growth points and prospects in 2023

About 23% of Russians want to become owners of their own, albeit a small business, but only 15% take real steps in this direction, according to a survey by VTsIOM. 28% of respondents are stopped by the lack of start-up capital, 20% of respondents are afraid that they do not have enough knowledge to run their business, and 19% are afraid of the difficulties and problems that they may have to face. Why you should not be afraid to open your own business, which helps entrepreneurs reduce costs and which business areas are the most promising in 2023, Sergey Sukhostavets, Operations Director of the Rocket Work technology platform, told Moskovskaya Pravda.

Small and micro business in the Russian Federation continue to develop dynamically. So, in Moscow alone, over the ten months of 2022, the number of self-employed people increased by more than 300,000 people. In the country, according to statistics from the Federal Tax Service of Russia (FTS), 664,000 individual entrepreneurs were opened during this period. True, 513 thousand closed, however, according to Sergei Sukhostavets, most of these closures are technical.

– Most of the closures occur more likely for technical reasons at the initiative of the tax service – they “clean up” fictitious and abandoned companies. But the dynamics are still positive, despite the environment that is not the most friendly for business,” the expert believes.

One of the positive signals for business can be considered the fact that the Central Bank has not changed the key rate for several months in a row, which at a recent meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia decided to leave at 7.5%.

— This may well signal a stabilization of the economic situation. For the next year, the regulator even draws a fairly positive baseline forecast, according to which inflation will return to 5-7%. And along with this, the hope for more affordable borrowed funds for business will return, – Sergey Sukhostavets notes.

State support programs for the business sector will continue to work in 2023, which really help start-up entrepreneurs to get on their feet, and existing ones to develop their businesses. Moreover, there are support programs at both the state and regional levels.

– Free expert advice, training programs, access to the necessary software, as well as simplified access to the lease of municipal real estate are available to both beginners and existing entrepreneurs, – says the expert. – In addition, there is and is not going to go anywhere the provision on public procurement of services and goods from small businesses (at least 15% of the total). So, with the help of public procurement, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) can find serious customers and get a contract for a large amount. There are also soft loans for entrepreneurs, not only for individual entrepreneurs, who can receive up to 200 million rubles at a reduced rate, but also for the self-employed, who have access to two types of soft loans without collateral – up to 1 million rubles for up to three years; and with security – from 1 to 5 million rubles for a period of up to five years. In addition, any self-employed person, like an individual entrepreneur, can count on grants in the amount of 100 to 500 thousand rubles to start their own business after defending a business plan at an employment center.

As for tax innovations, there are positive aspects here too. The new system of the single tax account (UNS), which will start working from January 1, 2023, should contribute to the establishment of the business climate. It makes running your own business much easier.

– So, instead of different payments at different times, all taxes can be sent with one universal payment order with the same details for all taxes, it will be impossible to make a mistake with the filling. The reporting and payment deadlines are the same – you no longer have to keep in mind the deadlines for various taxes. This will save the business time and money, and also significantly reduce the threshold for entering the business.

The approach to finding and hiring labor resources is simplified. Now it has become much easier to find the right specialist. Moreover, it is not necessary to conclude a long-term employment contract with them.

— The growing popularity and expansion of staff hiring opportunities, as well as the emergence of Internet platforms that facilitate the search for workers and the registration of labor relations with them, provide aspiring entrepreneurs with access to project labor resources or, in other words, freelancers. Without unnecessary administrative difficulties, the cost of hiring and adapting staff and unnecessary taxes, which is not unimportant at the start, says Sukhostavets.

What kind of business to engage in – each entrepreneur decides for himself. But as information for reflection on this topic, the expert named several of the most promising areas.

– First of all, these are IT services, with a wide range – this can be software development, and its testing, and even a recruitment agency specializing in IT personnel. There is a great demand from the state and the market, and great preferences, – the expert explains. – Also, the current withdrawal of foreign business from the Russian market is compensated by the fact that the vacated places are occupied by domestic business, including SMEs. Especially “hot” may be consumer demand in the areas of non-food retail, furniture, clothing and cosmetics, repair of household appliances and cars. True, and the level of competition there will be significantly higher.

By the way

In Moscow, the most popular activities for the self-employed are passenger transportation, delivery, renting out apartments, advertising and marketing, and construction. “For 10 months of 2022, the self-employed transferred almost 6 billion rubles to the Moscow budget in the form of taxes,” the Moscow Department of Economic Policy and Development reported.

Alena Bodrienko.

Photo Vladimir Novikovpress services of the mayor and government of Moscow