Barriers before Students` Entrepreneurial Intentions and Business Initiatives – Results by Empirical Study of Bulgarian and Polish Students

Abstract

This article outlines the most important barriers for Bulgarian and Polish students that abandon or significantly reduce the execution of their entrepreneurial intentions and the start of new businesses. There are significant and diverse barriers in the implementation of entrepreneurial activities, but it is especially important that they are outlined for young people with a desire and intentions for entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial activities developed by young educated people are very important for the initiating and identifying changes in the economy’s and society’s structures. An increasingly important place in this process is taken by higher education institutions, which with their adequate training can "turn" intentions into real entrepreneurial activities or completely lock people with great potential for entrepreneurship. The aim of this article is to highlight some key barriers preventing students to develop their business intentions and initiatives. They are based on a survey conducted in Bulgaria and Poland among students studying entrepreneurial subjects at the “St. Cyril and St. Methodius” University of Veliko Tarnovo and Maritime University of Szczecin, Poland. On this basis, some conclusions are outlined and recommendations are made to universities in terms of strengthening their role as external motivators for launching various entrepreneurial projects by their students.