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Elena Aculai, Natalia Vinogradova and Friederike Welter INTRODUCTION Considerable changes in Moldova in the last 15 years have had their effect on every aspect of life. One of the most remarkable of these changes was the transformation of forms of ownership, which resulted in private entrepreneurship. However, while there have been positive business developments overall, such as an increasing share of private businesses, the competitiveness of private enterprises and their innovativeness changes only slowly. This is to a large extent a result of the business climate. This chapter will illustrate the development of private business at different stages through the example of a typical ‘successful’ entrepreneur and her business in Moldova, in order to analyse those factors which encourage and challenge enterprise growth in Moldova’s turbulent business environment. First, we present a brief review of business development in Moldova, followed by a review of the link between the business environment and business development. We then present the case of a successful business in Moldova, before developing conclusions. A BRIEF REVIEW OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT IN MOLDOVA The Republic of Moldova borders the Ukraine in the east and Romania in the west. Moldova occupies a territory of 33 800 sq. km and has 3.9 million inhabitants. The market reforms of the 1990s exerted a pronounced negative influence on the economy in Moldova. For example, in 2004 real GDP amounted to a mere 44 per cent of that of 1989; the rate of inflation was 12 per cent annually...