Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 7, No 6 (2011)

Abstract

Financing schemes do not limit only to covering the financing needs from their own funds or raised ones. Their role should insure that the economic development is impelled, ensuring the necessary funds, as a whole, but especially at the level of small entrepreneurs, much more exposed to the turmoil of the contemporary economy. At EU level it is recognized the important contribution that the SMEs bring to the economic development and growth, as they are creators of employment opportunities and key factors of local and regional prosperity. But the funding needs are increasingly higher and the access to financing is more difficult, mainly due to the lack, insufficient or limited availability of guarantees. In this context, the guarantee funds represent a solution, proven by the European economies and recently launched in Romania. Guarantees as financial instrument to develop and stimulate the entrepreneur are issued by specialized organisms, respectively by banks or guarantee founds. Guarantee founds are an active part in European business environment. The analysis in this paper is based on the study of official documents, reports of specialized bodies, statistics and examples of good practice, summarized and interpreted in comparison and in developments. The aim is identifying a series of issues that can lead to the influence of responsible factors – the public authorities, credit institutions, professionals – in order to come up with new practical solutions that would induce the guaranteeing process qualitative factors and to stimulate the financing process of small entrepreneurs.