Issue 16

ERENET Profile Vol. IV, No. 4.
www.erenet.org
Pay-chains breakdown - about 39% of Russian SME’s face difficulties with financial counteracting
with stakeholders.
The Federal Government provides administrative and financial support to the SMEs.
Firstly, beginning from July 2009 the registration of a small business is made simple. A businessman
only has to inform the government that he or she is staring a new business without getting all sorts of
permissions.
Secondly, administrative control of SME’s activity in Russia is done once in 3 years. Nonsystematic
governmental control of SME’s is done only with permission of the prosecutor.
Also, the minimum quote of SME’s goods and services in public purchases is 20%. This measure
provides SMEs with extra EURO 20 bn. public purchases. Russian regional governments are given the right
to reduce the income tax from 15% to 5%. The federal government introduced special real estate funds for
SMEs. These funds provide SME’s with discount and long-term rental rates. This is about administrative
support.
The measures of financial support provided by the federal government to SME’s are the following:
1. Funds are provided for regional governments annual since 2005 year
2. Discounted financing ratio 1 to 4. This means that for 1 EURO from the regional budget 4
Euros from the federal budget are subsidised
3. Priority subsidizing to crisis-suffered regions
4. SMEs loans refinancing by “Vnesheconombank” – EURO 660 bn.
Government also realize some special measures of support for the youth entrepreneurship and startups:
grants for start-ups, education programs for start-ups and youth entrepreneurship, business incubators
for start-ups and youth entrepreneurship support measures.
Grants for Start-ups are given to just registered small entrepreneurships working for less than 1 year, on
a gratuitous and irrevocable basis at a rate of EURO 7,000 for one support addressee, on the terms of
participation financing of target expenses on registration of firm, the expenses connected with the beginning
of enterprise activity, and after passage by the applicant of short-term training and in the presence of the
business project. Priority group of addressees of support – the unemployed, youth, invalids.
Education programs for start-ups and youth entrepreneurship includes granting of certificates for a
businessman to choose educational institution and a training direction, granting of grants for indemnification
of the expenses connected with payment of training within the limits of the Presidential program of
preparation of administrative shots, granting of educational services to young men on the basis of higher
educational institutions for the purpose of stimulation of creation by young men of new small enterprises -
Schools of youth business.
Business incubators for start-ups provide such services as the working places for beginning
entrepreneurs (for the time period not exceeding three years) beneficial terms on attractive terms (in the first
year of rent – 40% from the rent rate, the second year – 60%, the third year – 90-100%); free educational
service in complex; such consulting service as consulting in taxation, book keeping, crediting, a legal
protection and development of the enterprise, business planning, improvement of professional skills and
training; access to information databases. Now in Russia are created 112 business incubators, from them 59
already operate; as a whole it is 140 thousand sq. meters of the equipped areas on which it is possible to place
7,700 workplaces.
The Youth Entrepreneur is person aged till 30 years, legal bodies, heads and proprietors aged till 30
years. The main youth entrepreneurship support measures are popularization of business among youths, the
organization of television programs (competitions, talk shows, and author’s programs), publications in
newspapers and magazines on the subjects of youth business, creation and support of information portals in
the Internet, programs of training for students in business environment, support of summer business schools
for youth, the organization and carrying out of exhibitions of youth projects, selection and financing of the
most perspective business projects.
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