With the "Entrepreneurs+" plan, the Conseil National has launched an assessment on how to develop entrepreneurship in Monaco. The proposals presented aim to support very small, small and medium-sized enterprises by simplifying the creation of new businesses and adapting certain administrative mechanisms to the needs of today’s economy.This initiative forms part of the context of the recent law modernizing company law, confirming the institutions' willingness to adapt the regulatory framework to the changes shaping the contemporary economy.
Monaco is a unique business environment, characterised by high quality standards, stability and international attractiveness. It is precisely thanks to these features that the Principality succeeds in attracting entrepreneurs, investors and professionals from many countries, bringing with them skills, know-how and international networks that can contribute to Monaco’s economic development.
From the perspective of those who assist foreign entrepreneurs on a daily basis in establishing and growing their businesses in the Principality, these proposals respond to needs frequently encountered in practice: access to professional premises, start-up costs, administrative simplification and transparency in decision-making criteria.
I However, operating in the territory is not always straightforward from a practical point of view. The Principality has clear strengths, but it also has structural constraints that, particularly for those coming from abroad, can influence the decision of whether to set up a business in Monaco. This raises a bigger question on how can Monaco protect local interests while still welcoming the value that foreign entrepreneurs, investors and professionals can bring to the Monegasque economy.
One essential question nevertheless remains: within what timeframe and under what conditions will these measures actually be implemented? The absence, at this stage, of a clear timetable calls for a cautious approach.
Professional premises better aligned with today's way of working
One of the proposals involves revising the allocation criteria for public professional premises and business centre. The idea is to distinguish between administrative staff, who need regular access to offices, and employees who work remotely or on-site at client locations, such as technicians, consultants, sales representatives, field staff.
This approach better fits today’s business reality. In many activities, a significant part of the work is carried out off-site, on the move or through hybrid arrangements that do not require a permanent office presence.
Expanding the model tested by Monaco Boost to other structures would better align premises availability with real business needs and optimise space management.
More flexible entrepreneurial pathways
Another aspect that deserves attention concerns the evolution of business creation pathways. In practice, many projects do not arise from an immediate transition from one professional situation to another, but are built progressively through a phase of preparation, market testing and consolidation of the activity.
In this sense, opening entrepreneurship support to people who are still active, whether salaried or retired, would represent a pragmatic development. Many potential entrepreneurs may in fact wish to develop a project without immediately giving up the economic stability provided by a parallel professional activity.
The same logic applies to people who have already had entrepreneurial experience in the past. Someone who has created or managed a company often brings operational skills, management experience and a better understanding of risk. Providing a more flexible assessment, for example by distinguishing recent experience from independent activities that are more distant in time, would make it possible to value experienced profiles without encouraging opportunistic effects.
In this way, the scheme could better support the diversity of contemporary professional paths, backing both career changes and second entrepreneurial opportunities, to the benefit of Monaco's economic fabric.
Accounting costs better suited to small structures
For a small business or an entrepreneur in the start-up phase, accounting costs often represent a significant expense item. Even very simple structures must comply with reporting, accounting and administrative obligations that can weigh heavily on initial cash flow.
The idea of encouraging fees that are better suited to VSEs therefore goes in the right direction. It would not necessarily be a matter of imposing constraints, but rather of initiating a dialogue with the l'Ordre des Experts-Comptables in order to imagine formulas that are more proportionate to the size of small structures.
For many activities in the launch phase, a measure of this kind could have a very concrete impact on the viability of the project.
Greater transparency regarding "sufficiently represented" activities
A particularly important point concerns the list of activities considered to be "sufficiently represented". For those arriving from abroad, this is often one of the most delicate and least predictable aspects of the process of establishing themselves in the Principality.
It is not uncommon, in fact, for entrepreneurs and investors to discover only after months of preparation, consultations and preliminary expenses that the sector in which they wish to operate is already considered saturated or, in practice, difficult to authorize. Such a situation inevitably generates a loss of time, unnecessary costs and understandable frustration, especially when the project had been built on the basis of a serious analysis and a genuine desire to establish roots in the territory.
The publication of a clear, updated list accompanied by more readable criteria would allow economic operators to orient themselves from the outset with greater realism. It would also make it possible to avoid preparing applications that, from the beginning, have limited chances of approval, thereby strengthening the transparency and credibility of the authorization system.
This reflection should, however, go beyond an exclusively local reading of economic activity. An assessment based solely on the presence of operators already active in the Principality could fail to fully capture the potential offered by foreign markets, or the value of activities that, although based in Monaco, could develop mainly at international level. These are projects that can contribute to the attractiveness of the Monegasque marketplace, generate positive economic benefits and, in some cases, also contribute to ISB, Monaco's tax on profits.
For a territory that aims to attract high-quality projects, the predictability of the rules is an essential element. The issue is not to give up control or the protection of local balances, but to make assessment criteria clearer, more consistent and better suited to the reality of an international economy.
Administrative simplification
The objective of continuing the digitalization of procedures and applying the "Tell us once" principle more concretely responds to a real need. Although this is a welcome direction, the document does not yet detail concrete operational tools or specific administrative changes that would make it possible to assess its actual scope. It therefore remains to be seen through which practical measures this desire for simplification will translate into a real reduction in the administrative burden on businesses.
Even today, many procedures require the repeated transmission of the same documents, redundant administrative steps and timelines that are not always compatible with the operational needs of a business.
For an entrepreneur, being able to create a company, amend statutory provisions, transfer a registered office or manage administrative communications through simple and coordinated digital procedures would represent significant progress.
Simplifying does not mean reducing control. It means making the system more efficient, more readable and more consistent with the international standards to which many entrepreneurs are now accustomed.
Support that is not limited to the start-up phase
The reflection on the role of the Monegasque Fund for Innovation, Impact and Acceleration (F2IAM), is also interesting.
The idea of broadening its scope beyond incubation or start-up phases alone responds to a real issue. Many companies do not only need support when they are created, but also when they need to grow, restructure, expand internationally or go through transformation.
This same logic of long-term support is also reflected in the proposal concerning the pension scheme for self-employed workers. At present, the CARTI scheme provides for a minimum contribution period of ten years in order to acquire pension rights; below this duration, no pension, even partial, is recognised. The plan therefore proposes two possible corrective measures: reducing the threshold from ten to five years or maintaining the current limit while providing for a partial refund of contributions where no pension rights are acquired.
This is an important point, because today’s entrepreneurial pathways are not necessarily linear, nor are they always intended to last for an entire professional lifetime. Making the system more proportionate would avoid penalising those who launch an activity for a shorter period and who are still contributing to the dynamic of the Principality.
Restricting public support exclusively to start-ups risks leaving aside already established, proven companies that may be strategically important to Monaco’s economy.
Naturally, this type of support should be based on clear criteria linked to the soundness of the project, its economic impact, the creation of local value and its genuine anchoring in the territory.
The perspective of foreign entrepreneurs
Safeguarding the interests of Monegasque citizens, naturally remains a foundational priority for the Principality. It is a core structural element of the local model and cannot be ignored.
However, Monaco’s identity is fundamentally international. A significant proportion of Monaco’s foreign residents possess skills, professional networks, investment capacity and entrepreneurial vision that could drive the economic development further.
The objective is neither to oppose Monegasque citizens and foreign entrepreneurs, nor to suggest an indiscriminate opening. Instead, the focus must be on establishing a regulatory balance aligned with modern economic realities.
A more balanced model could make it possible to:
- preserve local interests;
- maintain high quality standards;
- promote solid and credible projects;
- encourage the contribution of international expertise;
- strengthen the economic attractiveness of the Principality.
From our clients’ perspective, what matters is not only obtaining an authorisation, but understanding the system, being able to navigate it clearly and having the feeling that a serious project is assessed according to readable and coherent criteria.
From reflection to application
The proposals put forward have the merit of addressing tangible challenges and opening constructive dialogue on the evolution of Monaco’s entrepreneurial environment.
However, the central point remains: for these measures to have a real impact, it will be necessary to understand within what timeframe, under what conditions and according to which criteria they will actually be implemented.
For international entrepreneurs and investors, the quality of an ecosystem is measured not only by intentions, but also by the clarity of the rules, administrative consistency and the possibility of operating in a predictable environment.
Monaco does not need a fundamental overhaul of its economic model. The Principality would however significantly benefit from making its framework more fluid and aligning it closely with modern corporate realities
It is in this balance between the protection of local interests and openness to credible projects, between control and flexibility, that an important part of the Principality’s future economic evolution will be shaped.