Rustam Minnikhanov: "Small and medium business is the state’s backbone”

The participants of a business lunch themed “Make way for small business!” at the Sochi 2010 investment forum discussed the small business development current trends.

The participants of the Sochi 2010 investment forum have today at a business lunch discussed the current trends of small business development. Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov took part in the discussion.

The discussion’s moderator was the Sberbank’s board chairman Herman Gref. Although Tatarstan is in terms of the share of small business “an average region”, he said, the republic is a leader in terms of small business support measures and programmes that are implemented.

“Small and medium business are the state’s backbone. Small business is a serious reserve for the economy’s growth,” Rustam Minnikhanov said in the course of the discussion. The share of small business in the Tatarstan’s GRP (900 billion roubles last year) is 24 percent, he said. The goal is to within 5-6 years double the amount. This is a serious task, some large projects will be implemented in Tatarstan to increase the GRP.

According to Tatarstan President, leasing grants have become one of the most effective methods of supporting small business. In 2009, over 2,000 people took part in a competition for leasing grants, 770 were winners. A total of 313 million roubles was then allocated to fund the winners’s projects. Over 4,500 jobs were created. In 2010, 504.1 million roubles are planned to be allotted to develop small and medium undertaking within the Leasing Grant scheme.

The Leasing Grant plan stipulates allocating a grant for start-up businesses, to make the initial leasing payment for the equipment. Programme participants are selected within a competition of submitted business plans. The programme is financed from the federal and republican budgets, the programme’s immediate executor is the Committee for Small and Medium Enterprise Development, municipalities’s executive committees deliver applications for the grant to entrepreneurs.