Crowdfunding and Entrepreneurship in the Western Balkans

The Western Balkans are former communist countries which have made the transition to capitalist economies. As part of this, they continue to develop their entrepreneurial ecosystems to support private business and innovation. The region overall has a relatively high level of entrepreneurship, which has led the Western Balkans to be labelled the next frontier of start-ups in Europe. However, previous research has identified that challenges in obtaining finance, the need for high collateral and high interest rates and banks’ inexperience of lending to start-ups has been a constraining factor in the region. Such a scenario provides potential for crowdfunding to be a useful tool to support the financing of entrepreneurship in the region. In the light of such potential, this chapter reviews the business and entrepreneurship data in the region and explores the limitations within the current crowdfunding ecosystem in the region to find how the Western Balkans can utilize crowdfunding to continue and sustain economic development by supporting the financing of entrepreneurial start-ups. This chapter posits that whilst crowdfunding could provide valuable support to start-ups in the region, the platforms operating in the region and the ecosystem are currently underdeveloped.