Economy & Business, Volume 13, 2019

Abstract: One of the priority areas of the Estonian state is the development of entrepreneurship, which has increased people's positive attitude towards starting a business. More than half of Estonians see entrepreneurship as an attractive career choice. The number of people who find that the opportunity for starting a business has increased in Estonia, and the fear of failure has significantly decreased. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study in different countries and regions shows that business activity is growing in Europe and worldwide. The TEA index reflecting early stage entrepreneurial activity shows the proportion of people who have taken steps to start a business or have acted as entrepreneurs for up to 3.5 years. In Estonia it has increased by a third from 14% to 19% over the last five years. Among the countries with an innovation-based economy in which Estonia is ranked in this study, it is a very high figure. Last year, the TEA index in Europe was 8.1% and has remained close during the last five years. In Estonia, both Enterprise Estonia and the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund support the development of entrepreneurship and becoming an entrepreneur with their support system and training programs. The analysis of the impact of the start-up support by the Unemployment Insurance Fund (2014) showed that the application for support was mainly based on the completion of entrepreneurship training (43%). After completing the training, 38% of the participants submitted an application for start-up support. Our study was carried out among those who participated in entrepreneurship training in order to find out how entrepreneurial training, in which knowledge and skills were acquired about entrepreneurship and a business plan, has created opportunities for receiving grants, and how the grants create a prerequisite for the long-term operation of a company.