Support for entrepreneurs
The Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EBEA) has singled out six areas that could be improved to enhance Greek competitiveness and foster entrepreneurship. Addressing a conference on Thursday night on entrepreneurship, EBEA President Drakoulis Foudoukakos said entrepreneurs should be given recognition for the role they play in society. Businesses, in turn, should remember that the days when they could depend on the State for handouts are long gone, he stressed. Instead they should seek to mobilize foreign capital as well as national resources to set up operations. Foudoukakos also cited a perennial complaint by companies that there should be a level playing field for all, crucial for the growth of entrepreneurship. Much, however, depends on the quality of human resources, he said, pointing to the need for a stable education policy to turn out trained and skilled workers. The State could help foster entrepreneurship by implementing crucial reforms in the public sector, he added. Robert Hisrich, professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, lamented the inadequate attention paid to entrepreneurship in Greece relative to the country’s strong growth. Entrepreneurship has proved to be very effective in the commercial exploitation of innovative products and the creation of new businesses and new jobs, he said. E.S. Savas, a professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York who has gained fame as a privatization guru, pointed to the benefits of public-private partnerships.
