Search

Access to finance is an important component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, which remains one of the pressing issues affecting SMEs activity, the situation being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: the article aims at examining the influence of access to finance on the entrepreneurial ecosystem on the example of the Republic of Moldova. Furthermore, the evidence from other European and EaP countries was analyzed and compared. Method: to achieve the above stated objective, a mixed research approach was applied, comprising both secondary and primary data: questionnaire-based survey for small and medium sized enterprises, analysis of statistical data, comparison, deduction and synthesis. Results: SMEs have been identified as vulnerable to crises, with limited financial capital, insufficient internal procedures for crisis management, and underdeveloped alternative sources of finance. The evaluation of access to finance for enterprises in the country reveals its relative weak advantage for the development of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Originality: There was identified the impact of various sources of finance on entrepreneurship development in the Republic of Moldova, and analyzed the ease of financing before the pandemic and how the pandemic crisis has influenced SMEs activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to assess the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Republic of Moldova based on a survey of entrepreneurs. A pilot survey of 106 entrepreneurs from the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises has been carried out and implemented with the participation of the authors, as part of the research project "Multidimensional assessment and development of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at national and regional level in order to boost the SME sector in the Republic of Moldova" (20.80009.0807.38). As a result of the study, two tasks were solved: (i) it has been assessed the impact of indicators and components of the entrepreneurial ecosystem on the entrepreneurship's development in the Republic of Moldova according to the opinion of entrepreneurs; (ii) there were determined tendencies of changes in these indicators/components for two years (in 2021 compared to 2019). The findings of the empirical study reveal that infrastructure is the component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, which, according to entrepreneurs, has the most positive impact on business development in Moldova. Conversely, the existing legal framework and regulations are considered by the entrepreneurs to be the biggest obstacle, exacerbating its negative impact on business in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]