Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship programmes in Tatarstan

Supporting self-employment and small-scale entrepreneurship programmes are used to be implemented by government employment service in Tatarstan. The programmes aim is to encourage self-employment through the provision of financial support for unemployed people wishing to create their own small business. This is to ensure than self-employment is a feasible option and in order to encourage self-employment for people who are at risk of becoming long-term unemployment.

Participation in the programmes was somewhat inferior to the target. The majority of the programme participants stated no previous business experience, while a sizeable portion stated that they had some experience through family businesses (family workers). As regards motivation for starting a business, most participants cite independent employment, better working conditions and higher earnings.