64 percent of Greeks want to become businessmen, Amway said its seventh annual global survey released on Tuesday.
The survey, conducted in cooperation with the Tech University of Munich, records public trends on entrepreneurship throughout Europe, including Greece.
Compared with 2015, Greek respondents were less positive towards entrepreneurship (64 pct) in 2016 from 69 pct last year.
A 63 pct of Greek respondents said they wanted to become businessmen, a 36 pct said they were convinced they had the abilities to set up a business, while a 55 pct said they would not abandon their intention to set up an enterprise even if their families or friends tried to convinced them otherwise.
A 48 pct of Greeks said they felt at ease with starting their own business, while a 49 pct said they felt discomfort, with respondents in younger ages (below 35 years) recording the higher percentage rates (60 pct) compared with other age groups (35-49: 49 pct and over 50 years: 35 pct).
Greek also felt more comfortable with being their own boss (42 pct), while prospects for a secondary income (33 pct) was also an attractive prospect.
Amway said a 35 pct of European citizens saw self-employment as more likely in the next five years. (via AthensNewsAgency)
I don’t know when the survey was conducted but the upcoming social contribution increases for self-employed or those having a work contract and a self-employment/freelance activity are having more and more small businessmen considering to close their enterprises.
Another negative factor is the banks reluctance to lend capital needed to set up own business.
On the other hand, the prospect of getting a job at 586 euro gross or 511 euro gross for those below 25 is not rosy either.
No wonder many considering to migrate and seek a better future elsewhere.
PS I was shocked on Monday as I was underway to buy firewood to see that three of the businesses I used to buy in previous years had simply closed down. And this in times when the firewood trade has been allegedly flourishing as many households cannot afford to pay to heating oil or even natural gas.
TEVE is the most pernicious and damaging levy of all, because not only is it a lot of money, but it takes no account of the profitability of the business, nor does it take into account whether or not that business is seasonal. As a result, many a business startup which will struggle to turn a profit at first is throttled at birth by the demands from TEVE. It is another example of stupidity writ large from successive Greek governments, who seem unable to grasp the fundamental reality that small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and need encouragement in the form of simple rules and financial breaks, not Byzantine rules and regulations and punitive financial demands.
It’s no wonder Greece is an economic basket case. The only way you can run a business here at a profit is to cheat the taxman. If you play by their rules, bankruptcy beckons. It’s madness.
TEVE (or whatever it is called now) was originally a copy of German schemes — like all the poorly thought out policies in Greece. But it morphed into this compulsory levy, regardless of income level, because of the fraud perpetuated by a large proportion of the self-employed many many decades ago. If it was not set at a compulsory minimum, almost nobody would pay it, and the scheme would collapse overnight.
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Worse than TEVE is the compulsory payment of VAT (FPA) by all self-employed persons. IN civilised EU countries, businesses under quite a high threshold can choose whether to register for VAT or not. In Greece, the state taxes individuals and small businesses simply to collect the money, with no regard to the consequences to small businesses of removing 23% from their income, along with having to employ accountants to handle the complexity of VAT returns.
They couldn’t ask enough people because most have cell-phones only, so they’ve found folks at home for representing.