The persons who want to start a small business in Moldova often face bureaucracy and corruption at the very first stage and do not have access to financing, said representatives of the Alliance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Moldova that was founded almost four years ago by an American citizen who came to Chisinau to start a business. In his intention to open a public place in Chisinau, he met with different bureaucratic procedures and a regulatory framework that was rather unclear for an entrepreneur. The process of obtaining permissive documents turned out to be difficult. Communicating with other entrepreneurs, he decided to create the alliance that now promotes advocacy, encouragement and protection initiatives intended for SMEs, IPN reports.
In a meeting of the Economic Press Club, the alliance’s executive director Liliana Busuioc said the Alliance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Moldova is an employers association that represents more than 50 SMEs working based on principles of transparency and integrity. The alliance focuses on a number of areas, such as development of a business community for persons who want to become members of the associative culture, to be pro-active and to become involved in changing things in the country as regards the regulation of the business climate. “The associative culture is at an incipient phase, especially as regards the small enterprises. Not many entrepreneurs understand very well and clearly what an association is, why it is important and how it can help us,” noted Liliana Busuioc.
According to her, today the association represents companies operating in the IT sector, food industry, service sector and other areas. It serves as a first appeal instance and ensures advocacy for SMEs. These initiatives are very important given that the SMEs represent 98% of all the enterprises working in Moldova. Also, the SMEs employ 60% of the labor force in the economy. When an enterprise faces difficulties in obtaining particular information or in relation to particular state institutions, the association offers assistance. Also, representatives of the alliance become actively involved in public consultations centering on the framework that regulates the work of SMEs.
The association’s president David Smith, who is a businessman, said that to overcome the problems, confidence between the business community and the authorities should be strengthened. In this regard, there are positive examples of such practices at international level. When the cooperation with the Government started, the alliance promoted a document called the declaration on the rights of small enterprises. Among these rights are the access to information, payment of taxes, clear regulations, right to association and others. By this declaration, the Government is requested to promote and protect these rights by adequately implementing the legislation and by reforms.
The Alliance of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises of Moldova was founded in March 2016 and about 40% of its members are enterprises with mixed capital.
