The major public policy objectives in supporting business creation is to help new entities acquire resources required to successfully start and grow their businesses (knowledge, capital, networks).
Considering financial literacy and skills, many countries today offer a mix development support, set up in the combined operating processes of their development institutions, guarantee schemes and advisory support bodies. This combination has shown in the past its full value for start-ups in traditional activities.
In the recent years, due to the mediatisation of remarkably successful ventures, of record volumes of equity raising, of the development of fintech and new forms of financing, including direct financing from the “real economy”, a vision of an easier context for innovative start-ups tends to set itself up.
Still, a less rosy picture exists for the majority of new SMEs, which still face traditional weaknesses and problems, some changes creating greater difficulties for accessing finance and developing skills.
In a fast-changing situation, the need for an updated, coherent and multi-level approach to entrepreneurship and SME development, taking into account the heterogeneity of situations, is a real challenge for policy makers and development institutions.
