TITLE:
Evaluation of Support Program for Young Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Georgia
AUTHORS:
Lasha Zivzivadze, Tengiz Taktakishvili, Ekaterine Zviadadze, Giorgi Machavariani
KEYWORDS:
Young Entrepreneur, Funding, Rural Investments, Program Evaluation, Impact Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.9 No.6,
November
23,
2021
ABSTRACT: The paper provides an analysis of the impact of state program aimed at
promoting entrepreneurial activities of youth in Georgia. The program named
“Young Entrepreneur” was established to provide necessary funds for the young
people in order to help them in overcoming one of the major obstacles they face
when trying to start own business, that is lack of finances. Because of the
greater attention to the program and its funding from the budget it is important
to study how successful the program was and how properly the taxpayers’ money was spent. The hypothesis of the research states that the program was successful and met the expectations and
results pre-defined by its authors. Paper introduces the program, its
objectives and components and provides relevant data analysis to show an impact
of the program. Study employs the data taken
from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of
Georgia. The program financed total 241 beneficiaries. For evaluation of the program 5 criteria are used: relevance,
effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability. Analysis given in the
paper indicates that the program was successful. The annual indicators were fully
achieved compared to the planned indicators. Furthermore, the program was
implemented efficiently with the low budget expenditure. Finally, based on the
evaluation and analysis, specific recommendations are provided. As there are no
previous scientific or policy evaluations of the
program, the paper is a first attempt to analyse the results of the “Young
Entrepreneur”.