No help from the banks
Both Yiannis Voutselas, a local government program adviser, and Thanassis Skoubouris, managing director of the Nestor consulting firm, say that banks create more problems than the ministries. «Banks are not able to fully comprehend the role they should be playing in development in order for funds to be absorbed in the short term and for production to get under way, so that in the long term they may benefit from the development of a country that has healthy, competitive businesses,» said Skoubouris. Both referred to banks’ complete failure to administer the Economy Ministry’s program on small and medium-sized businesses. They point out that in other countries banks themselves have development funds and high-risk capital with which they subsidize young – and not only – business owners who can convince them (with their qualifications, experience and innovative ideas) that they will be successful.
