Why we are so obsessed with SMEs?
The global business narrative is currently suffering from a dangerous form of collective myopia. The spotlight is almost exclusively aimed at the glamorous, high-speed world of tech startups—the "unicorns" that burn capital in a race for market domination and, ultimately, a fast exit.
We celebrate billion-dollar valuations for companies that have never generated a single Euro of real profit, while ignoring the extractionary nature of this model: public talent and infrastructure are utilized to build IP, which is then sold off to the USA, with the profits stashed in tax havens. These are not real companies; they are financial products, designed to be flipped.
Our obsession lies elsewhere. We are obsessed with small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the Hidden Champions of Europe. We are obsessed because we believe in the quiet power of sustainable, generation-spanning profitability over the noisy chase for a fast exit.
This obsession, however, is not nostalgic; it is a critical response to a massive strategic threat facing the continent.
If we look beyond the hype, we face a brutal reality: Europe is finding it increasingly difficult to produce a new generation of founders willing to build the lasting SMEs of tomorrow. The current generation of owners is struggling to find successors, and many young talents are being sucked into the unsustainable "unicorn-or-bust" system.
Building a serious, lasting enterprise in Europe today is incredibly difficult. We cannot ignore the macroeconomic headwinds hitting us hard. Our entrepreneurs are battling exploding energy costs that threaten the very viability of our industrial production. Simultaneously, the crushing technological power of the USA and China is hitting Europe from both sides, squeezing our mid-market's competitive edge through unmatched digital agility and state-backed scale.
This is precisely why we are building the European Entrepreneurship Alliance. We cannot wait for political institutions to solve these problems. We need a new type of founder who understands that the situation today cannot be compared to 20 years ago. We need founders who are not afraid to integrate the radical innovation and agility of the startup system into the resilient framework of a profit-driven SME. And they cannot do it alone.
The obsession with SMEs is vital because they are the only alternative to a centralized, vulnerable, and extracted economy. SMEs are the driving force that secures local jobs, invests in regional infrastructure, and anchors wealth within our communities.
They are essential, as long as we still believe in a decentralized, collaborative European economy where enterprises are willing to reinvest in the very soil they grew from.
Considering that most economic policies in Brussels are still aimed either at protecting old legacy industries or funding high-risk startups, how must the strategic funding criteria of family offices and national funds adapt to support this specific, vital missing middle—the innovation-driven SMEs that intend to last?
