More than half of the 172 entrepreneurs who opened a company in 2012 started their own business by investing less than 5 euros. The obstacles they find on their way are mainly those related to the economic crisis and bureaucracy. These are some of the information that emerges from an analysis carried out by the Unioncamere Study Centre.
Through a survey of the 384 companies registered in the registers of the chambers of commerce in 2012, Unioncamere quantified the "real" new active companies as almost 172 (equal to 45% of the total); or those that were born without having any connection with existing companies.
A large majority of men undertake the entrepreneurial path (74%), of Italian nationality (87%). But it should be emphasized that the contribution of non-EU immigrants (8%) is higher than that of EU citizens (5%). In 44% of cases, new entrepreneurs have a diploma as their educational qualification. Only 13% of the total said they had made the decision to start their own business without having a working background: these are mainly cases in which doing business turns out to be a solution to the employment problem.
A focus of Unioncamere's research concerns the problems that lurk in the first period of life of companies nascent. Despite the spirit of initiative of the new entrepreneurs, the economic crisis appears as an important obstacle in 23% of their declarations. Then emerges the difficulty of entering the identified market (11%) and the weight of the competition (10,7%). Finally, without forgetting the problem of regulatory issues: just under a fifth of the answers indicate, among the sources of criticism, knowledge of the laws and the administrative procedure; a further 5,8% feel the excessive weight of the tax system. With over 10% of the reports, financial problems (lack of capital and scarcity of credit) ultimately appear.
The companies that are born are small: in more than half of the cases, the initial investment does not exceed 5 thousand euros while in 27% it makes use of an amount ranging from 5 to 10 thousand euros. It is no coincidence, therefore, that 88% of new companies have taken on the legal form of sole proprietorship.
