**When can you consider yourself an entrepreneur? Is it necessary to have a bank account dedicated to income that complements one's main job? What are the main obstacles encountered by entrepreneurs when setting up a business?
Anytime/YouGov study
More than 1 in 2 French people see red tape as an obstacle to entrepreneurship
These are the questions Anytime, a FinTech offering an account for professionals, businesses and individuals with an entrepreneurial mindset, asked 1,006 people representative of the population.
The aim was to find out their views on entrepreneurship - from the obstacles they encountered to their knowledge of the banking world - in order to better anticipate their future needs.
According to the survey, carried out with YouGov between May 25 and 28, 77% of French people believe that an entrepreneur can consider himself or herself an entrepreneur when setting up a business. A dedicated bank account to receive additional income is not necessary (for 43% of respondents). Finally, more than 1 in 2 French people are discouraged by the difficulties associated with the administrative procedures involved in setting up a business, ahead of the lack of accounting knowledge (17%).
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77% of French people believe that an entrepreneur or business owner can consider himself or herself as such when setting up a company.
In the 25-34 age bracket, this figure drops to 64%, with 22% believing that one becomes an entrepreneur as soon as a source of income supplements a salary. This sentiment is not shared by the 55+ age group, 83% of whom believe that setting up a company is necessary to be considered an entrepreneur.
"It's interesting to note that it's the 25-34 year-olds - the Millenials generation - who have a different approach to starting a business. 22% of them believe that we become entrepreneurs as soon as we receive a source of income in addition to a salary. These are the people who will be prescribing tomorrow's uses, so we need to offer them user-friendly solutions that meet their needs", explains Damien Dupouy, Founder of Anytime.
To the question "In your opinion, is it necessary to have a dedicated bank account to receive additional income from your job?" put to 1,006 French people: - 38% answered affirmatively ; - 43% answered negatively; - 20% don't know.
"Just under half of respondents believe that separating business and personal accounts is not necessary. It's true that if you're a self-employed entrepreneur, there's no obligation to open a business account, but what is mandatory is to separate your income with two very distinct accounts. To better meet customer demand, we've come up with an offer that's unique on the market: you sign up once and have a personal account, a business account and 4 Mastercard cards to manage both your personal and business expenses, says Damien Dupouy.
According to the survey's respondents, the main obstacles to entrepreneurship are, in order : 1. Difficulties linked to the administrative procedures involved in setting up a company (53%); 2. Lack of accounting knowledge (17%); 3. High bank charges (12%); 4. Difficulties in opening a business account (10%); 5. Lack of transparency in bank charges (7%). Among 25-34 year-olds, administrative procedures are slightly less feared (38%), but the lack of accounting knowledge increases (24%).
"France counted nearly 600,000 additional businesses in 2017. To support this growth, specialized FinTechs have emerged to help entrepreneurs with administrative procedures, for cash management, for example. By basing their business model on 100% digital issues, FinTechs offer an alternative and different user experience. It's this mobility, this ease of use, that appeals. At Anytime, we offer to help our customers manage their cash flow, by providing them with a simplified expense management and factoring system. We also offer the possibility of cashing up with a payment terminal, or integrating a payment button into a website, concludes Damien Dupouy.
Methodology: The survey was carried out on 1006 people representative of the French national population aged 18 and over. The survey was conducted online, on the YouGov France proprietary panel, using the quota method, from May 25 to 28, 2018.
Anytime is the neobank for businesses, professionals and independent individuals. Launched in 2014, it offers a 100% online current account, a simple and modern interface, advisors available by phone, all with simple pricing and no hidden fees. Registration is fast, completely paperless and allows customers to save time, control their account, better manage business expenses as well as personal expenses, and have tools for cashing (transfer, check, payment terminal, payment button..). Anytime raised €5M with Seventure (Prestashop, SumUp, IDNow, Mailjet, ChronoTruck,...)
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