Citation: Nate, S.; Grecu, V.; Stavytskyy, A.; Kharlamova, G. Fostering Entrepreneurial Ecosystems through the Stimulation and Mentorship of New Entrepreneurs. Sustainability 2022, 14, 7985. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su14137985 Academic Editors: Mário José Baptista Franco, Margarida Maria Mendes Rodrigues and Rui Jorge Rodrigues da Silva Received: 7 June 2022 Accepted: 27 June 2022 Published: 30 June 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). sustainability Article Fostering Entrepreneurial Ecosystems through the Stimulation and Mentorship of New Entrepreneurs Silviu Nate 1, * , Valentin Grecu 2 , Andriy Stavytskyy 3 and Ganna Kharlamova 3 1 Department of International Relations, Political Science and Security Studies, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550024 Sibiu, Romania 2 Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, 550024 Sibiu, Romania; valentin.grecu@ulbsibiu.ro 3 Department of Economic Cybernetics, Faculty of Economics, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine; a.stavytskyy@gmail.com (A.S.); akharlamova@ukr.net (G.K.) * Correspondence: silviu.nate@ulbsibiu.ro Abstract: Existing definitions of entrepreneurship highlight the functional role of entrepreneurs, emphasizing their responsibilities for coordination, allocating resources, making decisions, supplying capital, innovation, and bearing uncertainty. This research analyzes the impact that external funding and supportive soft-skills mechanisms such as mentorship, advice, and networking with experienced entrepreneurs have on transforming the entrepreneurial attitude of new entrepreneurs. In measuring attitudes regarding entrepreneurial success, a series of variables specific to the nature of the analyzed entrepreneurial ecosystem are revealed and adapted, starting from psychological research. This ap- proach is implemented to evaluate the self-perception of efficacy and transformation of entrepreneurs after initiating their companies. The survey of Romanian new entrepreneurs is considered as the database. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data set is used to consider entrepreneurial motives and impacts at the macrolevel. The correlation analysis, statistical tests, and ANOVA helped to reveal the differences in attitudes to mentorship and similar indicators in the Romanian business environment. The novelty of the research is seen in the consideration of field cases and a global monitoring data set through the prism of ground mathematical methods. The focus on boosting new entrepreneurs with a mixture of finance and soft skills support simultaneously addresses a research gap that is slightly closed by this research. The study showed that the mentoring program for new entrepreneurs increased their self-confidence, especially for young people, taught them how to run a company without outside interference, and significantly transformed the mentality of the participants in the experiment. Thus, the policy of supporting new entrepreneurs not only financially, but also in skills, has good prospects and needs to be intensified. Keywords: entrepreneurship; perception of self-efficacy; funding for newly established companies; Romania; GEM; ANOVA; correlation analysis 1. Introduction The concepts of entrepreneurship and economic development and the connection between them have received increasing attention during the past decades [1–4]. Although researchers have not found a general theory of entrepreneurship that is clearly explained in the theory of economic development [5], significant progress has been made in understand- ing the role of entrepreneurship in economic development [6,7]. The role of entrepreneur- ship in generating economic growth has been analyzed by policymakers, governments, and international organizations, highlighting that the traditional approach, which argued that large companies were the foundation of a strong economy, is outdated [2,3,5], while small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and new ventures are recognized as important mechanisms for economic development, providing solutions to job creation and increasing per capita income [8]. However, due to their economic strength, large companies have Sustainability 2022, 14, 7985. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137985 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability