In 2022, more than 200 thousand people were trained in entrepreneurship education programs, and in just four years of monitoring – 700 thousand, according to data from the annual “Index of Entrepreneurial Education Activity” (PEA Index) research conducted by Sberbank, Russian Ministry of Economic Development, Association for the Advancement of Financial Literacy, High Economy School of Business Administration and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation.
The study includes nearly 3,000 companies and organizations that have implemented more than 5,000 training programs over four years.
“Educational programs, especially for young people, are becoming the foundation for starting and running a successful business. We see from our customers that educated entrepreneurs are generally more successful than those who do not. “This is why Sber fully supports projects in the field of job training,” said Anatoly Popov, Sberbank Deputy Chairman of the Board.
The study showed that 68% of those who completed four years of education were young people under the age of 35. The most popular educational topics for them relate to the basics of starting a business, self-employment and creative entrepreneurship. Another important factor determining the demand for certain programs is the actual employment of the student.
Entrepreneurship experience and business development stages significantly affect the selection and content of training programs. 43% of trainees (talking about their employment) are active entrepreneurs (company owners or individual entrepreneurs). Another 9% registered as self-employed business owners. The remaining 48%, including schoolchildren and students, employed, unemployed and retirees, are potentially ready to start their own business.
Topics requested were sales through marketplaces – 22%, business planning – 15%, branding, marketing, customer acquisition – 15%, as well as reporting, legal and financial literacy – 9% of each query.
There are also directional differences according to the region of the country. Thus, the subject of financial literacy has become the most popular in regions such as the Oryol region, Buryatia and Karelia (more than 25%). Sales are mostly in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region, Ivanovo and Penza regions, Udmurtia are popular (more than 25% of all requests in the region).
A previous survey by SberNPF and Rabota.ru showed that most young Russians do not dream of leadership positions. Therefore, 24% of respondents want to work as a specialist in a midsize company but do not want to be a leader. Another 24% said they dream of starting their own business and working for themselves. 20% want to work as a specialist in a large company, but also not in leadership positions.