37
ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN THE TRANSITION TOWARDS MARKET ECONOMY
This group of entrepreneurs also in-
cludes owners of larger housing or farm
units. The liberalized economic life allowed
them to open shops, hotels, ateliers and the
like, without making large investments.
Real estate owners from the big cities, those
living in resort settlements or at major
transport crossroads enjoyed differential
advantages in the economic utilization of
buildings and free terrains.
The third group of entrepreneurs
sprang out from the midst of former party-
state and economic
notables and the spe-
cial services. Well-informed and powerful,
this groups representatives engaged in
large-scale mediator or financial transac-
tions. They made a fortune in a short time.
The start-up capital of this group amounted
to privatization mostly of non-material as-
sets of the state sector (market positions,
know-how), as well as of material assets
and means from extra-budget funds and
accounts of political organizations. Often
the representatives of this group are dubbed
credit millionaires, after the large loans
they get from state and private banks.
These loans are granted under different
schemes and in practice are bad debts.
This group carries out its activities
through complicated economic configura-
tions, registered both in Bulgaria and
abroad, and it gradually drifts away from
the typical entrepreneur stratum. Some-
times they call themselves representatives
of the big business.
The fourth group is formed by citizens
who engaged in small businesses out of
unemployment or wishing to be economi-
cally independent. They start their business
mainly on the basis of personal and family
savings, professional expertise and ingenu-
ity. Many of them take loans, and carry
out their business activities either in rented
premises or in their own homes. This
groups starting positions are the most
unfavourable, and they most often suffer
bankruptcies or dying away of business
activities. Yet economic coercion makes
these businessmen quite zealous and they
are the most viable among entrepreneurs.
Their potential to be promoted to the
middle class is big. They are the most will-
a private firm. P.G.s firm is at
a standstill. P.G. learned about
a PHARE project for financing
production and production ser-
vices, and remembered that to-
gether with an engineer from his
former work he had worked on
a tool device. The engineer had
also been discharged from the
plant, and they both applied for
a loan under PHARE project
against a low interest rate and a
gratis repayment period. The
loan was used to buy a small
furnace where they cast the
main body of the device, as well
as precise tools. The production
proved successful and the sales
went up.
Box 3.4.
P.G. had lost his job due to the
diminished orders to the mili-
tary
equipment plant where he
worked. When registering as an
unemployed he learned that he
can get his unemployment ben-
efits as a lump sum, if he pre-
sented a small business project.
He decided to open up a repair-
shop for household appliances.
He signed a contract with the
labour office and registered his
company. He then turned his
garage into a repair-shop and
bought various tools. But most
of his fellow-citizens repair their
appliances themselves. Some of
his former co-workers do the
same, without having registered
Entrepreneurship means initiative and resolution
sanitary officers threaten to close
the bakery down without any
grounds whatsoever. The tax au-
thorities often go through the
firms documentation hoping to
find any lapses and have their
wheels oiled. Most of all G.B. is
worried by the advice to com-
ply with the prices of the former
cooperative bakery that had
been sold out to another com-
pany. The advice came from ro-
bust young men that are strang-
ers to the town. This had made
G.B. give up his idea of opening
a bakery in his wifes village. He
decided to wait for better times
to come.
Box 3.3.
G.B. graduated in technology of
the food industry and worked as
workshop master in his home-
town. The workshop was closed
down, and he was discharged.
His wife also remained jobless.
They got an old bakery restitu-
ted and decided to engage in
breadmaking. The bakery and
their house were mortgaged.
With the loan they repaired the
building and purchased equip-
ment. The bakery and the adjoin-
ing small shop were quick to at-
tract customers. Sometimes they
had to work round-the-clock.
The income covered expenses
and the profit was good. But
Restitution of real estate and entrepreneurship
HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT ! BULGARIA 1996
38
ing to learn entrepreneurial skills and in
case of failure, to start up another business
of their own. With their original ideas and
professional training, this groups represen-
tatives can expand the scope of entrepre-
neurship into non-traditional niches -
consultancy and experts reports, training,
impresario and social work. They can intro-
duce new
technology and equipment into
traditional occupations, thus making them
competitive.
The above typologization of entrepre-
neurs in Bulgaria is conditional. In the cour-
se of time the individual groups will increas-
ingly interact, and their relationships will
probably be institutionalized. The bigger the
share of the first and fourth group both as a
number and participation in the GDP gen-
eration, the better the prospects for small
business development would be. The greater
share of the third group and the higher con-
centration of national capital in their hands
is a sign of a distorted economic and social
structure of society. Entrepreneurship needs
state support as a whole, but a differenti-
ated approach to the specific needs of indi-
vidual groups would make the limited bud-
get resources more effective, and the assis-
tance more efficacious.
3.4. Normative and legal basis of
entrepreneurship
The state monopoly in economy was
abolished by different normative acts in
1990. Legal conditions were created for the
citizens to rent or buy state enterprises in
the field of tourism, trade and services. The
1991 Constitution ensured rights and pro-
tection of the private property. The Trade
Law regulated the structure and procedure
of firm registration. Contract relations and
bankruptcies were settled by law. Account-
ing was brought in line with that in the mar-
ket-economy countries. The Law on the
Protection of Competition provided small
companies and consumers with guarantees
against monopoly and disloyal competition.
The restitution laws restored ownership of
arable land, shops, warehouses, city build-
ings and industrial projects that had been
cooperated or nationalized in past years.
Irrespective of these changes in legis-
lation, small business still lacks the neces-
sary legal environment. Many relationships
are settled by outdated laws or statutory
acts. The frequent change of the rules of
the game does not contribute to lasting
ties within the country or with foreign part-
ners. International relations are also ham-
pered by the visa regime and restrictions
for Bulgarian entrepreneurs. The lack of a
law on state orders likewise discriminates
entrepreneurship.
The main shortcoming of legislation
is the lack of a law that settles the status,
institutions, policy of incentives and other
issues of entrepreneurship.
3.5 Institutional environment of
entrepreneurship
The institutional environment of en-
trepreneurship has developed parallel to its
Restituted sites and entrepreneurship
mostly in the large settlements.
The
bulk of sites that are sub-
ject to restitution are empty lots
and courtyards (38.3%), and
houses (24.7%). The rest are
shops, restaurants, hotels, phar-
macies, warehouses, garages,
industrial enterprises, adminis-
trative buildings, etc., that can
provide a start-up for entrepre-
neurship.
Assessed as a physi-
cal capital and value, the resti-
tuted property lacks the charge
of an essential factor for ex-
panding entrepreneurship. But
from a psychological point of
view restitution has played a
major role in the re-birth of
private property.
Box 3.5
A survey of the National Insti-
tute of Statistics shows that
from the adoption of restitution
laws in late 1992 till Septem-
ber 30, 1995, 81,429 applica-
tions for restitution of various
sites were submitted. The num-
ber of actually restituted sites
is 50,838 at a total amount of
18,739 million leva. Some 86
per cent of restituted sites are
in towns, against a mere 14 per
cent in the villages. The five
largest cities in Bulgaria ac-
count for 55 per cent of restitu-
ted sites. Given such territorial
distribution of restored rights
on real estate, the restitution
can boost entrepreneurship
There is no law that
settles the status of
entrepreneurship