April 3, 2014. Only 20% of Russia-based entrepreneurs used government support to develop their business, and another 10% are currently considering this option, President of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs Alexander Shokhin said at the 2nd Institutes for Development Forum in Yekaterinburg.

'The idea simply does not occur to some people, while others have no information on this point. A lot of businesspeople do not meet the criteria set forth by the institutes for development. The entrepreneurs themselves often feel the support mechanism is too complicated, and too much documentation needs to be provided,' Alexander Shokhin said.

He also pointed out that local investment funds actually proved quite useful for those businesspeople who worked with them.

'The lack of long-term and cheaply available money. The micro-financing mechanisms proved valuable, especially in the SME sector,' the Union's President observed.