At the annual conference, at the Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague, the “challenges of our time” will be discussed. Prime Minister Mark Rutte also joins the table. But the central issue in all conversations is about trust in entrepreneurship.
According to President Vonhof, entrepreneurs are currently too often portrayed as a problem. ‘Many entrepreneurs are having a hard time due to the circumstances. Think of debts as a result of corona support, inflation and staff shortages,” he says. But, according to Vonhof, what really matters is the complexity companies have to contend with. “Many policies are imbued with distrust , while entrepreneurs actually benefit from trust.”
Regulatory pressure
Furthermore, SMEs are increasingly mired in regulatory pressure. With every incident comes a huge uproar and new rules have to be made. ‘This makes doing business very difficult, says Vonhof, ‘whereas the vast majority of all entrepreneurs just want to get things right.’
An example of this is the labor market, where working no longer pays and working more hardly brings anything back. “People increasingly have the idea that they no longer want to be an employee, and many employers actually no longer want to be an employer,” says Vonhof.
According to Vonhof, the same goes for taxation: there has been a yo-yo politics when it comes to taxes in recent years. Also for this reason the situation is always different and this makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to invest in the future. “What we ask ourselves in the long run is: what are we trying to organize between us and how should we organize it?” says Vonhof.
Short term
“But we wouldn’t be PMI Netherlands if it weren’t also about tomorrow,” says Vonhof. That’s why members also have a short-term list of issues addressed to the cabinet with the message: “get to work.”