‘There is a risk of losing entire generation of entrepreneurs’

Economic and employment growth across the EU cannot be sustained if governments do not put entrepreneurship and SMEs at the centre of economic strategy.

Addressing a Dáil committee on jobs yesterday, the head of enterprise and industry at the European Commission, Daniel Calleja-Crespo said conditions for access to finance will improve, but access to credit and new markets, eliminating late payments and red tape, and the promotion of entrepreneurship remain challenges to SME growth.

“We risk losing an entire generation of entrepreneurs if nothing is done,” he warned.