Bucharest, 14^th September 2009 - The need to become an important person, to turn out to be "someone" is very high in rural areas, according to sociological research conducted under the Strategic Project "Rural-manager, attended by 942 entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs from 493 localities in north-east, center and south-east of Romania.

25.7% of respondents want to become important, 42% often feel the need to be someone, 21.1% say they would like to become someone, while only 8% do not think about it, and 3.2% do not know what to answer.

Though they intend to start a business, farmers and public servant don’t target a professional growth, but rather to solve their financial needs.

Moreover, entrepreneurs and workers in rural areas need greater independence, few being among those who like to depend on others. Only employees in private sector and those over 40 years are not so bothered by the idea of having a boss.

Most people who want to start a business prefer not to think too much about possible failures and to accept them when they occur. This fear is higher for women and increases with age. 16.6% say they are not scared at all about a failure, 41.2% accept failure with caution, 36.6% do not think about failure when they start a new business, 3.9% are terrified of a possible failure, and 1.7 % do not know what to answer.

Almost all potential entrepreneurs in the rural areas have a positive attitude towards a new business. In spite of rural conservatism, the thought of starting a business is accepted as a novelty in their life.

Research on training and consulting needs of entrepreneurs and those wishing to start a business in rural areas was carried out by the strategic project "Rural-Manager" - www.ruralmanager.ro, selected in the Human Resources Development Operational Program POSDRU, co-financed by European Social Fund, "Invest in people!"

Rural-Manager runs from January 2009-April 2010 and is implemented by the National Foundation of Young Managers - FNTM (www.fntm.ro), as leader of the consortium, in partnership with the Training and Development Center of Employers Associations of Bavaria - bfz gGmbH (www.bfz.de) SIVECO Romania (www.siveco.ro) and the Association of Euro 26 (www.euro26.ro). Project beneficiaries are entrepreneurs or prospective rural entrepreneurs in 18 counties of Nord-East, Center and South-East of Europe.

The project Rural-Manager promotes leadership and motivation of entrepreneurs to start an entrepreneurship educational process, in order to improve performance, to increase access to alternative founding, learning good practice and ideas of national and international success stories.

Social surveys have been conducted by the Bureau of Social Research, from March to April 2009.