3.10 Promotion of entrepreneurship culture
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Special events and activities
In North Macedonia events and activities for promotion of entrepreneurship are maintained on an ad hoc basis. However, in recent years there has been an increase in activities in this field and also entrepreneurship is increasingly integrated into government documents and strategies. Namely, infrastructure for institutional support of entrepreneurship has been established through various initiatives within government ministries and government agencies to support the work of business incubators, regional centers and various networks of entrepreneurship support.
In that direction, the Fund for Innovation and Technological Development is more frequently organizing info events and workshops in order to promote the current projects and possibilities for financial support for newly founded start-up and spin-off companies. The Fund is also the institutional patron of the Social Impact Award North Macedonia. The Social Impact Award is a competition and an educational program to support entrepreneurial ideas among young people who have the potential to develop and implement innovative solutions to global problems. The aim is to increase the interest among young people for social entrepreneurship through the award and through it they will be able to understand the possibilities for developing their own career.
The Agency for Promotion of Entrepreneurship in the Republic of North Macedonia is a state owned institution established for implementation of the Governmental policies for small and medium enterprises and other related projects / programs adopted by the Government for support of entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness.
The Strategic Plan 2022-2026 of the Agency for Promotion of Entrepreneurship of the Republic of North Macedonia foresee regional campaigns to be held, for raising the awareness of the availability of financial instruments for small and medium enterprises; promotional activities (fairs, workshops, campaigns); training; career fairs and other activities. Moreover, the Strategic Plan foresees activities to be held in educational institutions throughout the years.
The plan for 2022-2026 envisages 120 activities to be held during the period of five years, foreseeing 24 activities in one year with a budget of 35.000.000 MKD per year, with the total budget for five years of 177.500.000 MKD.
No specific activities to promote youth entrepreneurship in the field of social entrepreneurship are conducted with public funds. Promotion of the concept of social entrepreneurship is made by other non-public organizations and institutions that are active in the field.
The newly adopted "Program for the Development of Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for 2025" became available and started implementation on February 8, 2025. However, similar to the 2024 and 2023 program, it does not include specific measures or budget allocations targeting youth, as was the case in the 2022 Entrepreneurship Support Program. While the program aims to foster entrepreneurship and SME competitiveness, the absence of dedicated youth-focused initiatives for the third consecutive year raises concerns about tailored support for young entrepreneurs.
At the beginning of 2023, the Government adopted the Program for Economic Reforms 2023-2025 . In the Program, the following are identified as key challenges for competitiveness and growth: strengthening human capital for inclusive development, encouraging the green transition, improving the competitiveness of domestic enterprises, their integration into global value chains and formalization of the economy. Although there are no specific measures aimed at young people and youth entrepreneurship, the planned measures enable improved access to finance that will encourage entrepreneurship among young people and women.
Networks and partnerships
Youth entrepreneurship support network is a European network composed of civil society organizations working to encourage youth entrepreneurship. The network works on building capacities and networking of civil society organizations, promotion of activities and initiatives for strengthening of the youth in order to increase the efficiency of the members of the network.
They help their members fulfill their mission by increasing their capacities for effectively running their organizations. They also provide specialist consultancy services for the members involved in youth entrepreneurship, through development and change processes, which can involve strategy development and program design.