The Role of National Entrepreneurial Ecosystems on the StartUps' Establishment and Growth in an Economic Crisis Era: The Case of Greece

The financial development model pursued in Greece during the contemporary economic crisis era that started in Late 2009 is not a viable approach, resulting in GDP reduction by 30%, debt to GDP ratio of 177% and unemployment rate amongst young people of 51%. Therefore, start-up entrepreneurship could be a feasible approach to tackle national economic crisis; however, the existing body of Literature focusing on start-up ecosystems and the development of entrepreneurship is rather limited. To that end, the present study aims at recording the evolution of start-up companies in Greece, in order to identify the hampering issues encountered in the national start up ecosystem. Our research indicates an increasing start-up establishment rate in Greece during the recession period, while the 40 participated start-ups reported an investment break-even point at 26.59 months. We envisage that our research assists stakeholders towards the realization of the critical role of start-ups at a national level.