The Development of Entrepreneurship in Greece: The Aftermath of an Economic Crisis
Abstract
The European economic crisis was devastating for many business owners in Greece. The constant change, instability and uncertainty led many people to lose their jobs. Likewise, many graduates were unemployed without a chance to pursue a career path, ultimately leading many to emigrate to other countries to find a better working environment. However, in Greece, the crisis led to an environment where some people, due to the lack of good job opportunities or because of a new business opportunity, decided to start their own business. In this research, we conducted a survey targeting active entrepreneurs. We aimed to analyze the entrepreneurial situation in Greece through questions about their business’ development, finance and growth from the end of 2018 until the end of 2019. Within this framework, our results indicated that the entrepreneurs faced numerous problems and some have still not fully recovered. Nonetheless, some enterprises managed to grow and expand their business operations. In conclusion, the future generation of entrepreneurs needs to have all the necessary business skills and access to funding opportunities to accelerate and innovate their business ideas more quickly.
Keywords: entrepreneurship, economic crisis, Greece, development, SME
References
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