Start-Up Entrepreneurs - Pärnumaa infovärav

The business consultants of regional development centres offer free counselling to entrepreneurs, thereby supporting and guiding the development of entrepreneurship in counties.

How to get started? How to develop your company and reach the next level? How to orient in the grant system and find information necessary for business activities? – These are some of the questions with which consultants at development centres are glad to help you with.

Free of charge business counselling available to all entrepreneurs provides them with an opportunity to make calculated development decisions and reach the goals set in their business plans.

Starting a business

There are a number of things you need to think about before starting a business. Important issues to consider are your personal qualities, willingness to take risks and your sense of responsibility. Before taking the first steps, it’s a good idea to think everything carefully through and write down a business plan. As an inspiration you can use the guide to preparing a business plan prepared by the Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund found HERE.

A business plan is your well thought out plan of action, which is both your in-house management tool and, if needed, a source of information for future investors, supporters and partners. By clearly defining your goals, an entrepreneur can avoid costly mistakes and make the right decisions for his or her business.

The first step in starting a business is choosing the format of entrepreneurship that depends first and foremost on your chosen field of business, the risks, requirements, financial resources and goals connected to it.

In order to compare the main characteristics of various forms of business please see www.eesti.ee.

Counselling

We offer start-up companies advice on the following topics:

Business forms, incorporation and registration
Analysis of business ideas
Assistance in preparing business plans, financial forecasts and financing applications
Taxes and reporting
Company’s internal processes
Organizing sales and marketing
Information on support measures and assistance in applying for grants
In addition, we organize information days, seminars and trainings for start-ups.

Counselling at the county development centre is free of charge for budding entrepreneurs!

Please make an appointment in advance by phone +372 5551 7755 or e-mail info@parnumaa.ee

Adviser for start-up companies and budding entrepreneurs is Margit Kool.

Mentoring Club

The Mentoring Club is a comprehensive mentoring program for newly established companies and budding entrepreneurs to help participating companies become more successful, confident, aware and happier in the future. The club-like form of activity is very useful, as the participating companies can exchange experiences with other entrepreneurs that inspire, motivate and help them to expand their network of contacts.

Target group: The activities are primarily aimed at companies that have been in business for 1-3 years.

Program objectives:

support start-up entrepreneurs and newly established companies in the county
increase entrepreneurial knowledge and networking
sharing experiences
business-to-business communication
transfer of knowledge from mentors to mentees

Mentees

Mentees have an opportunity to identify challenges and problems related to their companies and provide a brief description of those to the mentors in order to receive their feedback and guidance for solving the problems;
Each mentee has a designated mentor in the Mentoring Club, but depending on the specific nature of the mentee’s problems, the mentee can also contact any other mentor participating in the Mentoring Club;
It is fully up to the mentee whether to accept and implement the guidance or solutions provided by the mentors or not, with no mentor’s involvement in making the final decision.

Mentors

The role of a mentor in the Mentoring Club is to guide the mentees in finding solutions to their various business-related problems;
The mentor helps the mentee to set goals and find the solutions needed to reach these goals and to develop an action plan to be implemented;
The mentor, together with the mentee, analyses the latter’s problems and, if necessary, directs the mentee towards setting next goals;
Guidance is the tool used by mentors in finding solutions to mentees’ problems and the mentor does not make decisions for the mentee.

Financing Sources

Start-up Grant

Target group: start-up entrepreneurs who created their company within the previous 24 months.

The start-up grant aims to support the creation of enterprises that have a lot of development potential, and thereby expand regional entrepreneurship and the number of exporters. Companies that receive the grant have an obligation to meet certain goals, such as creating 2 new jobs and increasing sales revenue at least to the level of EUR 80,000 by its third year of operation since receiving the grant.

The terms and conditions of the grant can be found on the grant provider’s website: https://www.rtk.ee/toetused/toetuste-rakendamine/ettevotlus-ja-kulastuskeskkond/starditoetus

Pärnu City’s Business Grant

The aim of the business grant is to increase the competitiveness of small businesses and thereby to develop overall entrepreneurship environment in the city of Pärnu.

In order to be eligible for that grant the applicant must be a small company with fewer than 50 employees and a total annual turnover and/or annual total balance sheet not exceeding € 10 million. Additionally, the applicant’s principal place of business must be located in the city of Pärnu (including the rural municipalities) and the company has to have been operating for at least one financial year.

More information about the grant can be found on the City of Pärnu website: https://parnu.ee/linnakodanikule/ettevotlus/teenused-toimingud/ettevotlustoetus

Unemployment Insurance Fund’s Business Start-Up Subsidy

The business start-up subsidy is financial aid, the objective of which is to provide motivation and support in starting a business. The subsidy is granted for the commencement of economic activity through a new company being founded or as a sole proprietor.

This subsidy can be applied for from the Unemployment Insurance Fund by an unemployed person or a non-working person of retirement age registered as a jobseeker, who: