OREANDA-NEWS. December 29, 2014. The “Business Barometer 2015” survey, conducted by SEB in October and November, revealed that although the optimism of enterprises in Tartu County has declined compared to last year, 25 per cent are planning to create new jobs and 69 per cent are taking an interest in innovation in the area of their products and services.

Enterprises that are planning to raise their turnover by at least 15 per cent next year are categorised as being optimistic in the survey. While the survey conducted a year ago revealed 29 per cent of the entrepreneurs of Tartu County to be optimists, then this year only 21 per cent were optimists.

The survey, addressing close to 3,000 of Estonia’s small and medium-size enterprises (SME), indicates a decline from 25 to 20 per cent in the optimism of Estonia’s entrepreneurial circles. County-wise, entrepreneurs in Harju County continue to be the most optimistic. By sectors, an optimistic position is being maintained by the retail trade and industrial sectors, but surprisingly also by the construction sector, which ranked among the most pessimistic sectors last year.

“Regardless of the fact that the optimism of the companies of Tartu County has dropped in the course of the year (from 29 per cent to 21 per cent), then the general state of business in the region is good and there are no grounds for anticipating hardships or a decline. I believe that business in Tartu County is sufficiently strong to calmly absorb fluctuations in economic activity and to see temporary challenges as opportunities for development,” says Indrek Lass, Regional Director for SEB’s Southern Region.

Export to remain stable, investment plans are modest

“Unlike the rest of Estonia, the expectations of the entrepreneurs of Tartu County with regards to export have essentially remained the same, which indicates that the local enterprises have sufficiently secured their position on foreign markets,” noted Lass. Similarly to the previous year, around a quarter of the companies of Tartu County are planning to enter new markets or expand in existing export markets (24 per cent last year, and 23 per cent this year).

In the course of the year, the number of companies in Tartu County who are planning to make investments has decreased. Whereas 34 per cent were planning investments of over EUR 30,000 for 2014, just 18 per cent are planning that kind of input in 2015. Readiness to invest is lowest among enterprises in Valga County, where investments are being planned by only one in ten enterprises.

New jobs will be created, innovation has become important

Next year the responding enterprises are planning to create almost 1,500 new jobs in Estonia, which is an unexpectedly high figure considering the current economic situation. Of the enterprises in Tartu County, 25 per cent are planning to recruit new employees next year, which is higher than the Estonian average (23 per cent). Last year only 16 per cent of the companies of Tartu County were planning to create new jobs – the Estonian average at the time was 27 per cent. This means that the entrepreneurs of Tartu County are the ones whose optimism towards creating new jobs has grown the most. Only 3 per cent of the enterprises of Tartu County forecast a decrease in their number of employees.

The entrepreneurial area is also particularly noteworthy with its significant growth in the area of innovation plans. Out of the entrepreneurs of Tartu County, 73 per cent are making innovation plans; while a year ago only a third of the companies in Tartu County regarded innovation as an area to be contributed to (the Estonian average has grown from 59 per cent to 73 per cent).

“Regardless of the level of optimism having decreased slightly, the interplay of positive factors is still promising and we hope that the business environment as a whole will support the development of the enterprises,” said Indrek Lass, giving a summary of the entrepreneurship plans for the region.