Youth entrepreneurship as a potential for vstrategic development of small entrepreneurship in the Russian Far East
Vitkovskaya Natalia Nikolaevna
Far Eastern Center for Economic Education, director
In the framework of the programs aimed to prepare the Russian Far East to forthcoming Russia's joining WTO, the issue of training qualified personnel for the RFE the educational level of which would meet the world standards, keeps being topical. The level of population welfare depends on the quality of the labor market and competitiveness of national labor resources.
A. Fursenko, Russian Minister of Education, speaking about the fact that the State decided to take care for its future… and ensure its competitiveness not only in economy but in the world society as well, and not only today but tomorrow, marks out three principal constituents:
- country's competitiveness
- provision and support of the sphere securing extended reproduction of knowledge
- educational and scientific space
The youth flow out to the western regions of Russia remains a serious problem for the Russian Far East. (RFE takes one of the first places throughout Russia – especially Primorsky and Khabarovsky Krai). Consequently, the purpose to prevent youth drain from the RFE arises.
It is extremely important for the society that one generation of businessmen be replaced by a new generation of young entrepreneurs, new workplaces be created, new products and services be produced. These facts determine how taxes will be paid off and what the level of population employment will be.
70% of university graduates see their fulfillment in small business. They are motivated by realization of their potential, by feeling that they are needed and can serve the society, by getting profit, materially supporting their families, and by contributing to the country's welfare. According to Oleg Bocharov, State Duma deputy, today's youth is maximally concrete and pragmatic. «Our objective – the deputy says – is not to create the maximum number of tax-payers but to overcome the crisis which small business is getting into now, in spite of all the state's efforts to develop it. The matter is that the small business has narrowed its educational activity, and has focused only on support of already existing small-scale enterprises, being motivated by getting different kinds of preferences… The main element of business potential development is the youth with its ideas and initiatives».
The energy of young people brining ideas, ideologies, technologies, and projects into this activity will allow to get a bank of ideas, and projects and will bring new forces and new energy into the small business.
Today the matter concerns not only entrepreneurship but the sphere of working with the youth as a whole.
Studying of business principles should be started already in high school. Today, students at schools are taught basics of economics but not basics of entrepreneurship.
Examples of small business support in different regions of Russia:
Mikhail Vishegorodtsev, Moscow Government minister, head of Department of Small Business Support and Development, performed as an organizer of the Moscow Forum of Young Entrepreneurs «Youth – to the business» which took place in Moscow in April, 2006, under support of the Moscow Association of Entrepreneurs, «OPORA ROSSII» («Support of Russia») and the city group «Civil change».
Opening the Forum, M. Vishegorodtsev noted that one of the Department's planned activities will be approved subprogram of youth entrepreneurship development which will be funded by budgetary funds. The priority fields where young entrepreneurs could best fulfill themselves are production, consumer services, innovations, housing and communal services, social sphere, and sphere of national projects realization: education and public health.
At the Academy of Management and Market (rector Veniamin Kaganov) there was developed an educational program for the youth "School of a young entrepreneur - 2006". The specialists of the Academy will help the students to form a business idea, create a team, develop a business plan, and defend it before the investor.
In Khabarovsk, in the city program "Development and Support of Small Entrepreneurship in Khabarovsk in 2004-2006" in the column "Activities" (section "Scientific and methodological bases of small entrepreneurship development") there is a point 6.7 indicating the following - continue conducting elective classes on basics of entrepreneurship in secondary schools of Khabarovsk.
Since 1999 through 2001 the non-for-profit fund Far Eastern Center for Economic Education (FECEE, Vladivostok) held regional fairs of School/Students companies.
Schoolchildren and students from Vladivostok and Primorsky Krai participated in international fairs of Student companies in France, Sweden, and Canada as well as in All-Russian fairs of Student companies in Moscow.
In 2005-2006, in the framework of the project "Cooperation in the development of small and medium business in Khabarovsk" FECEE shares its experience on development and support of youth entrepreneurship with the City Administration of Khabarovsk and Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law (KSAEL).
On April 27, 2006 at Khabarovsk State Academy of Economics and Law there was held a presentation of business plans developed by the students of 6 Khabarovsk universities. The topics of the developed business plans are as follows: "Translators agency", "Foam concrete production", "Used tires recycling", "White sail" cleaning company", "Seafarer" fishing company", "Star" infant school", "Faces" cafe".
At the same day there was held a round table "Youth entrepreneurship as a potential of small business development in the Russian Far East".
The objective of the round table - determine ways and means of cooperation among authorities, business and universities in the common issues of youth entrepreneurship development.
Students are mainly concerned about the following issues: how to start a business, where to get money, how to find investors, how to get a credit without having a pledge and financial success story?
In the framework of the Project, the Department of Economic Development of the City Administration of Khabarovsk in the person of A.S. Anisimov, the head of the Department, is ready to include the subprogram "Youth entrepreneurship" in the program "Development and support of small entrepreneurship in Khabarovsk in 2007-2009".
Another topical issues in the Russian Far East is unemployment of young specialists - university graduates.
To study the problem of young specialists unemployment in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk FECEE held Open Space conferences the topic of which was "The youth at the labor market". The OS conference in Khabarovsk was based on the same issues as the analogous conference in Vladivostok in November, 2003. The main results of the conference in Khabarovsk are the following:
Neither Vladivostok nor Khabarovsk students mentioned their own experience of job hunting. Both are remarkable for pragmatism: the majority of them thinks that the "good" job is one that brings much money. The students didn't mention such personal qualities that may help them find employment like self-reliance, persistence, ability to present oneself, ability to get on well with people, and state of health. The students marked out the following reasons of refusal in employment - a candidate didn't pass the interview, dissatisfaction with the salary, absence of working experience, negative references from former places of employment, poor state of health of a candidate. Khabarovsk students propose to establish psychological services (assistance to people) at employment centers. At the same time, according to the data of the All-Russian Center of Public Opinion Research, almost 90% of the unemployed need help to find a job.
For Vladivostok and Primorye university students the most significant issues are the following:
- personal resources of individuals searching for a job (level of education, personal and business qualities);
- requirements of employers toward qualities of employees;
- ways of searching a job;
- criteria of choosing a job.
For Khabarovsk university students the most significant issues are the following:
- requirements of employers toward qualities of employees;
- notions of a "good" job;
- personal resources of individuals searching for a job (level of education, personal and business qualities);
- reasons of refusal in employment.
As we can see, there are common issues and there are issues that differ: for Vladivostok students the most important is to know ways of searching a job and criteria of choosing a job; for Khabarovsk students - notions of a "good" job, and reasons of refusal in employment .
In market economy conditions the problems connected with self-determination, employment and social security of graduates of different institution have become sharper. School and university students are not sufficiently aware of the reality and have to make vitally important decisions according to the principle "like - dislike". Little social experience, weak practical skills of applying economic laws and mechanisms make it difficult for the youth to make a right choice and be involved into civilized market relations - that's ONE SIDE of the problem.
ANOTHER SIDE of the problem is personnel training. It's not a secret that employers require young employees to have practical experience. And there occurs a contradiction: business needs specialists with practical skills - university graduates are theoretically prepared specialists with little practical experience.
The issue of transition from studying to professional activity is crucial for the youth as a social group. Obtaining professional qualification and a place of employment along with creation of a family is one of the most important social functions realized in the youth.
Since the moment of its official introduction in 1992, the public youth policy in our country invariably identified providing employment and guarantees for vocational training as one of its priorities.
According to the data provided by the Department of Education and Science of Primorsky Krai Administration, "at present, university graduates not always can find employment, especially by profession, without having experience or record of service. According to the data provided by the Primorsky Regional Department of the Federal Population Placement Service, about 20% of graduates apply to the labor registry office and about 50% of them don't work by profession."
University graduates spend about 2-4 months to find a job, at the same time the number of economics and law majored graduates has recently increased among graduates looking for a job, this testifies to some overproduction of these specialists as well as some increase in requirements of employers preferring to hire employees with practical working experience.
The problem of youth employment in the RFE as well as in Russia as a whole is a complex issue that requires combining of the efforts of federal structures, regional institutions of legislative and executive powers, universities, and NGOs.
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