Entrepreneurship in different countries

On the second day of the project the participants had an opportunity to present the situation of employment and green entrepreneurship in their home countries. Some countries added to these description some practical examples of entrepreneurship projects, others spoke about the attitudes of the society and obstacles faced by the entrepreneurship. It was serious but enjoyable overview of the different approaches and problems in various parts of Europe.

What all participants agreed upon is that unemployment is an issue in majority of participant countries, as you can see in this table.

However, it should be pointed out that data on state level are not enough, as in almost every country there are huge differences between rural and urban areas, as well as specific regions inside the country. Such cases as Latgale (42,7% of unemployment in Latgale and 19% of unemployment in Riga) in Latvia or Murcia in Spain should be pointed out.

Government assistance when starting an entrepreneurship project is extremely importance and there is a huge variance among countries regarding the procedures and financial means necessary for starting one’s own company. As one of the best examples we can mention Lithuania, where starting a company is basically free, you can do it online and for 12 month you have an access to special aid services, such as consulting, seminars, e-guides, etc. Even more, there are special lower and simplified taxes for the first year and there are no fines for any mistakes during the first year.

Majority of the countries have special programs for young entrepreneurs, such as Government programs coordinated by the National Development Agency in Hungary, which offer up to 20 000 EUR financial aid per project.

Of course there are obstacles as well, such as high costs of stock capital (which can vary from 1 EUR in, for example, Germany to 3000 EUR in Spain).

It’s interesting that all of the participant countries who spoke about obstacles mentioned the mentality of the youngsters and society in general as one of the issues. From Spain to Turkey and from Latvia to Cyprus youngsters are hesitant when starting their own business, as they are afraid to fail and be seen as losers. Even the families in many cases are encouraging youngsters to get a stable and safe job instead of starting their own company.

However, as you can see from the examples in this blog, new green companies are appearing all over Europe, helped by their governments and supported by the society in the best of the cases. Renewable energies, recycling, green design, ecological agriculture and ecological tourism – these are just some of the fields green entrepreneurs are developing their projects.

We, the organizational team and the participants of the training course are crossing our fingers for the success of each and every green startup. We encourage you to follow your dreams and to keep in mind that failure simply means that you can (and you should) come up with a better idea and try again.