NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN RURAL AREAS, BASED ON MIGRATION PROCESSES ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE CITY AGGLOMERATION

Abstract

We live in a crisis. A time of health, social and economic threats, in which the possibility of mobility, a clear view of the future and planning in economic and other aspects is becoming increasingly difficult. A time of difficult business thinking and activity, in which entrepreneurship in many areas is gambling rather than economically justified action.

Traditionally, Plovdiv and its region are among the most socio-economically developed areas in the country. It is a center of attraction for both investors and those seeking better realization in the labor market, respectively more efficient and decent pay. Incoming migration flows, due to the available opportunities of socio-cultural, household, educational or health-related nature, increase the population in the agglomeration, and the attitude towards other neighboring areas is inversely proportional - a trend of the last twenty or thirty years.

However, are we not witnessing a reversal in this dependence?

The COVID-19 pandemic has proved to be a major catalyst for change. The desire for a cozy apartment in an urban environment has shifted to the dream of a large yard and a country house. The returning fashion of the suburban house, the extremely rising price of living space within the city, redevelopment, going hand in hand with deteriorating infrastructure, poor air quality, and a number of other problems related to transport, recreation and proactive activities, have an increasingly decisive impact and „awakens” rural settlements near the main city and satellite cities. This, not without the influence of rising incomes and demands of „new” migrants, creates an opportunity for a new perspective on initiating business ventures that would be profitable.