The number of registered young entrepreneurs is growing despite the corona and unfavorable conditions, according to APR data. For now, the state is helping them by subsidizing 30 percent of total investments, while for those who are taking their first entrepreneurial steps in underdeveloped areas, the aid amounts to 40 percent.
He decided to be his own boss a little over a year ago. He gained experience working in the restaurant both in Serbia and abroad. Getting started, he says, was not easy. However, he did not ask for help from the state then.
I decided to help from home, from my family. I withdrew that amount of money and knowledge and everything from home, simply, but the state as a state helped me. It helped me when there were those difficult moments, when there was a closure at 4 pm, at 5 pm, there was help with salaries, we had the minimum covered,” says entrepreneur Ivan Ercegović.
Currently, young start-up entrepreneurs have at their disposal skills development trainings where they should learn how to secure finances, start exports, do business electronically.
For the first time this year, they were provided with an integrated program that provides all these services for a year, as well as the support of mentors.
“This year, for the first time, a program was launched that is aimed directly at young people and women, and it is a program that combines grants and loans from the Development Fund and can be used for activities that are important from the procurement of equipment. This was a pilot program this year and met with very good interest, so it will be realized again next year and 850 thousand euros are planned for that,” said Katarina Obradovic Jovanovic from the Ministry of Economy.
The most common activities that have so far been supported by subsidies for self-employment are in the field of production and manufacturing trades, service trades and intellectual services.
“In the past two years, we have about 39 percent or about 22,000 registered business entities in which they are 100% owned by young people not older than 35, which is 39 percent of the total registered businesses, and when we say business entities, we mean legal entities and entrepreneurial activities in the past two years,” explains Vladimir Radovanović from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce.
One of them is Ivan. He remembers from the very beginning, how much strength, energy and support was needed.
“I would rather have someone advise me a little more on what to invest in and what to do with it at the beginning. What is the situation now with these Covid passes, with passports, with foreigners, not foreigners, although they are not in enough for Belgrade at the moment, it could help us in releasing some types, whether VAT or taxes,” states Ivan Ercegović.
The Ministry announces the adoption of a strategy for the development of startup ecosystems, so that young people who want to start a business related to information technology, in addition to these currently available types of support, have much wider opportunities through the Innovation Fund program and incubator support, RTS reports.
