Enterprise Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia
Promoting the competitiveness of the Estonian entrepreneurial environment
Background
Since re-establishing independence, Estonia has styled itself as the gateway between East and West and aggressively pursued economic reform and integration with the West. In 1999, Estonia experienced its worst year economically since it regained independence, largely because of the impact of the 1998 Russian financial crisis.
European Union Membership
Estonia joined the World Trade Organisation in November 1999. With assistance from the European Union, the World Bank and the Nordic Investment Bank, Estonia completed most of its preparations for European Union membership by the end of 2002 and now has one of the strongest economies of the new member states of the European Union. Estonia’s economy is rated as “high income” by the World Bank, and Estonia has often been described as one of the “Baltic Tigers” - the other two being Latvia and Lithuania.
Enterprise Estonia and EDW
Founded in 2000 by the Estonian Government, Enterprise Estonia provides financial support, business counselling and training for entrepreneurs. At the invitation of Enterprise Estonia, the EDW team, in partnership with Capital for Quality, the Licensing Centre for SFEDI, (Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative), accreditation in London, provided quality business counselling for 24 business counsellors, in order to enable them to meet the UK’s SFEDI standard.
