Support measures for\nentrepreneurs represent an important economic instrument contributing to the\nstabilisation and further development of the SME sector. More than EUR 3\nbillion has been used to support SME entrepreneurship in Slovakia in the\nprevious 5 years. In 2019, the total support for SMEs was close to EUR 700\nmillion. The highest share of total support was accounted for by credits, loans\n(41%) and subsidies, NFAs and grants with a share of 40% of total support. In a\nyear-on-year comparison, the real uptake of support for SMEs was around 12%\nhigher than in 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
EU countries also\nrecognise the importance of SMEs and use a wide range of support measures to\nsupport them. According to the results of several surveys, Slovakia is lagging\nbehind in the use of support programmes for SMEs compared to other EU\ncountries, but also to the V4 countries. These findings point to the fact that\nSlovakia still has considerable potential for greater use of support programmes\nin the SME sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lower use of support\nprogrammes for SMEs in Slovakia is related to the level of awareness of the\npossibilities of their use. According to the results of a quantitative survey\ncarried out in January\u2013February 2020, more than half of entrepreneurs in\nSlovakia feel the lack of information about the possibilities of using support\nprogrammes for small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Almost a quarter of\nrespondents assess positively the possibilities for SMEs to use the support\ntools provided by the public sector for their business. On the other hand, more\nthan half of SMEs perceive the possibilities of using public support rather\nnegatively. Almost two thirds of SMEs consider high administrative complexity\nas the most important barrier to access to public support for entrepreneurs.\nMore than one third of the representatives of small and medium-sized\nenterprises perceive the difficult fulfilment of support conditions or long\nprocedures for evaluating applicants as an obstacle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the survey\nresults, one in ten SMEs had benefited from some kind of public support in the\nprevious 12 months, with overall satisfaction with the support provided\nprevailing among the supported entrepreneurs. More than half of the SMEs rated\nthe project\/activity for which they received public support as sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The administrative\ncomplexity of processing an application for public support is the most common\nreason for lack of interest in public support for entrepreneurship. Other\nreasons cited by entrepreneurs included complications in meeting the conditions\nfor obtaining support, or lack of confidence in the quality and availability of\nthe service. Nevertheless, more than half of small and medium-sized\nentrepreneurs in Slovakia plan to use public support for the development of\ntheir business activities in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An evaluation of the\nimpacts and effects of the SBA’s Microloan Programme (2013\u20132017) confirmed\npositive economic impacts on the SMEs supported. In order to identify\nunderlying trends in the evaluated groups and to assess pre-intervention trends\nwith a post-intervention period between supported and non-participating firms,\nthe analysis evaluated data on sales, value added and employment. Over the 2013\nto 2017 period under review (t-1 to t+3), the group of supported firms showed\nhigher growth in average sales (up 25%) and value added (up 43%) than the\ncounterfactual group of non-participants (up 18% and 39%, respectively). At the\nsame time, the group of entities with the provided intervention recorded higher\ngrowth dynamics of average personal costs (up 48%) than the group without the\nintervention (growth of 30%), which may indicate a positive impact of the\nreceived support on employment growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The results of the\ncounterfactual assessment further confirmed the positive impacts of the aggregate\nestimates of impacts on revenue and value added. Aggregate estimates of the\nrevenue impacts on the Microloan Programme 2013\u20132017 supported entities range\nfrom EUR 33,877 to EUR 36,363 per business entity. Aggregate estimates of\nvalue-added impacts are also positive, ranging from EUR 5,808 to EUR 7,143,\nwithin the applied stratification criteria. The cost of generating an\nadditional euro of added value ranged from EUR 4.7 to EUR 5.7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An analysis of the\neffectiveness of the SBA’s Microloan Programme was conducted on beneficiaries\nwho took out loans between 2013 and 2017. The year (cohort) 2013 represented\nthe first year of the launch of the SBA’s new Microloan Programme. This cohort\nwas the only one to perform negatively in the evaluation and had a dampening\neffect on the overall positive results of the evaluation of the Microloan\nProgramme. For this reason, the evaluation of the effectiveness of the\nMicroloan Programme was also carried out in a variant in which the 2013 cohort\nwas excluded. Aggregate estimates of the impacts of the measure under\nconsideration for the 2014\u20132017 cohorts on sales are positive and range from\nEUR 62,149 to EUR 65,915 per business entity. Aggregate estimates of\nvalue-added impacts are also positive, ranging from EUR 10,498 to EUR 11,169,\nwithin the applied stratification criteria. The cost of generating an\nadditional euro of added value ranged from EUR 2.8 to EUR 3.0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Based on the results of\nthe evaluation of the Microloan Programme, the improved performance of SMEs as\na result of the intervention obtained can be stated which clearly demonstrates\nthe validity of the intervention under consideration during the period under\nreview. In order to improve the conditions for the use of support programmes,\nit is a prerequisite not only to increase the quantity and budgetary capacity\nof support programmes, but also to increase their effectiveness and\naccessibility for individual target groups. As the SME business support system\nin Slovakia is quite complex and largely opaque for entrepreneurs, it is\nnecessary to strengthen the awareness of small and medium-sized enterprises at\nthe regional and local level. 97% of business entities in Slovakia are\nmicro-enterprises, but up to two thirds of these entrepreneurs feel a lack of\ninformation about the possibilities of using support programmes. As an example\nof appropriate measures in this area, it is possible to mention the national\nprojects of the SBA National Business Centres, which aim to provide\nentrepreneurs with a comprehensive range of services, including information\nsupport on support measures in the Slovak Republic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Support measures for entrepreneurs represent an important economic instrument contributing to the stabilisation and further development of the SME sector. More than EUR 3 billion has been used to support SME entrepreneurship in Slovakia in the previous 5 years. In 2019, the total support for SMEs was close to EUR 700 million. The highest share […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1728,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news"},"yoast_head":"\n