SEB: Youth in Latvia more eager to start own business than in Estonia, Lithuania

  • 2018-02-13
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA – Youth in Latvia are more eager to start their own business than youth in Lithuania and Estonia, said SEB Banka spokesperson Jelena Kontusa, citing a poll conducted by the bank.

According to the poll, 40 percent of Latvian youth want to start their own business. "We were positively surprised that Latvian youth showed the biggest interest in business. The survey suggests that 30 percent of the young people in Lithuania and 24 percent in Estonia want to start their own business," said SEB Banka board member Arnis Skapars.

The sectors where Latvian youth sees a business potential are trade, manufacturing and art. "This is a quite popular business model – manufacturing in a home-like environment and trading on the internet. Today you can send your product to any country and we see more and more companies in Latvia operating this way," Skapars said.

"It is good that the young people understand that the Latvian market is small and it is important to consider exports. And it is also interesting that the third most popular business direction is art and entertainment," he added.

In Estonia the most popular potential business directions are professional, scientific or technical activities (lawyers, designers, architects, photographers, researchers), IT and trade, while in Lithuania the most popular are trade, art and entertainment, and IT.

A total of 1,195 Latvian respondents, aged 18-25, 1,727 Lithuanian respondents and 776 Estonian respondents were surveyed online in the summer of 2017.