What is the profile of a young entrepreneur?
We are dealing with a profile always more educated and compared with other age groups of entrepreneurs, we find more women and foreign people. In most cases, they are free lancers who work alone in the first phase of the entrepreneurship life cycle. They operate mainly in the service sector. To better understand their nature we can mention both enterprise related to new technologies (eg. Webmarketing) and traditional enterprises operating in small trade, retail. The latter mostly concerns new enterprises managed by foreigners, which, even though we are talking about low-added-value activities, are spreading among different trade sector despite the recent economic crisis.
What are the main barriers of young people to set up a business?
Young entrepreneurs don’t find deep troubles in starting their own business, the registration can be easily completed in few days. Subsequently to the registration, however, they can encounter several constraints bureaucratic in nature, due to the slow civil justice or linked with credit access. These factors slow down the transition from free lance activities to more sophisticated and developed ones. Moreover these factors influence the success or failure of a new enterprise. Eg: in Italy we had lost the 30 percentage points of granted loans in the last 8 years and we ranks on top on the European rating for the complexity of bureaucracy.
How can young people get access to entrepreneurship?
First of all, you need an idea. Then you can register your company to the chamber of Commerce, you can be supported by intermediary or trade associations. It is a rather easy path during the first 5 years of economic life of your activity, thanks to light tax regimes. Flat rate schemes allow a 5% tax rate in the first 5 years. It is also possible to extend this duration in case of low turnovers. Conversely, the transition to more important businesses is then bound to one of highest fiscal pressure in Europe.
How can the different actors cooperate to make it possible?
The above-mentioned actors can have a strong influence on the process. For a young entrepreneur, it is required to be able to rapidly adapt its business model to market changes. We should consider that, on average, for 100 enterprises created in Italy, only half survive after 5 years. In this sense consultancy firms and industrial associations have an important role in helping young entrepreneurs to get a global vision of the market.
