Most entrepreneurs registered as PFA (around 55%) are aged between 30 and 49, a sign that the idea of a business become feasible, in most cases, after spending years as an employee either to save some money, or to get the necessary business knowledge so that the business should get beyond the first months.
Thus, Romania now has the biggest nucleus of entrepreneurs who chose not only to run a business in documents (with their own name), but also take over the employee role.
“I believe the recent PFA boom has been generated by the tax incentives this legal form benefits from, but also by the fact that it’s easier to manage. I also believed it is the best form at the beginning, but like many others, I believe, I did not take all the aspects into account. For instance, I now pay around 31.5% to the state. I think this is quite a high percentage and I’m considering changing the legal form,” says Vlad Zdrentu, an entrepreneur working as a tennis referee and as the producer of Camara appetizer brand on the same PFA.
And freelancers’ life is set to get even tougher from now on, as the new Fiscal Code includes regulations that generate even higher expenses for small entrepreneurs.
Young people in Romania still lack the courage to open their own business or work on their own, with just 16% of the total number of PFAs in Romania being set up by persons aged below 29. Beside the lack of experience, funding is a major hurdle as regards the opening of a company by young people.
This is why the largest part of companies set up locally operate in the field of trade, presenting low risks and initial investments that are significantly lower than in fields such as production, industry or development.
At the same time, the most dynamic youths who took to entrepreneurship are those of Bucharest (with over 32,000 PFAs in February), Cluj (18,000) and Iasi (over 16,000).
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu)