{"id":14440,"date":"2018-11-05T15:49:06","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T13:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/?p=14440"},"modified":"2018-11-30T16:17:26","modified_gmt":"2018-11-30T14:17:26","slug":"sofia-investment-agency-publishes-a-new-report-on-the-role-of-small-and-medium-enterprises-in-sofias-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/sofia-investment-agency-publishes-a-new-report-on-the-role-of-small-and-medium-enterprises-in-sofias-economy\/","title":{"rendered":"Sofia Investment Agency Publishes a New Report on the Role of Small and Medium Enterprises in Sofia\u2019s Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-14534 alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"494\" height=\"494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover.png 600w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover-146x146.png 146w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover-50x50.png 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover-75x75.png 75w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover-85x85.png 85w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Square_Cover-80x80.png 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 494px) 100vw, 494px\" \/>The team <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofia Investment Agency published its new report titled &#8220;The Role of Small and Medium Enterprises in Sofia\u2019s Economy &#8220;, developed by the Institute for Market Economics for Sofia Investment Agency. The paper contains data and analysis of the state and trends of small and medium-sized enterprises in Sofia, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">based on<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> their development over the past five years, as well as an <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">overview of their economic role in Bulgaria as a whol<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">e.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The study examines the distribution of the companies in Sofia, their entrepreneurial activity and the viability of the new companies. Special attention is paid to role small and medium-sized businesses play in Sofia\u2019s development, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">as well as to employment<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, salaries and labor productivity in the different types of companies <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">based on<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> their size and industry.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Overall, the results of the study are quite encouraging. As it is in other European\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">economies, SME-s make up the vast majority of the companies based in Sofia and produce the\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">biggest portion of the output. The SME sector is also experiencing the highest levels of entrepreneurial activity. Medium-sized businesses are leading both in terms of labor\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">productivity and levels of remuneration. Micro and small businesses have the fastest growth in a number of indicators and their importance <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofia\u2019s economy is likely to increase in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Here are some of the main highlights of the report:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2012-2017, the total number of companies in Sofia rose by 12.3%, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">compared to<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> an <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">8.4% growth in the country as a whole<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The number of small businesses had the fastest growth rate &#8211; 12.7%, followed by the growth in the number of large companies &#8211; 12.1%.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14445 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-3-ENG.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"643\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-3-ENG.jpg 643w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-3-ENG-300x144.jpg 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-3-ENG-600x288.jpg 600w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-3-ENG-260x125.jpg 260w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-3-ENG-50x24.jpg 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-3-ENG-150x72.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 643px) 100vw, 643px\" \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Microenterprises with fewer than 9 employees constitute the majority of the firms in Sofia (according to data on enterprise demography, most likely the majority of these companies are sole traders) <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0In 2017, 108 000 out of the 117 000 enterprises registered in Sofia were microenterprises.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The number of companies with over 10 employees was much smaller \u2013 7 400 of the companies were small, 1 400 were average-sized and only 290 were big, with over 250 employees. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In almost all sectors of the economy micro-enterprises accounted for 85-90% of the enterprises, small enterprises accounted for 5-10%, medium-sized firms for 1-2%, and big ones for less than 1%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A total of 38.9% of all big companies are registered in Sofia, including 74% of the large \u00a0trade companies and a large share of the ICT companies \u2013 60% of the micro, 71% of the small, 77% of the medium-sized and 93% of the big companies in the sector are <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">situated <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in Sofia.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More than 80% of the large and medium-sized companies for outsourcing of professional activities are <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">located <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in Sofia. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In terms of outsourcing of administrative and auxiliary services, 70% of the large companies, and about 50% of the enterprises of other sizes operate in Sofia.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The companies \u2018born\u2019 in Sofia in 2016 were concentrated in several sectors: <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">trade with \u00a0\u00a0\u00a04 800 new companies, followed by professional activities with 3 200 new companies. The ICT sector also experienced active entrepreneurial activity, with 1 200 companies \u2018born\u2019 in 2016 alone.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most of the new jobs in Sofia were created by microenterprises. In 2016 there were 16 500 people employed in newly created companies with under 9 employees and 3 400 people working in new small companies; Most of the new employment was created in the trade and retail sector (6 300 new jobs), professional activities (2 800 new jobs), hospitality and restaurant services (1 800 new jobs).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2017, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sofia\u2019s output volume<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> reached BGN 60.9 billion or just over 36% of Bulgaria\u2019s total output. Output is distributed relatively evenly between the different size groups, with a slight prevalence of companies with more than 250 employees (30% of the total output).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The importance of small and medium enterprises for the economy of Sofia is extremely <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">high<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Micro-enterprises and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">SME-s<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> account for 70% of the total output of the city.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Out of the total 755 000 employed in Sofia in 2017, small and medium-sized businesses accounted for 63% or some 2\/3 of the employment. The remaining 37% worked in large companies. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14443 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-2-ENG.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"358\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-2-ENG.jpg 640w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-2-ENG-300x168.jpg 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-2-ENG-600x336.jpg 600w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-2-ENG-260x146.jpg 260w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-2-ENG-50x28.jpg 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-2-ENG-134x75.jpg 134w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Large companies registered the fastest growth in employment \u2013 37.6%, followed by small companies &#8211; 8.8%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Between 2012-2016,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the wage growth in Sofia was 33% on average and was remarkably constant among the four types of companies grouped by size. Medium-sized companies registered the fastest growth in salaries (33.1%) and large firms &#8211; the slowest (31.1%).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Medium-sized companies offered the highest average gross monthly salary in Sofia \u2013 BGN 1 471, which was very close to the average salary in the big companies \u2013 BGN 1 458; salaries in small companies and microenterprises are much lower \u2013 BGN 1 211 and BGN 873 respectively.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-14441 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-ENG.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-ENG.jpg 599w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-ENG-300x189.jpg 300w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-ENG-231x146.jpg 231w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-ENG-50x32.jpg 50w, https:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/SMEs-Sofia-Report-2018-ENG-119x75.jpg 119w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, 599px\" \/><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The medium-sized companies in Sofia<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have the most productive workers, with an average of BGN 40 500 gross added value (GAV) per year per employee in 2017. Large companies come next, with BGN 33 400 GAV per employee. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most likely this is among the main reasons why the salaries <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in medium-sized companies are higher than in the large ones.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More detailed data, charts, analyzes and trends can be found in the full version of the report.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">[su_button url=&#8221;http:\/\/investsofia.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/The-Role-of-Small-and-Medium-Enterprises-in-Sofia-Economy-ENG-2018-Report.pdf&#8221; target=&#8221;blank&#8221; background=&#8221;#353a71&#8243; color=&#8221;#ffffff&#8221; size=&#8221;5&#8243; center=&#8221;yes&#8221;]Download full report[\/su_button]<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018The Role of Small and Medium Enterprises in Sofia\u2019s Economy\u2019 report was<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> developed by the Institute for Market Economics for Sofia Investment Agency.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you have any questions <\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">related to<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the report or other data regarding the investment climate in Sofia, do not hesitate to contact our team at contact@investsofia.com.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &nbsp; The team of Sofia Investment Agency published its new report titled &#8220;The Role of Small and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":14534,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investsofia.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}