This article reports on findings from interviews with fledgling entrepreneurs in four former Soviet republics (Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine). Analysis of the interviews was conducted against a backdrop of concepts from the literature of civil society, social capital, and entrepreneurship as applied to small business development. The main finding of the study was the unanimous claim by the entrepreneurs that trust was one of two prime requisites for success, and this in societies that had been culturally depraved for many years. From this finding, two models were developed incorporating civil society, social capital, and trust to more fully depict the entrepreneurial environment.
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