Round-table discussion "Entrepreneurship in Russia: 15 Years of Research" was held at the Graduate School of Management of Saint Petersburg University as part of the 9th International Emerging Markets Conference - 2022. Experts discussed the factors influencing the development of entrepreneurship in regions and the efficiency of existing educational programs. 

The Graduate School of Management of SPbU conducts the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research every year. According to its data, in 2010 only 22,7% of people in Russia believed to have enough information and experience to start a business. Only 4% planned to put their knowledge into practice. In 2021, 35% of respondents were sure to be competent enough to run a business, and 12% were planning to start a company.

"Entrepreneur self-esteem is a very important indicator that we measure every year, '' says Olga Verkhovskaya, Assistant Professor at the Department of Strategic and International Management at GSOM SPbU, Project Manager of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). ー We're not speaking about educational status, as Russian entrepreneurs are among the most educated in the world and many of them have university degrees, but about personal evaluation of their own capabilities. We see a relation between increasing entrepreneurship activity and the number of people who understand how to register a business, generate initial capital, benefit from government support programs and so on. This is where educational programs play a significant part.".

The participants of the round table believe that in order to support entrepreneurship it is necessary to develop not only regional educational programs but also a quality and performance monitoring system.

One of such projects, Entrepreneur Educational Activity Index, was presented by Yuriy Dmitriev, Executive Director of GR Direction at Sberbank, representative of the assigned team of Financial Awareness Development Association. The assigned team of Financial Awareness Development Association comprising representatives from Sberbank, the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, HSE and NAFI studied the experience of 1200 companies and organizations from all Russian regions that conducted about 4000 unique courses for business representatives and potential entrepreneurs. In the course of three years, about 550 thousand people have completed training. Most of the programs are implemented through My Business centers and other small and medium business support organizations. About 50% of programs under the study are dedicated to business startup and acceleration, the remaining ones are aimed to support existing companies. Researchers have calculated the Entrepreneur Educational Activity Index. It is a merged integrated estimate indicator reflecting the level of demand for educational programs in the sphere of entrepreneurship and engagement of Russians into them. A rating of subjects of the Russian Federation has been compiled based on the Index values.

"Today the average values of the Entrepreneur Educational Activity Index and its components may be used as a target by those subjects of the Russian Federation that show lower index values than the mean values. For example, the average value for the "share of people that have completed training in the country's population" is 7,5 people for 1000. However, in some regions the value may vary from 1 to 20 people for 1000. We also have to pay attention to the duration of educational programs. In leading regions the weighted average number of hours spent by one person who has completed training is three times larger than in regions from the end of the list", ー told Yuriy Dmitriev, Executive Director of GR Direction at Sberbank, representative of the assigned team of Financial Awareness Development Association.

For reference:

"Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. Russia 2021/2022" country report has been accomplished as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project. Its aim is to introduce the general specifications of the project and 2021 research results to Russian entrepreneurs, business experts and other stakeholders.

Today GEM is the most respected research project that studies the relations between entrepreneurship and economic growth. GEM reports are the main information source for comparative studies of entrepreneurship activity levels at startup and development stages of companies.

In Russia the project is run by the research team from the Graduate School of Management of Saint Petersburg University (GSOM SPbU) ー a leading Russian business school created on the basis of one of the oldest Russian universities, a large scientific, educational and cultural center.