ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses entrepreneurship in the formerly socialist countries of the Former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe (FSU&CEE). The positive impacts of entrepreneurship are felt across most FSU&CEE economies. Individuals in FSU&CEE economies do not necessarily have a lower propensity to engage in entrepreneurial activities than those in matured market economies. Market entrepreneurs in FSU&CEE economies depend upon the newly created market institutions. The Orthodox tradition viewed entrepreneurship negatively and socialism further reinforced the stereotypes. Entrepreneurial finance is difficult to obtain and is costly in most of these economies. Speaking of the barriers in the development of productive entrepreneurship in Russia, Eugene Kaspersky recently put the issue this way: "Russia has a lot of talented software engineers but not a lot of successful businesses.
