Eric Eikrem’s Blog

I have 4 years experience as an entrepreneur. As my time as an entrepreneur has come to an end, at least for this time, it is natural to reflect on the things I’ve worked with in the context of entrepreneurship in general.

Some call it the entrepreneurial purgatory. Personally, I think that it has been too much fun to earn the designation “purgatorium”. Entrepreneurship does entail a relatively high stress level, and things change very much from one day to another, and sometimes from hour to hour. The best term is the ping-pong-life: work, good times and bad, opportunities and obstacles, and your mood, varies widely. In such a situation is very difficult to maintain focus, and to prioritize correctly is a big challenge. You are in a constant time squeeze and, quite often, what is urgent takes precedence over what is important. Another challenge in such a turbulent life is to see your own limitations, and to obtain expertise when needed.
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According to the newspaper La Voz de Galicia, the department for community support in the galician bank Caixa Galicia has financed more than 300 business projects in the last 4 years, projects that have been started by entrepreneurs without collateral. This financing consists of relatively small loans – up to 25.000 euros – with an average payout of 9.600 euros.  The funding is just enough to get a small business started, so I guess you could call it a form of microcredit for the developed world.

Is this a good idea? It could be. The crisis causes layoffs. Many unemployed have sound business ideas and the time to work on a business plan, but no way of getting financing. Moreover, the results in Galicia are good so far. Caixa Galicia states that 65 % of these companies are still in operation after 4 years, while the average for start-ups in Spain is 53 %. Whether this type of financing will succeed in the long term is an open question, but it will definitively be worth keeping an eye on it.

By the way, Grameen Bank has just started a branch in New York City, which employs a solidarity lending model that has been successful in Bangladesh…

Most developed countries have policies for innovation and economic development at the national, regional and local level.  In particular, there are usually policies in place covering SME creation and also support for the growth of clusters. On the regional and / or local level, there is often a focus on certain sectors and image-building activities that are geared towards attracting talent in these sectors. Some policies can be counter-productive. Read more