BARRIERS FACED BY ENTREPRENEURS WITH DISABILITIES AND WAYS TO OVERCOME THEM

Abstract

The entrepreneurial activity of persons with disabilities constitutes one of the critical
dimensions of contemporary economic policy, playing a decisive role in ensuring the economic
and social integration of this population group. This article identifies and analyses the primary
barriers confronted by entrepreneurs with disabilities in Bukhara region, Uzbekistan, on the basis
of a structured empirical survey of 120 disabled entrepreneurs combined with a systematic
literature review, and subsequently proposes a scientifically grounded multi-component model for
overcoming these barriers. Findings reveal that the most significant obstacles are limited access to
financial resources (cited by 74.2% of respondents), insufficient adaptive infrastructure (68.3%),
low accessibility of information and advisory services (61.7%), institutional and legal barriers
(54.2%), and socio-psychological challenges (49.2%). Drawing on comparative analysis of
international best practices in five countries — Germany, Finland, South Korea, India, and
Kazakhstan — a four-component support model adapted to the Uzbekistan context is proposed.