Madeira’s Entrepreneurship and the Shift in Incentive Strategies

This study aims to evaluate the evolution of the incentive strategies of the Instituto de Emprego da Madeira, IP-RAM (IEM), which translated means Madeira Employment Institute, and their impact on the number of approved projects, jobs created and promoters/entrepreneurs that emerged. It also aims to evaluate the characteristics of the jobs created, promoters or non-promoters, their evolution, and interconnection with the literature review. In order to analyze the evolution of the entrepreneurship programs of the Madeira Employment Institute, and the characteristics of the jobs and promoters (unemployed entrepreneurs who apply for an entrepreneurship program), secondary data obtained from its annual balance reports (Emprego e Coesão Social – Breve Balanço reports), from 2011 to 2022, available on the institution’s website, at https://www.iem.madeira.gov.pt/estatisticas-anuais/, where data were obtained for the period between 2009 and 2022, using a quantitative methodology and where they demonstrate the different types of programs that the Madeira Employment Institute had or has throughout the period under analysis. Global analysis of entrepreneurship programs for the unemployed in recent years, their evolution over time, and the perception of whether the objectives of government institutions are being met, as well as the analysis of the jobs created, entrepreneurs or non-entrepreneurs, depending on their characteristics. One of the main objectives of the Madeira Employment Institute is being fulfilled, which is to rationalize resources in a better way, giving greater focus to the creation of jobs globally, as well as confirming some propositions of the revision of literature, among the articles analyzed, namely in terms of the characteristics of the jobs created, promoters or non-promoters, verifying a greater propensity for entrepreneurship among male individuals who were young adults, as well as the evolution of the jobs created in terms of level of education, which has been increasingly high. This study contributes to a possible basis for a comparative analysis between regions and institutions that work to encourage entrepreneurship, as well as to understand which aspects government entities should still work on, in order to improve their results.