the
establishment and operation of SMEs, in which young people participate with more than
50% of its capital. Expenditures supported by the Special Entrepreneurship Investment Law
concern the establishment, organization and operation of the enterprise. That is to say, the
fees for legal services and administrative support and consultancy services directly related to
the creation of the business, energy, water and heating costs, as well as administrative
charges and taxes to the State and the wider public sector, such as municipal fees, etc. In the
same context, it is also envisaged to support expenditure on payroll in case they create new
jobs.
Some tax incentives have been legislated, such as:
→ Under certain conditions over-deduction of 130% of the costs of scientific and
technological research from gross enterprise income.
→ A tax rate of 13% (instead of 26%) for self employed for the first three years of their
activity if their annual gross earnings from business activity do not exceed EUR 10
000.
→ The possibility for new businesses to postpone the tax depreciation of the
company's assets during the first 3 fiscal years.
→ Excluded from paying the Annual Business Tax (a fixed annual business tax for all self
employed or shareholders) are new entrepreneurs for the first 5 years of operation,
those who operate in villages of up to 500 inhabitants and islands under 3,100
inhabitants and entrepreneurs with 80% disabilities.
→ Law 3842/2010 foresees the exclusion of Income tax of self employed with annual
income up to EUR 30000 for 3 years, until the age of 35 years old.
22
Spain
Competition on youth and on the labor market remains being responsibility of the member
countries. Of the measures and strategies proposed by the European Union, Spain has
launched the youth guarantee system and in 2012 created a Strategic and operational
framework for employment and youth entrepreneurship. From this strategy, the
government have implemented different legislative reformations, and launched a series of
initiatives:
→ Law 6/2017, of October 24, on Urgent Reforms of Autonomous Work. Under this
law, the main items that affect youth entrepreneurs are:
o Reduced social security fees.
o Bonuses in the hiring of people: when a young person who has started an
entrepreneurship project needs to incorporate personnel to his project, if he
hires a person with age equal to or greater than 45 years, long-term
stoppage, he can benefit from a 100% bonus on employer contributions to
social security for 12 months.
o Possibility of more deductions of expenses for those self-employed who
work from home.
o Expansion of the possibilities of applying the capitalization of the subsidy for
unemployment. All unemployed can request that the unemployment
subsidy be paid in a single payment at 100% in order to reinvest it in
founding a business of their own.
o Compatibility of unemployment subsidy with the start of an
entrepreneurship project for at least 9 months.
o Improvement of the protection network for the self-employed to facilitate a
second opportunity. The self-employed that in the 5 following years to
become an entrepreneur; if they decide to close their own business, they
can recoup their unemployment subsidy, if they decided not to capitalize it.
23
Italy
In Italy there is not one specific national law strictly about youth. Over the years there have
been several bills concerning youth policies, but none of them have ever been approved.
The most important legal reference in the field is the Constitution. Article 31 (second
paragraph) states: “The Republic protects maternity, infancy, youth”.
In spite of the legal authority of the constitutional principle, Italy has always played it
backward in this field compared to other European countries. The government has
outsourced primarily to other public entities (regions, provinces, municipalities, local health
authorities, school) but also to private actors, the commitment regarding the
implementation of policies, interventions and services in the youth department.
Over the past decade, regional legislations have provided the majority of measures
concerning youth empowerment. However, since 2006, the year of the establishment of the
Ministry of Youth, many logical and innovative ways of dealing with young people have been
considered also nationally. In 2007, a National Youth Plan was approved, followed by the
consequent Guidelines in 2008. In 2009, a «National Operational Plan 2007/2013 For the
Youth" was also published.
On 1st May 2014 the program “Youth Guarantee” was launched to support the inactive
employment of people aged between 15 and 29, funded with 1.5 billion euros from the
European Union. 225,990 people found employment. The number of Neet remains well
above 2 million and in 2017 the permanent contracts decrease. In Italy still exist a
geographical gap to find the first job: much faster times in the North-West.
Exactly four years after the start of the Youth Guarantee, according to the latest data from
the Anpal report, updated to December 31, 2017, only 17.5 percent of the Neet who have
joined the project have a job. And the number of inactive people between the ages of 15
and 29 has remained almost stable, despite over € 1.5 billion of European funding to be
spent by this year to push young people into the labor market.
Over half a million under 30s who took part in one of the 624,854 active policy actions took
part in an extra-curricular internship. This type is the most widespread, representing 60% of
the interventions, an anomaly compared to other European countries.
24
Long term contracts decrease in 2017. Out of apprenticeships, collaborations, intermittent
contracts and time contracts, last December 31, the indeterminate were 68,834. The
percentage is up 0.7% in the last quarter of 2017, but down compared to March, having
decreased from 33.2 to 30.5%.
Italian national laws regarding the youth field are:
→ DecretoLegge 28 giugno 2013, n. 76: “First urgent measures to promote
employment, especially among young people, and social cohesion” (…) “. In order to
promote stable forms of employment for young people up to 29 years of age, this
law establishes incentives for employers who hire young workers with open ended
contracts;
→ Law 12 luglio 2011, n. 112: “Institution of a National Authority for the protection of
Children and Adolescents”. Fully implemented both Article 31 of the Constitution
and international provisions such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child;
→ Legge 285/97: "Provisions for the promotion of rights and opportunities for children
and adolescents". The law contains provisions for the promotion of rights and
opportunities for childhood and adolescence. It establishes the National Fund for
Children and Adolescents, whose aim is the implementation of measures at national,
regional and local level concerning the promotion of human rights, quality of life,
development, individual achievement and socialization of children and adolescents,
implementing the principles of the International Convention on the Rights of the
Child;
→ Legge 236/93: “Urgent measures concerning employment” The law is particularly
important for young people because it assists through funding youth
entrepreneurship;
→ Legge 215/1992 "Positive action for women entrepreneurs". The law provides
facilities for businesses that already exist.
25
Chapter 1: Greece
Youth unemployment Youth Unemployment Rate in Greece decreased to 42.30 percent in April from 42.80
percent in March of 2018. Youth Unemployment Rate in Greece averaged 35.42 percent
from 1998 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 60.20 percent in February of 2013 and a
record low of 20 percent in May of 2008.
The labour market situation of young people in Greece is one of the most precarious in
Europe. In 2014, only 27.1% of those aged 15–29 years were employed in Greece; 26.7%
were NEET (compared with 15.3% at EU level). The labour market activity rate (49.3%)
remains well below the EU average of 56.4%. The greatest divergence from the EU average
is in the unemployment rate, which was 45% for Greece compared with 17.5% for the EU as
a whole.
There are fewer gender imbalances in the NEET group inGreece than in other Member
States, especially compared with the EU average. In Greece, thecategories of short- and
long-term unemployed containthe highest proportions of NEETs as mentioned above (both
male and female). Some 52.9% of male NEETs and44.7% of female NEETs belong to the long-
termunemployed category. Similarly, 29.9% of male NEETsand 26.3% of female NEETs are
short-term unemployed.Statistical analysis shows that married men have alower risk of
being NEET than their non-marriedcounterparts or than married women. Becoming aparent
at a young age increases the likelihood ofbecoming NEET, as does being a foreign citizen,
living in a rural area or suffering from an illness or disability. Therisk of being NEET also
26
increases with age. Interestingly, in the case of Greece, having a tertiary level of education
does not offer protection against becoming NEET.
Earlier this year, Eurostat said Greece still had the highest unemployment in the Eurozone,
but also saw one of the largest falls in joblessness, from 23.3 percent to 20.9 percent
between November 2016 and November 2017 which is a controversial finding.
Youth entrepreneurship
With limited employment opportunities for youngpeople, their financial situation becomes
precarious.As young people cannot afford to live independently (regardless of cultural
norms), they are obliged to staywith their parents far longer than they would
haveotherwise.
The Greek growth model should be based on an economy that would become more
extrovert and productive, more attractive to investors and active in new and promising
industry sectors.A number of newcomers to Greek business, a number of Greek young
entrepreneurs and their respective start-up companies have already started making their
own point.These are young people, passionate about their ventures, creative and innovative
minds, which pursue their dream, irrespective of the obstacles. They are a new breed of
entrepreneur, who have brought a fresh change to the way of doing business in Greece.
There is an impressive increase in young Greek entrepreneurs in the 25-34 age bracket that
are deciding to start a business. Greek start-up entrepreneurs are more export-oriented, or
want to become export-oriented and Greek start-ups use new technologies/procedures in
their business. In 2013, there was a fast buildup of a start-up ecosystem in Greece, with
more than 10 start-up incubators launched in the market and over 50 award competitions
for innovative start-ups taking place in Athens and other cities. These young companies,
using different practices, with new and more relevant principles and values, could create
opportunities for the development of an innovation-based and thus more promising
economy. Moreover, young entrepreneurs do not perceive failure as failure. It is simply a
learning process for them, which shows their commitment to continuous improvement.
That, in my opinion, is a sign of hope.
27
Several programmeshave been launched to support young entrepreneurs in the framework
of the NSRF 2014 – 2020 programme for development of the Ministry of Economy,
Development and Tourism.
→ Youth Entrepreneurship Grant Scheme: this programme is designed for youth aged
20 to 40 years old who do not have any previous business activity and are interested
in setting up their own business, under the sectors of Manufacturing, E-Commerce,
Services and Tourism. Grants 50% of the approved expenditure, up to 70.000,00
EUROS.
→ ARRANGEMENT 1.2: Strengthening First Young Farmers' Establishment: this
programme is designed to provide incentives for young people to stay in rural areas
in due scope the renewal of the rural population.
→ Strengthening the self-employment of tertiary education graduates: this programme
is dedicated to unemployed graduates of tertiary education or existing
entrepreneurs, graduates of tertiary education, such as architects, mechanical
engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc.
The Special Entrepreneurship Investment Law Act 3908/2011 concerns young entrepreneurs
up to 40 years of age. It provides for the support of investment projects for the
establishment and operation of SMEs, in which young people participate with more than
50% of its capital. Expenditures supported by the Special Entrepreneurship Investment Law
concern the establishment, organization and operation of the enterprise. That is to say, the
fees for legal services and administrative support and consultancy services directly related to
the creation of the business, energy, water and heating costs, as well as administrative
charges and taxes to the State and the wider public sector, such as municipal fees, etc. In the
same context, it is also envisaged to support expenditure on payroll in case they create new
jobs.
Some tax incentives have been legislated, such as:
→ Under certain conditions over-deduction of 130% of the costs of scientific and
technological research from gross enterprise income.
→ A tax rate of 13% (instead of 26%) for self employed for the first three years of their
activity if their annual gross earnings from business activity do not exceed EUR 10
000.
28
→ The possibility for new businesses to postpone the tax depreciation of the
company's assets during the first 3 fiscal years.
→ Excluded from paying the Annual Business Tax (a fixed annual business tax for all self
employed or shareholders) are new entrepreneurs for the first 5 years of operation,
those who operate in villages of up to 500 inhabitants and islands under 3,100
inhabitants and entrepreneurs with 80% disabilities.
→ Law 3842/2010 foresees the exclusion of Income tax of self employed with annual
income up to EUR 30 000 for 3 years, until the age of 35 years old.
Regarding existing Institutions, both private and public, that support YE in Greece, the
current situation is very fragmented. This fragmentation leads, of course, to disperse
activities and most of the time into overlapping ones.
Bodies that support youth entrepreneurship in Greece are the following:
Entrepreneurship Observatory: its role is to collect, research and analyze microeconomic
and macroeconomic figures and data related to the promotion of entrepreneurship and to
provide processed and standardized information to every interested person.
Regional Development Companies: generally they aim at the economic and social
development of the region in which they are located. In particular, they create, support,
coordinate, implement and manage local development initiatives that meet the needs of
local bodies, enterprises and citizens. They implement their goals through the national
operational programmes and other national and European programmes, boosting the
human capital of each region, offering innovative solutions, creating know-how,
participating in networks aimed at transferring experiences, knowledge and contributing to
the elimination of isolation, etc.
Business and Technological Development Centers: they were created under the
Operational Program "Competitiveness" of the Ministry of Development and are financed by
the European Regional Development Fund. They aim to boost entrepreneurship by providing
information and personalized support to SMEs. Also, they intend to capitalize on all the
incentives given by the European and National programmes to strengthen the
competitiveness of SMEs.
Youth Entrepreneurship Support Structures (YESS): theyare a network of advisory and
support structures for the establishment of new businesses and they are owned and
coordinated by the General Secretariat for Youth. They are aimed at fostering
29
entrepreneurial spirit and encouraging, supporting and guiding young people who want to
become entrepreneurs. They generally provide three types of services: Information (for
subsidies, financing, legal and procedural issues, etc.), Intervention (collaboration in the
writing of BusinessPlan, Marketing Plan, etc.) and Promotion of the new entrepreneur (press
releases, etc.).
Best Practices Forum: identifying the lack of inspiration and encouragement that young
people need in order to create and innovate, as well as the need for publicity and
networking of young entrepreneurs, is organizing the Best Practices Forum. The Forum is
organized by the Institute for Youth which is a private legal entity, supervised by the
Minister of Education, Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs.
Objective of the initiative is to gather as many examples of youth entrepreneurship as
possible, and to promote them in order to inspire and encourage young people to create. In
addition, through the Best Practices Forum young entrepreneurs will have the chance to
connect with each other, interact and collaborate.
Chambers and the Union of Hellenic Chambers: the Chambers of all types (Commerce,
Industry, SMEs, etc) all around Greece provide information to youth on the necessary
procedures to open a business, etc. Some operate Business Consulting offices that provide
consulting support but not full services due to the existence of private business consulting
firms. Moreover, they organize workshops, conferences and training courses for their
members in various fields (marketing, exports, managements, etc).
NGOs and private owned VET centers: NGOs implement European Programmes to promote
and support youth entrepreneurship and they create networks to link European youth
together. Moreover, VET centers organize training courses on youth entrepreneurship,
mostly by using national funding provided by the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Social
Solidarity.
Hellenic Manpower Employment Organisation: the Organisation employs Career and Work
Advisors who provide services to unemployed. However, their role is diminished to
bureaucratic procedures and certificate issuing.
StartUp Greece: (www.startupgreece.gov.gr) is a digital information and networking space
aimed at giving way to a new generation of entrepreneurs in Greece, bringing together
people and ideas and changing the country's perception of doing business and
entrepreneurship.StartUp Greece combines an online entrepreneurship community with a
30
knowledge and information database specialized in the field of doing business. The
knowledge and information database includes:
→ Public or private funding initiatives so that all available resources can be brought
together on one website and accessed by entrepreneurs or anyone interested in
starting a business
→ Procedures, laws and regulations with a view to creating a coherent database, a
guide for entrepreneurs, existing or aspiring
→ Events on entrepreneurship, innovation, as well as mentoring events since face-to-
face contact and networking remain invaluable for inspiration and motivation
The business regulatory framework in Greece can be characterized as bureaucratic, difficult
to understand, and controlled by many different bodies, with most of the time overlapping
responsibilities. Even though there has been a significant effort to modernize and simplify
the regulatory framework of business, it still needs a lot of work to be done.
Taking into account the fairly difficult environment for entrepreneurs, it can be a challenge
for youth, especially NEETs, since they lack experience in self-employment and in the labour
market more generally. However, the greater effect is likely that a complex business
environment discourages youth – especially NEETs – from attempting business creation and
self-employment if they perceive that it is “too complicated”.
Similarly, Greece’s performance under the implementation of the Small Business Act for
Europe is largely below the EU average. State aid and public procurement is the only area
where the country performs better than the EU average; in this area, Greece has the 4th
best performance in the EU. In skills and innovation it scores close to the EU average.
However, its performance in access to finance is the lowest in the EU and the most
problematic area for SMEs in Greece, affecting other areas. The second weakest area is
SMEs' internationalisation, followed by the environment. Single market and “responsive
administration” have been progressing the most since 2008, despite still being below the EU
average. By contrast, the scores in entrepreneurship and “second chance” have been
deteriorating. During the current reference period, Greece adopted and announced a
significant number of policy measures addressing 9 out of the 10 policy areas under the
SBA.The SBA is an overarching framework for the EU policy on SMEs. It aims to improve the
approach to entrepreneurship in Europe, simplify the regulatory and policy environment for
SMEs, and remove the remaining barriers to their development.
31
Over the years, the promotion of entrepreneurship has remaineda priority for the successive
Greek governments. In fact, manymeasures have been launched under this principle since
2008.The most important reforms have focused on reducing the timeand costs to start a
new business.During the current reference period, some new significantmeasures were
adopted, such as those in the new institutionalframework for the social and solidarity
economy (Law4430/2016). The new legislative framework establishes socialcooperative
business and employee cooperatives.
Public administration beingresponsive to the needs of SMEs in Greece performs slightly
belowthe EU average, but has made good progress since 2008. Thescores for some
individual indicators are the lowest in the EU, including the burden of fast-changing
legislation and complexadministrative procedures on doing business. The competencyand
effectiveness of government staff in supporting new andgrowing firms are significantly
below the EU average. On apositive note, it now takes just over a day to start a business
andcosts just EUR 80 in Greece — which is substantially better thanthe EU average.
Furthermore, since 2014, there is no paid-inminimum capital required for business
registration.Since 2008 numerous initiatives have been introduced in theform of new
services such as the Service Centre for Enterprisesor the New Business Registry (GEMI).
However, theadministrative framework in Greece remains overly complex andburdensome
for businesses.
Also, three new significantmeasures were adopted:
→ The New legal framework on economic activity and other provisions (Law
4442/2016) eliminates the advance licensing process introduces an automated
notification/approval process for starting an economic activity and the electronic
submission of applications.
→ Simplification of companies’ establishment procedures, removal of regulatory
hurdles to competition and other provisions (Law 4441/2016) establishes a new
electronic one-stop shop service to set up a company via a fully electronic process
and without a notarial deed.
Nevertheless, it has been revealed that youth are not well informed about the major
changes in laws on creating and establishing a business, due to lack of information
circulation and also because it is well established in the Greek mentality that any transaction
32
with the State and public services has to be bureaucratic and chaotic. And here comes the
need to cultivate an entrepreneurial culture to youth and new generations.
Regarding access to finance Greece performs well below the EU average with the
percentage of rejected loanapplications and unacceptable loan offers is the highest in theEU
at 29 % (the average interest rate of 5.3 % was the highest ofall EU countries in 2016).
Access to public financial support hasdeteriorated since 2008, and after having reached its
lowestlevel in 2015, it has improved by 14 percentage points. Venturecapital is almost non-
existent in Greece, and the availability ofbusiness angels funding and equity funding is still
marginal. It takes on average 73 days to get paid. Although much improvedsince 2008, the
figure is still nearly twice the EU average, causing significant cash-flow issues for SMEs.
One very significant step forward is the institutional frameworkfor crowd funding adopted
with the law 4416/2016 which amendments to the previous laws for issuing prospectuses
andproviding investment services, creating electronic platforms andmanaging IS for
crowdfunding. In addition, four new significantmeasures were adopted:
→ The Escrow Account relieves beneficiaries from depositing an advance payment
guarantee. The Escrow Account mechanism was introduced in June 2016 so that
SMEs participating in the Operational Programme for Competitiveness,
Entrepreneurship and Innovation 2014-2020 (EPAnEK) would not have to deposit the
advance payments guarantee.
→ The EquiFund is a new fund-of-funds to boost entrepreneurship and attract
investments in businesses in strategic economic sectors.
→ The Greek Development Law aims to support the development of less favoured
areas of the country through different aid schemes.
→ The Entrepreneurship Fund II, with an initial budget of EUR 400 million and co-
financed by the Greek Government and the European Regional Development Fund,
makes it easier for companies (SMEs in particular) in the strategic sectors of the
Greek economy to access finance.
33
Data report and analysis from O1 Research on Youth Beliefs &
Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship
Demographic characterization of the participants
In Greece, 240 people participated in the research by answering a structured questionnaire.
In the first part of the Questionnaire, demographic characteristics of the participants were
collected in order to have the required research sample.
As a result, 16.7% are from the age range of 15 – 18 years old and 83.3% of participants are
between 18 – 30 years old. Regarding the distribution by sex, 64.6% of the participants are
women, 33.8% are men and 1.7% did not state sex. 97.4% of the participants have Greek
nationality, 1.9% of the participants haveAlbanian nationality, but reside in Greece and the
rest have dual nationality (Greek – Italian, Greek – French and Greek – American).
34
In terms of education level, 52.1% have a university degree, 10.4% hold a post - graduate
degree, 10% has a college degree, 26.7% are secondary education graduates and 0.4% holds
a PhD (only 1 participant).
Level of studies
Total
participants
Percentage Women Men
University degree 127 52.1% 89 38
Secondary education 87 26.7% 59 28
Post-Graduate studies 25 10.4% 11 14
Doctorate 1 0.4% 1 0
First, a series of questions were asked to know the beliefs and perceptions about
entrepreneurship in general; to obtain significant results, the questions have been grouped
into three large sub-sections, the first group questions about general beliefs about
entrepreneurship; the second on the perception of entrepreneurship opportunities and the
support of public institutions and the last block gathers the answers on bureaucracy and
applicable laws.
Man
Woman
Not stated
35
A. Attitudes and beliefs on entrepreneurship
A.1. General attitudes and beliefs on entrepreneurship
In this part the questions about general beliefs on entrepreneurship are grouped; as what
personal circumstances lead a person to become an entrepreneur. Also on those skills that
are perceived as necessary, or if the participants believe they need entrepreneurship
training.
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Participation in a family business
early in life provides a good
entrepreneurial foundation for
those who want to start a
business
22.5% 57.5% 18.3% 0% 0%
Entrepreneurship education and
training will encourage me to
start-up my business
21.7% 56.7% 18.3% 2.5% 0.8%
Entrepreneurial skills will
encourage me to involve into
setting up a business venture
24.2% 60% 11.7% 3.7% 0.4%
An entrepreneur with managerial
skills could run a business better
than those who do not have such
skills
20.4% 50.4% 21.3% 5% 2.9%
ICT facilitates entrepreneurship 5% 18.3% 69.2% 5% 2.5%
I believe I need job experience as
employed before becoming an
entrepreneur.
40.4% 44.6% 9.6% 3.3% 2.1%
A.2. Perception of market niche and opportunities for entrepreneurs
This part analyzes the beliefs about the existence of a niche market for entrepreneurs, if
participants believe that public institutions support entrepreneurship and also how many of
the participants have already received training in entrepreneurship.
36
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Obtaining funding from financial
institutions that support youth
entrepreneurship is easy
6.3% 8.3% 24.6% 45% 15.8%
There are a lot of opportunities for
entrepreneurship guidance if I
need to
2.5% 15.8% 39.6% 31.3% 10.8%
A lot of people in my age think or
already been involved in
entrepreneurship
2.1% 11.3% 27.1% 35.8% 23.8%
The number of young
entrepreneurs in my Country is
increasing the last 2-3 years
0.4% 12.9% 35% 32.9% 18.8%
Entrepreneurship is the best
option for economic participation
rather than being employed.
8.8% 30% 39.6% 15.4% 6.3%
My government supports
programs for youth
entrepreneurship development
0.4% 9.6% 34.6% 32.9% 22.5%
I have been training/studying on
entrepreneurship 12.1% 25% 27.9% 12.1% 22.9%
I believe that in my country there
is market niche for new
entrepreneurs.
5.4% 24.2% 26.3% 23.3% 20.8%
A.3. Perception of administrative procedures and applicable laws
One of the technical problems that all entrepreneurs face is to choose the type of company
to start up and all the administrative procedures linked to it. In this part we have asked the
participants about their perception of the administrative and financial procedures to start up
their company.
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
The process of registering business
in my Country is quick. 1.3% 1.7% 13.3% 34.2% 49.6%
37
The process of registration of a
business in my Country is easy to
understand
0.8% 6.7% 33.3% 36.7% 22.5%
The cost of registration of a
business in my Country is not
expensive
1.7% 7.9% 13.8% 44.2% 32.5%
The laws related to business
management in my Country are
simple to understand.
0% 2.5% 23.3% 45% 29.2%
B. Entrepreneurship perception by those who do NOT HAVE a business idea yet
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Does
not
apply
Becoming an entrepreneur
is what I want but I don’t
feel ready yet
10.4% 30.8% 18.3% 9.2% 3.3% 27.9%
Entrepreneurship seems
like a very risky and
demanding way to earn my
living
12.1% 33.3% 22.9% 15.8% 3.7% 12.1%
I need guidance and
orientation before I even
think to become an
entrepreneur
26.3% 49.6% 12.5% 5% 2.1% 4.6%
I could never become an
entrepreneur 5% 4.6% 16.7% 34.6% 20.8% 18.3%
I would try to be an
entrepreneur if the
political and economic
situation was better
32.5% 41.3% 12.5% 7.9% 1.7% 4.2%
In this section, participants were also asked to answer the following open question: Are
youth in your area being more enthusiastic and vigorous about entrepreneurship than
you?
Not all participants were eager to answer this open question. From the 240 participants,
only 95 responded. Here are some indicative answers:
1. No.
38
2. Yes.
3. No, because the country has a huge political and economic unstable environment
and also taxes are unbearable.
4. No, because the number of inhabitants is small, the youngsters of my generation are
few and have never had a vision due to reduced opportunities in the province and
interaction with innovative ideas and general outward orientation.
5. Yes, for economic crisis and low wages, youth are keener to be entrepreneurs in
order to have better living conditions.
6. The majority of young people have no idea what entrepreneurship is and if they
consider it to be extremely high-risk. This is the result of a non-existent business
culture in the age category of up to 35 years, but also of economic instability that
affects taxation and funding, the primary factors of entrepreneurship development.
7. Not because they would like a permanent job in the public sector because of the
financial crisis and the need of stability.
8. They are optimistic but there are obstacles, mainly economic and bureaucratic,
which do not contribute to their efforts.
9. No, the majority does not dare to do anything in any field. They settle with what
they have from their parents or what the minimum they can earn.
10. Neutral. If there is ready capital and proper guidance, young people may be willing.
Otherwise, however, it is difficult for young people to take the risk of seeking
funding.
11. No, because there is neither proper guidance nor education. In addition, there is no
proper education for cooperation to achieve success in their project.
12. No, the percentage that they would like to do business is very small, especially only
those who have a family business wanting to follow this area. The economic crisis
leaves no room for optimism to want to create from scratch.
13. Yes enough youth wants to get involved. There are many seminars and workshops
on youth entrepreneurship at times and it has a lot of participation! There are many
young people who are really interested and they are dreaming about the future.
14. No. Because of the financial problems that exist, nobody is thinking of setting up his
own business, because the cost of setting up is more than what a young person
could cover and because of the economic recession, even if he can set up his
business, there is a great risk of bankruptcy.
39
15. Some are because they think that with entrepreneurship is easy with the logic that
since everyone is doing it why not me too. And they think that with a programme
funding they will be praised at all levels but I think that before you do everything
you need to look for, study and gain knowledge to succeed.
16. Not at all! Nobody in my cycle thinks to establish his own business because of the
financial crisis, of the terrible risk and the overwhelming taxation. They are not even
thinking of a loan because of the risk of non-payment in the case the business fails.
17. Youth in my region is enthusiastic and open to entrepreneurship as much as I do.
More specifically, I know a lot of young people who have the necessary skills to start
their own business (innovative ideas, job willingness, willingness for continuous
learning and the evolution of existing methods, ambition and passion for what they
do). However, it is important to mention the fact that due to the economic situation
in our country, it is difficult to risk investing some capital into a stagnant and
saturated market. In conclusion, young people who want to turn to
entrepreneurship are starting their steps abroad because of smaller taxation on the
one hand and on the other hand because of higher demand on the market.
C. Entrepreneurship perception by those who do HAVE a business idea
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Does
not
apply
Demand for my products
and services in the market
will be increasing in the
days to come.
2.9% 16.3% 31.7% 3.7% 1.7% 43.8%
Getting good employees
for the business like mine is
easy in the labor market.
3.3% 13.3% 25.4% 10.8% 5.8% 41.3%
Business like mine makes
use of modern technology. 10% 20.8% 21.3% 3.3% 0.8% 43.8%
Entrepreneurs like me in
my Country are aware of
existing support structures
for youth entrepreneurs
2.1% 7.9% 30.4% 10.8% 5% 43.8%
Also, in this part there are two open questions.
40
Did you face any obstacles in the course of starting-up your business venture? If the
answer to question is yes, could you please briefly explain the main obstacles that you
encountered?
In this question, also, the responses were very low in comparison with the total number of
participants. We got only 29 answers, as following:
1. Yes, with public services and bureaucracy.
2. Issuing a license.
3. Bureaucracy, legislative framework.
4. Financing and high taxation.
5. Malicious competition, bureaucracy and lack of funding.
6. I am a nail technician and I want to open my own business but I cannot because I
need a license to practice, which, in order to get it, is required, among other things,
to be certified by a public body, which hasn’t set exams for ages and as a result I
cannot establish it.
Do you encounter any obstacles currently in the course of running your business after the
establishment? If the answer to question is yes, then again could you please briefly
describe the main obstacles that you are encountering currently?
1. Yes, economic problems and difficulties due to very high taxes and severe old-
fashioned labor measures.
2. Yes, the taxes are high; I'm working for the state.
3. Yes, bureaucracy, legislative, expenses, and there is a paradox where there is no
legitimacy, which forces even the legitimate entrepreneurs to resort to "illegalities".
4. There is no information from the authorities about laws. There is no information
system for the new laws that pass.
5. Obstacles to all new and existing businesses are high taxation, insecurity of the
market, and unskilled students who after 4 years of studying (at best), they are not
aware of market requirements, nor are they specialized in any specific sector.
As a final question, we gave all participants the opportunity to add any comment under the
question: any other suggestions/remarks? These are the responses collected:
1. I do not know what the "ICT" stand for.
2. As far as the last 2-3 years are concerned we see a "blooming" of enterprises in
catering and in the food and beverage sector.
41
3. There are a number of people owning their business but the country is at a very
early stage. To have a significant impact on society and the economy, 10,000 new
high growth businesses are needed.
4. You open a shop and you are standing all alone! There is no information about the
conditions under which you get the required license, they never inform you of any
law changes, law amendments, and they just wait for the mistake to give you a fine,
let’s not talk about the VAT level! Funding exists only if you have half the capital, you
need to have family support, otherwise in your 30 you cannot own a business.
5. To lower tax, income tax, tax pre - prepayment, insurance (for which no one is sure
will ever get a pension). Students come out of universities and see another world
than they expected and are not able to cope with business requirements. The
"internship" they do, does not give them any experience / knowledge as nobody is
interested in educating young people, as well young people do not show much
interest also.
Analysis of data collected
As stated above, we have grouped the questions in three sections: General Attitudes and
Beliefs towards Entrepreneurships, Managerial Skills and ICT qualifications and use and
Perception of Marker niche and Opportunities for new entrepreneurs.
In the first section about General Attitudes and beliefs towards entrepreneurships, all 240
participants gave an answer and the answer Strongly Agree and Agree got the highest
response rate. In particular:
→ In the question “Participation in family business early in life provides a good
entrepreneurial foundation for those who want to start a business” 80% Agreed or
Strongly Agreed.
→ In the question “Entrepreneurship education and training will encourage me to
start-up my own business” 84.2% Agreed or Strongly Agreed.
→ In the question “Entrepreneurial skills will encourage me to involve into setting up
a business venture” 78.4% Agreed or Strongly Agreed.
→ In the question “I believe I need job experience as employed before becoming an
entrepreneur” 85% Agreed or Strongly Agreed.
42
Practically, we conclude that youth in Greece lack of real work experiences, they need
information and training about entrepreneurship which can be achieved either through
work experience, family business experience or entrepreneurship education.
Managerial and entrepreneurial skills are considered an important asset for becoming an
entrepreneur. This means that youth are taking their distances from the traditional meaning
of an entrepreneur who undertakes to control, coordinate and assume the risk of a business
in a competitive marketplace without any training or qualifications. This of course does not
mean that all individuals who wish to establish a business need to go through formal
education, on the contrary, it shows that modern entrepreneurs need to train themselves
via VET, need to constantly improve their managerial skills, need to follow IT developments,
need to be leaders and not only managers.
Regarding ICT we see a controversial fact; only 23.3% Agreed that ICT facilitates
entrepreneurship and a 69.2% is neutral. This indicates that even though we live in the era
of a technological revolution, youth uses ICT technologies mostly for social networking and
leisure activities. Unfortunately, we see that there is a low percentage of youth being ICT
qualified and skilled for work use.
In the section of perception of market niche and opportunities for entrepreneurs, there is
more diversity of opinions and the results are more dispersed. There is a strong resentment
towards financial institutions and funding opportunities (60.8% Disagree) as well as
government actions towards supporting youth entrepreneurship (55.4%). 42.1% of
participants think that there are not opportunities to receive guidance if the needed and
39.6% is not sure. This means a great lack of information circulation towards youth on
entrepreneurship guidance from the bodies and institutions that provide it.
Regarding entrepreneurial training we see that only 37.1% received training and 27.9% got
some basic training. Breaking down the educational level of those who received training, we
find out that it was provided mostly to participants with a degree, meaning they were
trained in university and certainly there is lack of entrepreneurial learning in the lower
education levels (in secondary education). In the Greek secondary educational curriculum,
there is only one class taught on entrepreneurship (title Principals of Economic Theory)
which provides only surface knowledge.
43
In general, in most of the statements in this section the value that has obtained the most
answers is uncertain, so the lack of training and general knowledge about entrepreneurship
also shows that many participants have not known what to answer.
The statement with the highest percentage of uncertainty is the following:
“Entrepreneurship is the best option for economic participation rather than being
employed”. Taking into account the current economic situation in Greece and the little
training that is imparted, this statement is in line with the results of the study, and with the
results of the block related to the knowledge of administrative procedures and applicable
laws.
The section of administrative procedures and applicable laws, this is the one that has
obtained a lower rate of agreement. This finding comes in line with youth attitudes towards
the Greek public services and governmental activities in general. Bureaucracy is a strong
burden in Greek reality and unfortunately the business law system is fragmented and
discontinuous.
About the block about entrepreneurship perception by participants who do not have a
business idea yet, most of them agreed on the statements proposed, the higher rate of
which is related with the statement: “I would try to be an entrepreneur if the political and
economic situation was better” (73.8% of participants agreed on that) followed by “I need
guidance and orientation before I even think to become an entrepreneur” with 75.9%.
41.2% of participants agreed on the statement “Become an entrepreneur is what I want but
I don’t feel ready” and 45.4 agreed on “Entrepreneurship seems like a very risky and
demanding way to earn my living”.
Last block was related to the entrepreneurship perception by people who have a business
idea, their business model and how they expect their business to grow. Most of them use
modern technology but they are mostly uncertain if the demand of their products and
services will grow in the future. Also, we see an uneasiness regarding finding good
employees on the market. Again, it is obvious here the lack of connection between real
market conditions and requirements and student life. The lowest rate of this section is for
the statement: "Entrepreneurs like me in my country are aware of existing support
structures for young entrepreneurs" which again shows the lack of information towards
entrepreneurs and real market.
44
SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses
→ High interest from youth to get involved in entrepreneurship
→ High rates of youth in University and tertiary education in general
→ High preference of youth to self – employment
→ High rates of youth enterprises in comparison to EU average
→ High tendency to innovation in youth enterprises
→ Little training in entrepreneurship, especially in secondary education.
→ Ignorance of the administrative procedures to start a business.
→ Lack of financial and mentoring support.
→ Entrepreneurs who start a business because the lack of job opportunities, without being trained in management skills.
→ The rate of entrepreneurship is not the same in all age groups
→ Women participation in entrepreneurship is low
→ High concentration of youth enterprises in the third services sector
→ Unstable political environment
Opportunities Threats
→ Greek economy is making steps forward to overcome financial crisis
→ New laws and amendments to facilitate entrepreneurship
→ The European common market allows internationalization easily
→ New technologies and development of social innovation through ICT tools
→ Increased consumer confidence in online business
→ Interest of youth towards entrepreneurship
→ Social entrepreneurship is popular among youth
→ Invest in new technologies that may become obsolete
→ Changes in the European common market, such as Brexit
→ Competition of foreign entrepreneurs
→ Bureaucracy and time consuming procedures
→ Lack of trust towards the government and public services
→ Low level of participation in training and non formal education
→ Fear for the future and disparagement form family and social environment towards becoming an entrepreneur
→ Brain drain as many youth immigrate abroad
45
Conclusions Greece has been in recession for the past 10 years which unfortunately has created an
unstable economic and political environment. Moreover, there are serious social problems
that have occurred due to this situation with the greatest ones being the rise of
unemployment and consequently the rise of poverty. Many youth are living with the support
of their parents; otherwise there is a great possibility that the level of youth poverty would
have been higher.
Youth are frustrated about their professional future and they seek to find appropriate
solutions. Youth entrepreneurship is a new occurrence in Greek society as previous
generations were more oriented in employment and in becoming civil servants. The idea of
having a secure income, stability in life and live a low profile life was the ideas parents
brought their children up.
Nowadays, with the current economic situation, many youth are oriented in self
employment but both government and society were not ready for such a change in
employment preferences.
Greeks lack an entrepreneurial spirit due to little training in entrepreneurship in the
educational system, fear of failure, bureaucratic procedures, and high taxation but above all
discouragement from their environment. Even though establishing your own enterprise is
not the last job option, first choice is employment or getting a position in the public sector.
This means that desire for stability and a secure income is higher than creativity and work
independence.
Furthermore, there is no trust to fiscal institutions (such as the banks) nor towards the
government. Even though there has been a significant improvement in laws and in
incorporating European strategies and policies, youth still feel reluctant. This is due to a high
rate because of the lack of information that it does not distributed to interested people.
Finally, we observe a caution from youth towards establishing their own business since they
see businesses closing down almost every day and people becoming unemployed.
Unemployment means decrease of income and as a result of purchasing levels. Youth see
already existing businesses not being supported from government and national policies and
they wonder how the same government will support and help them to succeed.
46
Chapter 2: Italy
Youth unemployment
Youth unemployment is one of the greatest social and economic challenges faced in the last
decade by EU governments. The youth unemployment rate in Italy (15-24 years old) in June
2018 reached 32, 6% (Figure 1). In 2014, unemployment of young people experienced a peak
and it reached the rate of 43, 5 %. Since then, though, there has been a decrease,
eventhough Italian rate is still higher than average Euro area rate of youth unemployment -
16.8%. Overall in 2018, the youth unemployment rate in the EU is approximately double the
adult rate.
Figure 1
Source: tradingeconomics.com
Italy and the Republic of Macedonia face the highest percentage of 15-24-year-olds
classified as 'Neet' (Not engaged in education, employment or training) amongst the
European countries with levels above 20%.
Figure 2 shows youth unemployment in Italy differentiated by sex. The difference between
male and female unemployment increased in 2017 in comparison with 2016.
Youth employment continued its recovery over the years. In combination with a decrease of
the unemployment rate, this indicates recent positive development in the labour market for
young people. Nevertheless, the effects of the crisis can still be observed in the employment
situation of young workers, who suffered the biggest relative loss of jobs compared with
47
that of other age groups. Despite recent progress, youth employment has not yet fully
recovered from the crisis and is still registering rates below those of 2008.
Source: Eurostat.
Youth entrepreneurship
The new cycle of the European Funding 2014-2020, brought profound changes to the
institutional and political framework which leads to territorial development in Italy. The
cultural and creative sector is now considered as a key driver within the implementation of
national and regional strategies funded by the EU Structural Funds. Moreover, public policies
are aimed at creating a very positive and stimulating environment for youth
entrepreneurship. Informal education and on-the-job training, for instance, can represent
key factors to reaching the youngsters as a target of those policies, which should allow
young people to take on a much more impactingleading role. At current state of the Italian
youth policy framework, the principal tool Fondo Nazionale Politiche Giovanili (National
Fund for Youth Policy) has been reduced in the last years of the 96% of its original amount,
due to a strict judgement of the Corte dei Conti (Court of Judges) on how to use the huge
resources which had been put on budget. As far as entrepreneurship in the cultural and
creative field is concerned, it is perceived to be the result of a process that is difficult to
launch, even with public funding and support to start-ups. That’s why in Italy, the
remarkable public investment in business incubators produced minimal income.
48
National Policy Programmes on youth
The National Youth Policy aims, in a particular manner, at reaffirming the central position of
young people in Italian national growth policies. The achievement of these objectives is very
closely linked to the specific local situations of the areas concerned in terms of social
services, infrastructures, economic and occupational development. To guarantee the same
opportunities to young people in the whole country, it is necessary to exploit the value of
the youth resources present in the less developed areas in the country. Here, in fact, there is
a more serious gap on employment opportunities for young people, so much so that public
intervention must narrow it down, improving both the services for young people and the
systems for the labour demand/supply match. “Diritto al futuro” (Right to a future) is a
package of measures, adopted in 2010 by the Italian government to tackle the precarious
condition which young people are facing in their daily lives, being implemented by the
Department of Youth and National Civic Service together with the other ministries and
public authorities. Many actions, still in the process of being carried out, have been
implemented to support youth employment, via the implementation of instruments for
information and youth guidance and the optimization of services for local enterprises so as
to stimulate job applications; through the stimulation of housing autonom and the
enhancement and development of youth mobility, through the implementation of
international exchanges, the optimization of receptive structures, information on
international opportunities for young people and the creation of a employers’ network, even
on an international scale.
The business regulatory framework
Italy is a mature and sophisticated market. Italy’s regulatory environment is complex and at
times lacks the transparency, clarity, efficiency and certainty found in other developed
economies. Products that involve health, safety, or environmental concerns are likely to be
highly regulated. While EU-wide regulations often apply, Italian laws may go beyond the
basic EU requirements. Small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) dominate Italy’s economy,
many of which are family-owned, comprising 99% of Italian businesses and producing 68% of
Italy’s GDP. Italy’s SME sector has a higher proportion of firms employing fewer than ten
people than the EU average. These companies contribute nearly half of total employment
and one-third of value to the economy.
49
Financing lines:
For specific investments in Italy there are various types of subsidies and tax relief aimed at
supporting companies in need of financial support. These can be granted by:
the state
the regions
the provinces
The incentive programmes run by the Italian government help sustain regional
development and enhance local competitiveness by supporting business and
promotingand sustaining research, innovation and training.
National investment incentives include:
the creation of new production plants and the expansion of existing ones
(e.g. Development Contracts)
investments to revive industrial areas (e.g. Law 181/89)
technology research and innovation (e.g. Industria 2015, the Technology
Innovation Fund FIT and the Research Incentive Fund FAR)
new investments and jobs creation (e.g. tax credits).
Another source of funding can be the European Union (supporting competitiveness in
specific territorial areas and research and development sectors). Moreover, the Italian
Government created Zone Franche Urbane (ZFU), which is a recent initiative of the Italian
Government that followed the successful French experience of the Zones Franches
Urbaines. In the specific, they are small local areas where it is possible to be starting up
small business with a tax-free convenience. There is an exemptionto the income tax, IRAP
and ICI up to 5 years. The funding of the Government amounts to €50 million and the
incentives are available in 22 towns, mainly in Central and Southern Italy, where youth
entrepreneurship is usually less present on the territory due to a very restricted spread of
information about opportunities in this field.
50
Data report and analysis from O1 Research on Youth Beliefs &
Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship
Demographic characterization of the participants
In Italy, 195 people participated in the research by answering to a structured questionnaire.
In the first part of the questionnaire, demographic characteristics of the participants were
collected in order to have the required research sample.
As a result, 89.7% are from the age range of 15 – 18 years old and 10.3% of participants are
between 18 – 30 years old. The survey was spread mainly in high schools. Regarding the
distribution by sex, 60.5% (118) of the participants are women, 39.5% (77) are men.
Moreover, 71.3% of the participants are of Italian nationality, while 0.51% of the participants
are of Romanian nationality and 0.51% have Latvian nationality but reside permanently in
Italy.
51
A. Attitudes and beliefs on entrepreneurship
A.1. General attitudes and beliefs on entrepreneurship
In this part of the questionnaire, questions concerning general beliefs about
entrepreneurship have been grouped together, same as for the question regardingthose
personal circumstances which lead a person to become an entrepreneur. Furthermore,
questions concern those skills which are perceived as necessary for an entrepreneur, or if
the participants believe that they need „entrepreneurship training”. The results of the
survey show that the majority of the participants (67, 7%) have a business idea or have
already become an entrepreneur, more specifically a youth entrepreneur.
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Participation in a family business
early in life provides a good
entrepreneurial foundation for
those who want to start a
business
19.5% 39% 21.5% 16.4% 3.6%
Entrepreneurship education and
training will encourage me to
start-up my own business
33.85% 35.90% 20% 9.74% 0.51%
A.2. Perception of market niche and opportunities for entrepreneurs
This block of questions analyzes the personal beliefs of the participants about the existence
of a niche market for entrepreneurs; if participants believe that public institutions do
support (youth) entrepreneurship and also how many of the participants have already
received training in entrepreneurship:
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Obtaining funding from financial
institutions that support youth
entrepreneurship is easy
18.5% 23.6% 29.2% 21.5% 7.2%
There are a lot of opportunities 23.08% 38.46% 20% 14.36% 4.10%
52
for entrepreneurship guidance if
I need to
I believe that in my country there
is a market niche for new
entrepreneurs
13.8% 31.8% 30.8% 15.4% 8.2%
The number of young
entrepreneurs in my country has
been increasing over the past 2-3
years
16.9% 40% 26.2% 11.8% 5.1%
Entrepreneurship is the best
option for economic
participation rather than being
employed
15.4% 35.4% 16.4% 17.9% 14.9%
My government supports
programs for the development of
youth entrepreneurship
14.4% 37.9% 28.2% 12.8% 6.7%
Many people of my age think of
or have already been involved in
entrepreneurship
17.4% 25.6% 21% 23.6% 12.3%
An entrepreneur with managerial
skills could manage a company
better than those without this
capacity
32.8% 35.9% 17.4% 9.2% 4.6%
I trained / studying on
entrepreneurship
12.8% 27.7% 25.1% 29.2% 5.1%
Information and communication
technologies facilitate
entrepreneurship
31.3% 38.5% 13.8% 12.3% 4.1%
53
A.3. Perception of administrative procedures and applicable laws
One of the technical problems that all entrepreneurs face is to choose the type of company
they want to start up and all the administrative procedures linked to it. In this part of the
questionnaire we asked the participants what was their perception of the administrative and
the financial procedures which are needed to start up their company.
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
The process of registering a
company in my country is fast 11.80% 21% 31.3% 24.6% 11.3%
The process of registering a
company in my country is easy to
understand
15.4% 23.6% 22.6% 29.2% 9.2%
The cost of registering a
company in my country is not
expensive
11.3% 25.6% 25.1% 27.7% 10.3%
The laws related to business
management in my Country are
simple to understand.
8.2% 26.7% 26.7% 25.6% 12.8%
B. Entrepreneurship perception by those people who do NOT HAVE a business idea yet:
Statements Strongly
Agree
Agree Uncertain Disagree Strongly
Disagree
Does
not
apply
Becoming an
entrepreneur is what I
want but I don’t feel
ready yet
17.95% 21.54% 12.82% 11.28% 6.67% 29.74%
Entrepreneurship seems
like a very risky and
demanding way to earn
my living
24.10% 23.08% 13.85% 6.15% 3.08% 29.74%
54
I need guidance and
orientation before I even
think to become an
entrepreneur
24.62% 26.15% 6.67% 9.23% 3.59% 29.74%
I could never become an
entrepreneur
12.31% 16.92% 12.31% 22.05% 6.67% 29.74%
I would try to be an
entrepreneur if the
political and economic
situation was better
14.36% 28.21% 13.85% 8.21% 5.13% 30.26%
In this section, participants were also asked to answer the following question: Are youth in
your area being more enthusiastic and vigorous about entrepreneurship than you?
Not all participants were willing to give their opinion on this question, since only 7.18% of
participants provided information about it; you can find it below, where there is the
translation of some of the most voted answers:
1. I do not know.
2. Yes, because I do not care about this area of work.
3. I am not aware of their interests in this field, as far as I am concerned, it is not an
area that particularly fascinates me.
4. I have not yet made clear my idea and where to create my business.
5. Yes, because they see it as an instrument to depend on themselves exclusively.
6. They are interested because in Romania they offer some European money.
7. No, on average I do not think so. Most unlike mine has not yet approached the
youth entrepreneurship but there are some who are already putting into practice in
the first person.
55
8. In recent years, I have wanted to surround myself with people who, like me, have a
great desire to do, maintaining an attitude of great positivity towards
entrepreneurship. This desire of mine has resulted in having all the youngsters
strongly motivated and, albeit in different ways, very enthusiastic about the issue.
9. Someone but remains an exception. We need more support services, for example
not just on how we produce a good and a service, but above all on how to market it.
It is essential to know how to build networks I think this is the main competence
that must have an entrepreneur or a freelancer.
10. No, I come from a small country where the easiest solution adopted by everyone is
to work as employees for seasonal jobs.
11. No, I would say that I am slightly more interested than my peers.
12. No. They are poor and stupid.
13. No, due to the economic and political uncertainty of the country.
C. Entrepreneurship perception by those people who already do HAVE a business idea
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Does
not
apply
Demand for my
products and services in
the market will be
increasing in the days
to come.
11.28% 13.85% 4.62% 3.08% 0% 67.18%
Getting good
employees for the
business like mine is
easy in the labor
market.
8.21% 13.85% 7.18% 3.08% 0% 67.69%
Business like mine
makes use of modern
technology.
13.85% 13.33% 2.56% 1.54% 1.03% 67.69%
56
Entrepreneurs like me
in my Country are
aware of existing
support structures for
youth entrepreneurs
5.64% 9.74% 10.26% 4.10% 2.56% 67.69%
In this section, participants were also invited to answer two additional questions, the first
question was:
Did you face any obstacles in the course of starting-up your business venture? If the
answer to the question is yes, could you please briefly explain the main obstacles that you
encountered?
As we have already seen, the response rate of this section was very low, the answers
received are the following:
1. Yes, like everyone. The time available and the exams to be given are an obstacle for
my company
Do you encounter any obstacles currently in the course of running your business after the
establishment? If the answer to question is yes, then again could you please briefly
describe the main obstacles that you are encountering currently?
1. I have not put it into practice yet.
As a final question, we gave all participants the opportunity to add any comment under
the question: Any other suggestions/remarks? These are the responses collected:
1. The entrepreneur needs skills on how to experiment a good business idea but above
all on how to propose to sell a good or a specific service. Without this competence,
no initiative is useful to sustain itself economically and children should be prompted
immediately even in the exercise of this competence not only on planning or
designing.
57
Analysis of results:
As far as the “general attitudes and beliefs section” is concerned, all of the statements
haveobtained a percentage higher than 50% if we add the answers “Strongly agree
and Agree” to it.
The statements in which the greater percentage of participants has agreed upon (around
70% - 75%) are the following:
Participation in family business early in life provides a good entrepreneurial
foundation for those who want to start a business (58.5% of participants agreed or
strongly agreed on this statement);
Entrepreneurship education and training will encourage me to start-up my own
business (69.75% of participants agreed or strongly agreed on this statement).
In general, we can conclude that young people consider it necessary to have real and
practical information and training about entrepreneurship, whether through work
experiences, family business experience or entrepreneurship education. This perception
should be taken into consideration while developing the training materials and thepossible
activities to be implemented for them and with them.
Furthermore, in this section of the questionnaire, we see that managerial skills and ICT also
play an important role in entrepreneurship projects.
Regarding the section of „perception of market niche and opportunities for entrepreneurs”,
there is more diversity of opinions and the results are more dispersed.
Only 40.5% of participants states that they have received training in entrepreneurship. Let’s
consider, though, that our participants are of different ages. Because of that we have carried
out the necessary statistics below.
Level of studies Number of respondents
Doctorate 1
Master Degree 8
Degree 8
Secondary Education 178
Total 195 We can see that the majority of people who answered the survey and received trainings
about entrepreneurship are secondary students.
58
In most of the statements in this section the value that has obtained the majority of the
answers is „Uncertain”, the same asthe lack of training and general knowledge about
entrepreneurship which also shows that many participants did not known what to answer to
it.
Moreover, 45.6% of participants think that in Italy there is a market niche for new
entrepreneurs and, also, the 56.9% think that the number of (young) entrepreneurs is
growing in Italy.
As far as the perception about national policies supporting entrepreneurship is concerned,
52.3% of participants think that the Italian government supports programmes for youth
entrepreneurship; 61.54% of participants think that there a lot of opportunities to receive
guidance if needed and 42.1% of participants agree on the fact that obtaining funding is
pretty easy.
In the section of general perception, this is the one that has obtained a lower rate of
agreement. Only 39% of participants think that the process of registering a business in Italy
is easy to understand and comply with; 36.9% think that the process is not expensive; 32.8%
think that the process is quick and 34.9% of participants agreed on the fact that laws related
to business are simple to understand.
Furthermore, the block of questions regarding entrepreneurship perception by people who
do not have a business idea yet, most of the participants agreed on the statements
proposed and the higher rate is related to the statement: Entrepreneurship seems like a
very risky and demanding way to earn my living, in fact, 47.18% of participants agreed on
that.Following,50.77% of the participants agreed on the statement: I need guidance and
orientation before I could even think to become an entrepreneur.
39.49% of participants agreed on the statement Become an entrepreneur is what I want but
I don’t feel ready; while 29.23% agreed on the sentence I could never become an
entrepreneur. Only 42.57% of participants agreed on the following statement: I would try to
be an entrepreneur if the economic situation was better.
Last block was related to the perception of entrepreneurship of people who already have a
business idea, their business model and their expectations on how their business should
grow. Most of them use modern technology, and they expect the demand of their products
59
and services to grow. The lowest rate (15.38% strongly agree and agree) of this section
regards the following statement: Entrepreneurs like me in my country are aware of existing
support structures for young entrepreneurs.
Adults in Italy identified other key barriers to the development of (youth) entrepreneurial
ideas and businesses, such as: not enough capital, a poor economic climate, a lack of a
business idea, too many difficultiesin reconciling family responsibilities, the risk of failure
which could be too big, and administrative difficulties of sort.
SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses
Great access to infrastructure, such as
internet availability, mobile phones and
vehicles.
High levels of enrollment in secondary and
tertiary education.
Regulatory improvements mean that Italy is
now one of the least time-consuming places
in which to set up a business, requiring just six
days.
Italy is recognized for the quality of the goods
it produces, giving local entrepreneurs a
powerful global brand appeal in many sectors
and fields.
In the 2001-11 decade there had been a
continuous growth of new cooperatives
(which seem to be attractive for young people
especially for their social mission). This
growth can derive from various reasons:
demand pull for demographic factors (i.e.
Liguria, Umbria, Toscana, Friuli Venezia
Giulia), public finance push (Veneto, Sardinia,
Trentino Alto Adige), historical tradition of
social capital (Emilia Romagna).
The level and complication
of Italy’s business taxes and
related compliance is a
significant obstacle
especially for young
entrepreneurs.
Key types of financing are
sorely lacking —
particularly venture capital
and private equity.
The use of business
incubators is way below the
G20 average according to
the EY G20
Entrepreneurship
Barometer 2013.
The cost of setting up a
business in Italy is the third
highest in the G20.
60
Opportunities Threats
The Eurozone crisis is forcing Italy to face up
to difficult reforms, creating an opportunity
to boost entrepreneurship.
A more dynamic entrepreneurial sector would
help retain highly skilled graduates who
currently leave to find better opportunities
abroad.
Local projects for youth
In the two-year period of 2012-2013, Isfol
analyzed a particular project carried out by
Regione Puglia, "Bollenti Spiriti", which
includes a set of measures and actions to
enable young people to participate in all
aspects of community life and it could be
mentioned as good practice in the Southern
Italian panorama.
If steps aren’t taken to
boost productivity and
competitiveness, Italian
exporters will continue to
lose market share.
Competition of foreign
entrepreneurs.
Conclusions One of the distinctive features of Italy is its commitment to entrepreneurship. Nowadays,
entrepreneurs are facing new challenges that require precise and timely decision-making
processes and skills in order to deal with innovation, change and market uncertainty and to
seize opportunities and make their businesses more competitive.
Youth unemployment is one of the greatest social and economic challenges faced in the last
decade by EU governments. It not only poses a challenge in the present, but also for the
future because unemployment spells can have long-term impacts for individuals, including
reduced earnings and an increased likelihood of social exclusion. Evidence suggests that one
year of unemployment during youth can reduce annual earnings at age 42 by up to 21%.
In the last decade there is a decline in entrepreneurial activation rates in Italy and
analysistake into account macro factors, such as the institutional context that supports the
61
new oneentrepreneurship and micro factors, such as the status of the individual and the
response to pull factors and push that determine entrepreneurial propensity. The main
results are that thegender, the level of education, the perception of self-employment as a
good job option and the social network have an impact on the probability of being a rising
entrepreneur but with some differences between countries and between sectors in the
same country.
62
Chapter 3: Spain
Youth unemployment
Youth unemployment is one the greatest challenges of the Spanish economy, even due the
recovery of the economy, in 2015, the youth unemployment rate in Spain (15-24 years old)
was 48.3%; in 2018 the rate is 33.8%. Despite the growth and improvement of the labor
market, the rate is still much higher than the European average.
Differentiated by sex, the rate is higher in men with 35.8% than in women, 31.3%.
Using the available data of the Spanish Statistical Institute, we can see that the highest rate
is among the youth from 16-19, suggesting that young people with low education
qualifications have problems accessing their first job.
Unemployment rate by age and level of studies 1st trimester of 2018. Data from Spanish Statistical Institute.
As we can see, the Spanish employment market has problems to integrate those young
people with low qualifications, and young people seeking their first job.
As the educational level and age increase, the unemployment rates decrease.
Iliterate
Incomplete
primary
studies
Primary
Education
First stage of
secondary
education and
similar
Second stage of
secondary
education, with
general
orientation
Second stage of
secondary
education with
professional
orientation
Superior
education
From 16 to
19 0,00 73,83 73,67 56,64 46,96 53,31 49,10
From 20 to
24 40,20 35,72 52,57 40,85 28,32 33,62 20,89
From 25 to
29 59,47 37,80 34,10 30,39 27,47 22,93 15,57
From 16 to
19 0,00 80,31 66,44 56,83 45,23 51,59 71,76
From 20 to
24 40,20 41,15 51,94 38,50 30,27 35,34 23,86
From 25 to
29 0,00 44,13 26,64 26,99 28,24 21,08 14,38
From 16 to
19 0,00 52,76 88,85 56,33 48,03 55,54 0,00
From 20 to
24 0,00 28,56 53,66 44,79 26,43 31,45 18,48
From 25 to
29 81,67 21,78 48,98 35,68 26,46 24,78 16,47
Both sexs
Men
Women
63
Youth entrepreneurship
The current framework in Spain is the Strategic and operational framework for
employment and youth entrepreneurship. This national strategy has driven new laws and
regulations to stimulate youth entrepreneurship. The most important is the law 6/2017
onUrgent Reforms of Autonomous Work, which introduced the changes seen before. This
strategy depends on the central government and the Ministry of labor.
Likewise, at the regional level, each employment council can establish specific aids for
entrepreneurs or new innovative companies that are installed in their territory.
Other initiatives collected in the national strategy and that have not yet been launched are:
→ Improvement of financing for self-employed workers and entrepreneurs.It consists
in promoting, from the different ministerial departments, the collaboration
networks with business angels and the attainment of investment funds.
→ Creation of reference offices in the Public Employment Services specialized in
advising and accompanying the new entrepreneur.
→ Promotion of the Social Economy and thecollective entrepreneurship.
The business regulatory framework will depend on the way in which each entrepreneur
starts his/her business.
The options are multiple; within the self-employed worker category we find the following
figures: the self-employed worker, the self-employed worker with staff under his charge or
the economically dependent self-employed worker. In this case, they can even start a
community of goods with other entrepreneurs.
http://www.empleo.gob.es/es/Guia/texto/guia_2/contenidos/guia_2_6_3.htm
These options are recommended for businesses that foresee a small billing at the beginning,
since the constitution procedures are simpler, and involve less initial investment.For the
case in which the entrepreneurship project starts with partners or a high turnover is
foreseen from the beginning, it is advisable to register a commercial company. In this case,
the options are also multiple.One-person limited liability companies, limited liability
companies, joint-stock companies, associations or other figures linked to the social economy
can be started.
64
Financing lines: In addition to the bonuses on social security contributions, and other tax
benefits for entrepreneurs and self-employed workers,there are direct financial aids in the
form of subsidies at the state level.
The main aid is the annual call for applications for subsidies for activities to promote self-
employment, social economy and social responsibility of companies and to cover the
operating expenses of associations of self-employed workers, cooperatives of labor
companies, of insertion companies and other representative entities of the social economy.
It is called annually and is a non-refundable subsidy that covers current expenses of the
entities.
Additionally, at the regional level, various grants are called to attract innovation and social
economy companies. Each entrepreneur should consult the regional employment
administration of the territory in which they want to establish themselves.
65
Data report and analysis from O1 Research on Youth Beliefs &
Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship
Demographic characterization of the participants:
In Spain, 103 people participated in the research; the survey began with a series of questions
to define the demographic characteristics of the participants.The participants are
characterized as follows:
97.10% of participants are from the age range of 18-30 years, and 2.9% of participants are
from the age range from 15 to 18 years. Regarding the distribution by sex, 66% of the
participants are women and 34% are men.98.2% of the participants have Spanish
nationality, and 1.9% of the participants have Colombian nationality, but reside in Spain.
In terms of the level of studies of the participants, they are distributed by the following
levels:
Level of studies
Total
participants
Percentage Women Men
University degree 67 65,05% 40 27
Secondary education 19 18,45% 14 5
Post-Graduate studies 16 15,53% 13 3
Doctorate 1 0,97% 1 0
First, a series of questions were asked to know the beliefs and perceptions about
entrepreneurship in general; to obtain significant results, the questions have been grouped
into three large sub-sections, the first group questions about general beliefs about
entrepreneurship; the second on the perception of entrepreneurship opportunities and the
support of public institutions and the last block gathers the answers on bureaucracy and
applicable laws.
A. Attitudes and beliefs on entrepreneurship
A.1. General Attitudes and Beliefs on entrepreneurship:
In this block the questions about general beliefs about entrepreneurship are grouped; as
what personal circumstances lead a person to become an entrepreneur. Also on those skills
66
that are perceived as necessary, or if the participants believe they need entrepreneurship
training.
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Participation in a family business
early in life provides a good
entrepreneurial foundation for
those who want to start a
business
17.5% 57.3% 23.3% 1.9% 0%
Entrepreneurship education and
training will encourage me to
start-up my business
12.6% 60.2% 14.6% 12.6% 0%
Entrepreneurial skills will
encourage me to involve into
setting up a business venture
12.6% 58.3% 17.5% 9.7% 1.9%
An entrepreneur with managerial
skills could run a business better
than those who do not have such
skills
12.6% 53.4% 22.3% 10.7% 1%
ICT facilitates entrepreneurship 16.5% 47.6% 31.1% 4.9% 0%
I believe I need job experience as
employed before becoming an
entrepreneur.
17.5% 58.3% 11.7% 9.7% 2.9%
A.2. Perception of market niche and opportunities for entrepreneurs:
This block analyzes the beliefs about the existence of a niche market for entrepreneurs, if
participants believe that public institutions support entrepreneurship and also how many of
the participants have already received training in entrepreneurship:
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Obtaining funding from financial
institutions that support youth
entrepreneurship is easy
2.9% 31.1% 35.9% 9.7% 1.9%
There are a lot of opportunities for
entrepreneurship guidance if I 7.8% 29.1% 34% 26.2% 2.9%
67
need to
A lot of people in my age think or
already been involved in
entrepreneurship
5.8% 34% 22.3% 31.1% 6.8%
The number of young
entrepreneurs in my Country is
increasing the last 2-3 years
4.9% 34% 36.9% 19.4% 4.9%
Entrepreneurship is the best
option for economic participation
rather than being employed.
6.8% 23.3% 28.2% 30.1% 11.7%
My government supports
programs for youth
entrepreneurship development
5.8% 34% 31.1% 23.3% 5.8%
I have been training/studying on
entrepreneurship 4.9% 32% 26.2% 26.2% 10.7%
I believe that in my country there
is market niche for new
entrepreneurs.
1.9% 46.6% 28.8% 21.4% 1.9%
A.3. Perception of administrative procedures and applicable laws
One of the technical problems that all entrepreneurs face is to choose the type of company
to start up and all the administrative procedures linked to it. In this block we have asked the
participants about their perception of the administrative and financial procedures to start up
their company.
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
The process of registering business
in my Country is quick. 2.9% 20.4% 38.8% 33% 4.9%
The process of registration of a
business in my Country is easy to
understand
3.9% 24.3% 30.1% 36.9% 4.9%
The cost of registration of a
business in my Country is not
expensive
4.9% 19.4% 32% 35% 8.7%
The laws related to business 3.9% 16.5% 30.1% 44.7% 4.9%
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management in my Country are
simple to understand.
B. Entrepreneurship perception by those people who do NOT HAVE a business idea
yet
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Does
not
apply
Becoming an entrepreneur
is what I want but I don’t
feel ready yet
3.9% 47.6% 18.4% 11.7% 9.7% 8.7%
Entrepreneurship seems
like a very risky and
demanding way to earn my
living
16.5% 47.6% 25.2% 1.9% 2.9% 5.8%
I need guidance and
orientation before I even
think to become an
entrepreneur
18.4% 43.7% 22.3% 7.8% 1% 6.8%
I could never become an
entrepreneur 7.8% 39.8% 23.3% 15.5% 7.8% 5.8%
I would try to be an
entrepreneur if the
political and economic
situation was better
4.9% 39.8% 20.4% 20.4% 6.8% 7.8%
In this section, participants were also asked to answer the following question: Are youth in
your area being more enthusiastic and vigorous about entrepreneurship than you?
Not all participants have wanted to give their opinion on this question; only 18.44% of
participants provided information about it, below, there is shown the translation of the
answers:
1. I am an entrepreneur.
2. My wife has her own business and I have many friends that have also started their
own business, all of them online.
3. Yes, there are but not many. The truth is that young people in my city do not have
information about entrepreneurship and they are afraid
4. I don’t know any of them.
5. Yes, but all of them are small business or bars.
69
6. Not in my area, I know many in areas related to computer science and graphic
design.
7. Yes, in Barcelona there are many incubators and co-working spaces. That generates
a movement and provides support to young entrepreneurs.
8. No, politicians demand too many things and help young people little.
9. There is a business center.
10. Yes, there are, but businesses often fail soon after they start. The situation in Spain
is of a weakened economy that would be favored by a consolidated business sector
in which it could deepen labor improvements for workers, instead of promoting
short-range businesses, that have little projection and future, and that do not
generate new employment.
11. I think there is a common profile of a young entrepreneur in general.
12. Yes, there are entrepreneurs, linked to creative industries.
13. Yes, the lack of job opportunities has forced some people to become entrepreneurs.
14. Yes, there are entrepreneurs who, in the absence of employment opportunities,
start their own business.
15. There are entrepreneurs in product companies, but there is no social
entrepreneurship.
16. There are young entrepreneurs who have the support of their family or have parents
that are also entrepreneurs.
17. There are entrepreneurs who start hospitality businesses and bars.
18. I know some young people, from wealthy families, who are entrepreneurs because
they have their own capital.
19. A person I know started a business but it did not go well, and it closed in less than a
year.
C. Entrepreneurship perception by those people who do HAVE a business idea
Statements Strongly
Agree Agree Uncertain Disagree
Strongly
Disagree
Does
not
apply
Demand for my products
and services in the market
will be increasing in the
days to come.
1% 3.9% 3.9% 1% 0% 90.3%
Getting good employees
for the business like mine is
easy in the labor market.
1.9% 2.9% 0% 3.9% 1% 90.3%
70
Business like mine makes
use of modern technology. 1.9% 3.9% 3.9% 0% 0% 90.3%
Entrepreneurs like me in
my Country are aware of
existing support structures
for youth entrepreneurs
1.9% 1% 2.9% 2.9% 0% 91.3%
In this section, participants were also invited to answer two additional questions, the first
question was:
Did you face any obstacles in the course of starting-up your business venture? If the
answer to question is yes, could you please briefly explain the main obstacles that you
encountered?
As we have already seen, the response rate of this section has been low, the answers
received are the following:
1. I'm still starting my business.
2. I don’t have a business and I will never start one.
3. I’m still developing the business plan.
4. Orientation.
5. Yes, I had many doubts about the first steps to take.
6. The financing, I had to use my savings and the help of relatives because no one
supports you unless it is an innovation venture.
7. Lack of financial support.
8. Lack of advice
Do you encounter any obstacles currently in the course of running your business after the
establishment? If the answer to question is yes, then again could you please briefly
describe the main obstacles that you are encountering currently?
1. Lack of advice.
2. Lack of financial support.
3. Yes, they did not take us seriously for being so young (under 25) and for that reason
we had to ask a lot of people to explain us how the tax agency works, social security
etc.
As a final question, we gave all participants the opportunity to add any comment under the
question: Any other suggestions/remarks? These are the responses collected:
71
1. Entrepreneurship is a neoliberal trick that makes oneself responsible for vital
success, throwing people into a wild and predatory market, becoming exploiters of
our own being with the aim of achieving a supposed fictitious well-being and
happiness. Everything is pure spectacle. As the walls of the lost May shouted,
paraphrasing Guy Debord, "Never work."
2. We need a lot of initial funding.
3. I am a career counselor, so I will give my opinion. Entrepreneurship in Spain has
grown since 2010. This is due to the termination of unemployment benefits, so the
companies created are subsistence companies and have a short-term path.
Entrepreneurship expenses in Spain are expensive due to Social Security expenses in
terms of the RETA contribution and the company creation deadlines are 1 month
minimum with more than 10 administrative steps to be followed to be able to
establish it, thus being in the tail of Europe. Seeing all this and due to the current
economic situation, I believe that entrepreneurship has a structural problem in
Spain in terms of procedures.
4. Give more response options.
5. I would not like to be an entrepreneur; I prefer to work for others.
6. To make known entrepreneurial initiatives.
7. Young people need more economic support and more concrete information about
the economy that surrounds us. With so little education in this aspect we create
young people with degrees and doctorates who do not know how to make a
declaration of income.
8. Addressing the precarious work of young people means favoring hiring, ensuring
decent working conditions, as well as stability, family conciliation, etc. A labor
market characterized by temporality, precariousness, etc. it will not be solved with
neoliberal measures designed to carry out individual investments that normally fail
soon and do not generate any type of employment or improvement in the labor
market.
9. Economic growth cannot depend so much on entrepreneurs; there should be more
job opportunities.
10. In addition to entrepreneurship it is necessary to create job opportunities in
companies.
72
11. The entrepreneurship is praised, it seems that if you do not start your own business
you are nobody, but it is neoliberalist propaganda. We should strive to create jobs
and not encourage people to become entrepreneurs.
12. Little variety of answers
Analysis of results
In the general attitudes and beliefs section, all the statements have obtained a percentage
higher than 65% if we add the answers Strongly agree and Agree.
The statements in which a greater percentage of participants have agreed (around 70%-
75%) are the following:
→ I believe I need job experience as employed before becoming an entrepreneur.
(75.8% of participants agreed or strongly agreed on this statement).
→ Participation in family business early in life provides a good entrepreneurial
foundation for those who want to start a business (74.8% of participants agreed or
strongly agreed on this statement).
→ Entrepreneurship education and training will encourage me to start-up my own
business (72.8% of participants agreed or strongly agreed on this statement).
→ Entrepreneurial skills will encourage me to involve into setting up a business
venture. (70.9% of participants agreed or strongly agreed on this statement).
In general, we conclude that young people consider that it is necessary to have real and
practical information and training about entrepreneurship, whether through work
experiences, family business experience or entrepreneurship education. This perception
should be taken into consideration while developing the training materials.
In this section we see that managerial skills and ICT also play an important role in
entrepreneurship projects.
In the section of perception of market niche and opportunities for entrepreneurs, there is
more diversity of opinions and the results are more dispersed.
Only 36.9% of participants states that has received training in entrepreneurship, we have
disaggregated the data of the participants who have answered Agree or Strongly agree to
determine their level of studies and to see at what levels students are being trained in
entrepreneurship.
73
Level of studies Number of people that has received
training in entrepreneurship
Doctorate 1
Post-Graduate 8
Degree 25
Secondary Education 4
Total 38
We can see that the majority of people who receive training in entrepreneurship are
university students; there is a lack of training programs for younger students and in lower
levels.
In most of the statements in this section the value that has obtained the most answers is
uncertain, so the lack of training and general knowledge about entrepreneurship it also
shows that many participants have not known what to answer.
Also, 48.5% of participants think that in Spain there is market niche for new entrepreneurs;
39.8% know people involved and entrepreneurship activities, and also 38.9% think that the
number of entrepreneurs is growing in Spain.
About the perception about national policies that support entrepreneurship, 39.8% of
participants think that Spanish government supports programs for youth entrepreneurship;
36.9% of participants think that there a lot of opportunities to receive guidance if they
needed to; and 34% of participants agree on the fact that obtaining funding is easy.
The statement with the lowest percentage of acceptance is the following: Entrepreneurship
is the best option for economic participation rather than being employed.
Taking into account the low rates of entrepreneurs that exist in Spain and the little training
that is imparted, this statement is in line with the results of the study, and with the results of
the block related to the knowledge of administrative procedures and applicable laws.
In the section of general perception, this is the one that has obtained a lower rate of
agreement. Only 27.2% of participants think that the process of registering a business in
Spain is easy to understand; 24.3% think that the process is not expensive; 23.3% think that
the process is quick and 20.4% of participants agreed on the fact that laws related to
business are simple to understand.
About the block about entrepreneurship perception by people who does not have a business
idea yet, most of the participants agreed on the statements proposed, the higher rate is
74
related with the statement: Entrepreneurship seems like a very risky and demanding way
to earn my living,64.1% of participants agreed on that; followed by I need guidance and
orientation before I even think to become an entrepreneur, 62.1%
51.2% of participants agreed on the statement Become an entrepreneur is what I want but I
don’t feel ready;and 47.6% agreed on I could never become of an entrepreneur. Only 44.7%
of participants agreed onI would try to be an entrepreneur if the economic situation was
better.
Last block was related to the entrepreneurship perception by people who have a business
idea, their business model and how they expect their business to grow. (5.8%, 4.8% and
4.9% respectively). Most of them use modern technology, and they expect the demand of
their products and services will grow and finding good employees on the market is easy. The
lowest rate of this section is for the statement: Entrepreneurs like me in my country are
aware of existing support structures for young entrepreneurs.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
→ High rates of entrepreneurship
projects that survive the first year of
start-up
→ The rate of entrepreneurship is
similar in all age ranges.
→ The gender gap is very small.
→ Market niche to cover social needs
unattended.
→ The total rate of entrepreneurs is
among the lowest in Europe.
→ Little training in entrepreneurship,
especially in secondary education.
→ Ignorance of the administrative
procedures to start a business.
→ Lack of financial and mentoring
support.
→ Entrepreneurs who start a business
because the lack of job
opportunities, without being trained
in management skills.
Opportunities Threats
→ Economy growing.
→ The European common market
allows internationalization easily.
→ Invest in new technologies that may
become obsolete.
→ Changes in the European common
75
→ New technologies and development
of social innovation through ICT
tools.
→ Increased consumer confidence in
online business.
market, such as Brexit.
→ Competition of foreign
entrepreneurs.
76
Conclusions
In general, the Spanish population lacks an entrepreneurial spirit; this lack is the sum of a
series of factors; such as the little training in entrepreneurship that is imparted; fear of
failure and the many administrative and fiscal burdens on entrepreneurs.
In general, entrepreneurship is perceived as the last job option in the absence of other
opportunities. It is also perceived as an activity for people who have their own capital to
invest and who are not going to depend economically on their project.
There also seems to be a lack of information on public policies to promote entrepreneurship,
and also about the European strategies that are being translated into Spanish national
strategies.
As has been proven on the comments recorded, there is a sector of the population especially
critical of entrepreneurship, and they criticize that the growth of the economy involves
increasing the workforce and productivity of existing companies, not that people start their
own business.
77
Entrepreneurship skills for youth
To date, there has been surprisingly little thought given to the skills required for successful
entrepreneurship.These skills seem to be taken for granted over theattribution for
entrepreneurship success to innate traits, behaviors, attitudes and mental cognition as well
asthe confusion created by the misapplication of terms such as the corporate favorite:
‘competencies’. At theend of the day, none of these factors captures the root cause of
entrepreneurship success, which is themastery of a skill set, and skill is the only factor that
can truly be learned and developed. Skill is essentiallyapplied knowledge.
Lyons and Lichtenstein (2010) organize four broad categories of skills: Transformation
Management, Relationship Management, Business Management, and Organizational
ProcessManagement. Transformation Management skills are those related to creativity and
innovation (the uniqueskills of entrepreneurship). Relationship Management skills are those
needed for successful partnerships andother forms of inter-personal interaction. Business
Management skills are the basic skills required to run abusiness day in and day out.
Organizational Process Management skills are those needed to develop, sustainand lead a
business organization.
Every good entrepreneur has to possess a series of skills. It is unfair to believe that unlike
every other career available, entrepreneurs are born and the relevant skills cannot be
taught.To successfully start up and operate a business, entrepreneurs need to use a wide
range of skills. This skill-set includes skills that are required from employees in any
workplace, but also those skills needed to respond to the additional demands of running a
business.
Informal entrepreneurship education (e.g. coaching and mentoring) also has an important
role. A recent study by St Jean and Audet (2012) observes that entrepreneurial learning
through mentoring is mainly achieved through cognitive learning (62% of reported learning
outcomes were cognitive, including an increase in management knowledge and skills,
improved vision for their business venture and identifying new opportunities) and affective
learning (36% of reported learning outcomes, including a greater sense of self-efficacy,
validation of one’s entrepreneurial self-image and a lowered sense of solitude, which could
influence resilience)
These skills will have to be of two types, on the one hand the hard skills, and on the other
hand the soft skills.
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The hard skills refer to the specific knowledge and abilities to success in a specific job or
task, the skills are usually acquired through formal learning. The most useful skills for young
entrepreneurs are:
→ Management skills.
→ Business administration skills.
→ Other knowledge related to the business idea, like computer programming, social
assistance etc.
Soft skills are a combination of people skills, communication skills and other character skills.
These skills come with each person, and they are more complex to train. Since hard skills are
easier to train, a good entrepreneur has to train their soft skills to differentiate themselves
from the competition and stand out.
The most useful skills for young entrepreneurs are:
→ Communication skills: like empathy and public speaking.
→ Personal skills: as teamwork, and the ability to relate and establish collaborative
networks.
→ Internal personal skills: resilience and perseveration.
The methodologies proposed to develop entrepreneurship skills for youth are:
- Learning by projects: students start from a problem or a need and, based on them,
define their purpose, which should consist of creating a final product that solves the
initial problem.
- Problem-based learning: teachers collect problems, described them clearly and
simply and those problems are presented to students. Thus, students must perform
a critical and structured analysis of the problems, raised for the sake of seeking an
explanation and solving it.
- Cooperative learning: involves the organization of students in small and
heterogeneous teams to carry out a specific task. The components of the group have
a common purpose and must cooperate actively and directly to achieve it.
The learning that actively involves the student in the process, theoretically, has proven to be
an effective method for the development of skills and abilities linked to social
entrepreneurship, but is also shows the need to implement these methodologies to check
their effectiveness from a practical perspective.
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Role of ICT tools in starting an entrepreneurship project:
ICTs can help social enterprises and other organization to reach their goals in the following
issues:
- Access to resources: ICTs can help social enterprises to capture economic funds or to
attract voluntary work.
- Using ICT for creating apps: Innovative apps may help to face challenges to people
with mental or physical disabilities.
- To perform measurement: it is essential to companies to measure and report their
social initiatives and this can be made by using ICTs.
Creation of networks: the creation of a social ecosystem is fundamental to boost social
entrepreneurship. In this way entrepreneurs can share their business ideas, doubts and
success stories and also rely on the knowledge of other people to develop their projects,
attract talent, or cooperate. ICTs will help them reduce costs and not depend on the
proximity of other social entrepreneurs. The existence of a support network for
entrepreneurship is essential for the creation of new social initiatives; especially in those
cases in which the offer of training in this area is scarce.
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The importance of developing an entrepreneurship culture
Entrepreneurial culture is a long-term activity, which implies continuous work with children,
young people, and unemployed people and even with university students and those who are
working but have an interest in making the leap to a new professional stage.
The Council conclusions of 12 May 2009 on a strategic framework for European cooperation
in education and training (‘ET 2020’), pointed four strategic objectives:
1. Making lifelong learning and mobility a reality;
2. Improving the quality and efficiency of education and training;
3. Promoting equity, social cohesion and active citizenship;
4. Enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of
education and training.
Following this framework, it is necessary to promote the acquisition of cross-cutting key
competences by all citizens, and guarantee the operation of the knowledge triangle
(education, research and innovation). Partnerships between the business world and
educational institutions, as well as broader learning communities, with the participation of
representatives of civil society and other stakeholders, should also be promoted.
In Spain, the specific competences in regulation of curricular plans are decentralized in
regional governments. So each autonomous community has implemented programs to
promote entrepreneurial culture at the educational levels of their choice.
At national level, Law 2/2011, of March 4, Sustainable Economy and Organic Law 4/2011, of
March 11, complementary to the Law of Sustainable Economy, have laid the foundations to
favor the path towards a new productive model. Also, many other strategies and laws have
been launched to promote entrepreneurship, as seen before.
"Between 15% and 20% of schoolchildren who participate in educational programs to create
small companies will be entrepreneurs later. That is between three and five times above the
average and demonstrates the importance of the educational system in the development of
entrepreneurial attitudes ".
The recommendation of European policies is clear in this regard, Member States are
encouraged to include in programs of compulsory education programs to promote
entrepreneurship, following guidelines set by the OECD itself. Education, therefore, is
fundamental to transforming risk aversion from below and for successive generations and,
81
on the other hand, to strengthen the entrepreneurial spirit, of change, of attitude towards a
new transformation of what employment supposes as it is known nowadays.
82
Conclusions
Greece has been in recession for the past 10 years which unfortunately has created an
unstable economic and political environment. Moreover, there are serious social problems
that have occurred due to this situation with the greatest ones being the rise of
unemployment and consequently the rise of poverty. Many youth are living with the support
of their parents; otherwise there is a great possibility that the level of youth poverty would
have been higher.
Youth are frustrated about their professional future and they seek to find appropriate
solutions. Youth entrepreneurship is a new occurrence in Greek society as previous
generations were more oriented in employment and in becoming civil servants. The idea of
having a secure income, stability in life and live a low profile life was the ideas parents
brought their children up.
Nowadays, with the current economic situation, many youth are oriented in self
employment but both government and society were not ready for such an alter in
employment preferences.
Greeks lack an entrepreneurial spirit due to little training in entrepreneurship in the
educational system, fear of failure, bureaucratic procedures, and high taxation but above all
discouragement from their environment. Even though establishing your own enterprise is
not the last job option, first choice is employment or getting a position in the public sector.
This means that desire for stability and a secure income is higher than creativity and work
independence.
Furthermore, there is no trust to fiscal institutions (such as the banks) nor towards the
government. Even though there has been a significant improvement in laws and in
incorporating European strategies and policies, youth still feel reluctant. This is due to a high
rate because of the lack of information that it does not distributed to interested people.
Finally, we observe a caution from youth towards establishing their own business since they
see businesses closing down almost every day and people becoming unemployed.
Unemployment means decrease of income and as a result of purchasing levels. Youth see
already existing businesses not being supported from government and national policies and
they wonder how the same government will support and help them to succeed.
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One of the distinctive features of Italy is its commitment to entrepreneurship. Nowadays,
entrepreneurs are facing new challenges that require precise and timely decision-making
processes and skills in order to deal with innovation, change and market uncertainty and to
seize opportunities and make their businesses more competitive.
Youth unemployment is one of the greatest social and economic challenges faced in the last
decade by EU governments. It not only poses a challenge in the present, but also for the
future because unemployment spells can have long-term impacts for individuals, including
reduced earnings and an increased likelihood of social exclusion. Evidence suggests that one
year of unemployment during youth can reduce annual earnings at age 42 by up to 21%.
In the last decade there is a decline in entrepreneurial activation rates in Italy and
analysistake into account macro factors, such as the institutional context that supports the
new oneentrepreneurship and micro factors, such as the status of the individual and the
response to pull factors and push that determine entrepreneurial propensity. The main
results are that thegender, the level of education, the perception of self-employment as a
good job option and the social network have an impact on the probability of being a rising
entrepreneur but with some differences between countries and between sectors in the
same country.
In general, the Spanish population lacks an entrepreneurial spirit; this lack is the sum of a
series of factors; such as the little training in entrepreneurship that is imparted; fear of
failure and the many administrative and fiscal burdens on entrepreneurs.
In general, entrepreneurship is perceived as the last job option in the absence of other
opportunities. It is also perceived as an activity for people who have their own capital to
invest and who are not going to depend economically on their project.
There also seems to be a lack of information on public policies to promote entrepreneurship,
and also about the European strategies that are being translated into Spanish national
strategies.
As has been proven on the comments recorded, there is a sector of the population especially
critical of entrepreneurship, and they criticize that the growth of the economy involves
increasing the workforce and productivity of existing companies, not that people start their
own business.
84
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