Surprisingly, in the Romanian Tax Code there are no facilities for persons with disabilities who want to start or run a business of their own. Only for the employees with disabilities. Nor at the Romanian Trade Registry for starting a business. Nor in the specific Romanian legislation on people with disabilities.

So, no help for starting a business. Nor for developing it.

Curious if the same is valid throughout the world, I looked at the US and discovered that the situation is totally different: the Small Business Administration SBA is making special loans available to disabled entrepreneurs. There are also other facilities available in the US, such as the Business Development Program, with special training and access to government contracts. There is also a very useful DOBE certification in the US, where DOBE stands for disability-owned business enterprise, defined as a for-profit business that is at least 51% owned, managed and controlled by a person with a disability. According to SBA, with access to capital being one of the main obstacles to business equality, DOBEs receive increased chances for loans and grants.

Coming back closer to Romania, I continued my research to the level of the European Commission, knowing that they are very active in supporting people with disabilities. And indeed, I found valuable information under the heading Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, in the European Employment Strategy, which has a chapter on Supporting entrepreneurs, including disabled entrepreneurs. In the next episodes, we’ll look at that into more detail, to see if strategy - and reality - are aligned.

Thank you for listening and, in the meantime, you’re welcome to visit www.mybusinessinromania.com