Croatia has participated in GEM every year since 2002, thus enabling stakeholders to observe trends and entrepreneurial activity patterns both within the country and in comparison to other European Union countries. This streak continued in July with the launch of the latest GEM Croatia Report. The launch garnered a plethora of media coverage, including a 24-minute interview with GEM Croatia team leader Slavica Singer on public television and a full feature in the Nacional.
Noteworthy trends include:
- In 2022, 63% of respondents believe that being an entrepreneur is a good career choice (Croatia is at the top of GEM-participating EU countries in terms of expressed intentions to start a business venture).
- For all three years between 2020-2022, Croatia tops all GEM-participating EU countries in the perception to start a business venture. In 2022, 26.4% of the adult population would like to do so, compared to 15.3% of adult population in the EU.
- Such high optimism about the opportunities and intentions of entrepreneurial activity is accompanied by high self-confidence about personal abilities to start a business venture – Croatia is again in first place among the EU countries that have participated in the GEM survey (in 2022, 73.6% in Croatia, while the EU average is 50.8%).
- In 2022, Croatia was 16th out of 18 EU countries that participated in the GEM National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI), and in 2020 and 2021 Croatia was in the last place.
- In terms of the number of established businesses (in operation for more than 42 months) per 100 adults, Croatia is at the bottom among EU countries that participated in the GEM survey.
Based on these and many other trends and data, the report authors (Slavica Singer, Nataša Šarlija, Sanja Pfeifer and Sunčica Oberman Peterka) outlined 11 recommendations in the English section of the Executive Summary that stakeholders should consider to grow entrepreneurship in Croatia and connect to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. In summary, these are:
1. Foster open coordination between relevant ministries (economy, finance, education, science, labour, regional development) in coordinating policies, strategies, programmes and instruments that support entrepreneurship. (Linked to UN goal # 17, Partnership for the Goals).
2. Simplify the regulatory framework in which entrepreneurial activity takes place. Otherwise, it won’t be possible to build an investment climate nor take advantage of ‘windows of opportunity’. (Linked to UN goals: # 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and # 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
3. Strengthen the innovation capacity of the economy by stimulating cooperation between research institutions and the economy, with the aim of commercialising innovative products. It is also recommended to start a support programme for small and medium-sized enterprises for the use of services of industrial designers. (Linked to UN goals: # 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and # 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
4. Analyse the possibility of tax stimulation (through compensation programmes) of employee entrepreneurial activity, with the aim of strengthening the competitiveness of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, on the national, but even more so, on the international market. (Linked to UN goals: # 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and # 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
5. Ensure that all young people have access to formal education (from primary to tertiary level), that enables the development of entrepreneurial competencies of students in accordance with the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp). (Linked to UN goal # 4 Quality Education) .
6. Use government programmes to stimulate the development of services that would position professional infrastructure (centres for entrepreneurship, incubators, accelerators, development agencies) as a good support for those who enter entrepreneurial activity and those who want to develop an innovative business venture with growth potential. The portfolio of service must provide training for potential and existing entrepreneurs to reduce business failures. (Linked to UN goals: # 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and # 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
7. Intensify policies / programmes that encourage the balancing of entrepreneurial activity with regard to gender, age and regions. (Linked to UN goals: # 5 Gender Equality, # 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, # 1 No Poverty, # 10 Reduced Inequalities, and # 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities).
8. Enhance the state’s venture capital fund to finance innovative and growing small and medium-sized enterprises and provide tax relief for those who act as business angels. (Linked to UN goals: # 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, and # 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure).
9. Develop and implement a system for monitoring and evaluating the effects of government policies and programmes and ensure public availability of such information, bearing in mind the Think Small First principle. In particular, develop a system for monitoring the implementation of the 2021-2026 National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the backbone of government policies and programmes, but also of numerous other actors responsible for its implementation. (Linked to UN goal # 17, Partnership for the Goals).
10.Create a framework for statistical monitoring of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (connect statistical databases on company operations, ownership, export/import activities, and indicators on innovation), because without this it is impossible to provide comparative information against which a company can be measured (group, the best). This data should be publicly available, free of charge. At the sub-national level, the availability of statistical information is very scarce and inconsistent, which makes managing regional development significantly more difficult. (Linked to UN goal # 17, Partnership for the Goals).
11. Promote successful entrepreneurial ventures in order to strengthen social appreciation of entrepreneurial activities. (Linked to UN goal # 17, Partnership for the Goals).
Access the full report. Sponsors of the report are Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, Croatian Association of Banks, The Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, ICES International Center for Entrepreneurship Studies and the UNESCO Department of Entrepreneurship Education.