WRITTEN QUESTION E-2076/00

by Chris Davies (ELDR) to the Commission

(27 June 2000)

Subject: Ethnic Business

DG Enterprise has commissioned research into ethnic minority business.

What progress has been made to date on these research projects?

What information has been obtained, and what lessons have been learnt so far?

Will these reports be made public?

Answer given by Mr Liikanen on behalf of the Commission

(20 July 2000)

In Council Decision 97/15/EC of 9 December 1996 on a third multiannual programme for small and medium-sized enterprises in the European Union(1) the Commission is asked to promote entrepreneurship and support target groups, amongst which are entrepreneurs from ethnic minorities.

Within this framework the Commission commissioned a study on young entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, ethnic minority entrepreneurs and co-entrepreneurs(2) in the Union and Central and Eastern Europe. The main aim was to identify the key issues and problems facing the target groups, in order to inform policy development at the European level and facilitate effective support for these target groups. The report on this study is currently being finalised. A printed version of the summary will be widely disseminated shortly.

Key findings, already available, include the fact that ethnic minority businesses (EMBs) form a small minority of the membership or client base of most business support and membership organisations. Just over one fifth of general support organisations are providing specific services to or have policies regarding ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Many of the problems faced by ethnic minority entrepreneurs are shared with other small firms. However some issues appear to be more of a problem for EMBs, such as accessing finance, perceived discrimination by some financial institutions(3) and support providers, language barriers, limited business and management skills, and greater marketing weaknesses than the wider small business population. Finally EMBs are over-concentrated in low entry threshold activities where the scope for market development may be limited.

On the basis of these first results it appears that there may be a need to increase access of ethnic minorities to both mainstream support provision and specially targeted support, to improve their access to finance, support the development of EMBs in new sectors of activity and to sponsor initiatives to build local capacity.

The full report on this survey will soon be made public and will be available to professional organisations and to all those concerned. In addition to the study the Commission has supported a number of pilot projects related to the training needs of entrepreneurs from ethnic minorities. The results of these projects could provide useful information on the ways to address the needs of this target group.

(1) OJ L 6, 10.1.1997.

(2) The term co-entrepreneur is used to describe the situation of a spouse or other close partner of a business owner-manager, who plays an important role in running a business even though he or she may not be, strictly speaking, an owner-manager him or herself.

(3) See also reply given by the Commission to the Written Question E-714/00 by Mr Glyn Ford, MEP, OJ C 374 E, 28.12.2000, p. 141.