Microfinance and Business Start-ups Review of the Current Practice in Europe

Microfinance and Business Start-ups Review of the Current Practice in Europe Webinar on 23 January, 2018

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How to participate: To actively participate in the session, open the Participants panel from the toolbar in the bottom of the screen and the Chat box In the beginning of the session, all participants are muted If you wish to speak, please raise a hand or request to unmute you If you wish to write a comment or a question, please type the message

Webinar session flow Introduction Nicola Benaglio, Policy and Research Officer, European Microfinance Network (EMN) n.benaglio@europeanmicrofinance.org Presentation of the key results Justyna Pytkowska, Research Manager, Microfinance Centre (MFC) justyna@mfc.org.pl Q&A session

INTRODUCTION

Research Objectives Aim of the study: Exploring the conditions for business creation and start-up development and the role of microfinance vis-a-vis start-ups Focus areas: the national strategies supporting entrepreneurship the role of governmental programs in supporting business creation overall financial and non-financial support offered to start-ups by financial institutions and other relevant actors

Methodology 11 country level case studies: Albania, Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Spain, UK

Start-up Ecosystem Country level case studies: Desk study Interviews with key stakeholders Group discussion

KEY RESULTS

Entrepreneurship and Start-ups Similar levels of enterprise ownership across the countries 5-7% of adults run a mature business (more than 3.5 years old) Different level of engagement in early stage entrepreneurial activity (4-10% of adults) with Romania and the UK in the lead Large differences in the entrepreneurial intentions with Romania and Macedonia in the lead Business creation rate as % of adult population 29.0 Entrepreneurial Intention 9.1 15.1 24.9 Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA) 5.1 6.2 7.1 10.1 10.8 5.2 4.6 4.8 8.8 7.9 6.5 4.4 6.2 7.0 6.2 5.2 6.1 5.5 7.2 7.5 Established Business Ownership Rate Source: GEM 2016 Spain Germany Bulgaria Italy UK Hungary Macedonia Romania

Entrepreneurship and Start-ups Different motivations to start a business: Personal preferences to be self-employed UK, Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Spain No other work alternatives Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia Motivation for starting a business 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Neither of the two reasons Combination of both No other alternatives for work Mainly through own personal preferences Source: European Working Conditions Survey 2015

Entrepreneurship and Start-ups Barriers to entrepreneurship and earlystage business development: Finding customers Access to finance - Insufficient collateral - Bureaucracy Starting a business conditions - Number of procedures - Time - Cost 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 100 95 90 85 80 Severity of problems affecting young and mature SMEs less than 2 years old 2 and more years Starting a Business Score (Distance to Frontier) Source: SAFE 2014 75 Source: Worold Bankąs Doing Business 2016

Start-up Ecosystem In every country studied a national strategy supports entrepreneurship, but the nature and scope varies among the member states. Focus on: Innovation, STEM industries Specific target groups Business creation (start-ups) or growth of mature firms Ecosystems for start-ups exist in every country and include a variety of institutions, public and private Funding for start-up support from public sources (national budgets, EU programs, non-eu foreign aid, EU country-to-country) and private (own funds of commercial banks, non-profit and not-for-profit institutions

Start-up Ecosystem Source/Implementer State institution Commercial company Public (national, EU, international) Employment offices Business development agencies Development funds Entrepreneurship centres Banks Non-profit, not for profit Business incubators MFIs (Bulgaria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, UK) Private X Banks MFIs (Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Spain, UK)

Microfinance in Europe and Start-ups 77% of MFIs serve business start-ups and 16% of MFIs serve pre-start-ups Start-ups usually constitute less than 40% of the clients, although in case of 19% of MFIs start-ups are a predominant client group. In terms of the numbers, the majority of MFIs serve less than 1,000 start-ups each MFIs in Western Europe are more involved in serving start-ups Distribution of MFIs by share and number of pre-startups and start-ups among business clients 4% 4% 30% 17% 9% 17% >1,000 clients 500-1,000 clients 26% 100-500 clients 36% 49% 9% 1-100 clients none Source: Microfinance in Europe: A Survey of EMN-MFC Members. Report 2014-2015 Eastern Europe Western Europe

Start-up Ecosystem Degrees of MFI involvement in serving start-ups: Approach Predominant focus on business startups Mix of start-ups and operating business clients Ad hoc or special projects for business start-ups No start-ups among MFI clients Examples of MFIs Youth Enterprise Scotland Seed Capital Bizkaia Micro Most of the MFIs Besa Fund About a quarter of the MFIs

Challenges Lack of clarity what is considered a start-up No common definition makes it difficult to understand and compare the approaches of institutions Limited access to funds State funds committed to start-ups are used by state institutions, EU funding is difficult to access by small MFIs Undermined sustainability of MFIs High cost of serving start-ups aredifficult to recover without subsidies No products and services No special products responding to the needs of businesses not generating positive cash flow from the start

Challenges Limited capacity No skills and methodology for assessing businesses without business track record and credit history Limited non-financial services MFI non-financial services available only in a few countries, rarely seen in Eastern Europe Legal and regulatory sphere Legal restrictions in several countries are a barrier to sector development

Options for Strenthening the MFI Role in Start-up Ecosystem Definition of a start-up Develop the common grounds for categorising businesses according to their growth stage, rather than age Access to funding Enable access to low-cost or free public funds national and EU - to reach more start-ups at an affordable price Risk support Enable access to guarantee funds (national or EU) to reduce MFI risk burden

Options for Strenthening the MFI Role in Start-up Ecosystem Financial products to better match the needs of start-ups Develop products that combine features of a cash flow loan and equity investment. Know-how on assessing risk Develop alternative credit scoring tools that allow to assess risk in absence of business history Business support services for start-ups Add non-financial services to equip entrepreneurs with business skills

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Read more To read more, please visit MFC website to download the research paper: Microfinance and Business Startups: Review of the Current Practice in Europe http://mfc.org.pl/mfc-publicationsmicrofinance-centre-research-results/

Thank You! This research has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020). For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi