At the Portfolio Lendület session of the Hazai Vállalkozások 2026 conference, company leaders debated productivity issues facing Hungarian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the challenges of generational handover, and the effects of digitalization and state support. A large share of the audience viewed the problem not as a simple lack of capital but as low efficiency; they argued that public subsidies often finance wasteful capacity or private consumption rather than genuine competitive development.
State support: enabling growth or creating distortions?
Lévai Bálint, owner of BioTechUSA Group, argued that state subsidies in recent periods were frequently allocated based on lobbying power rather than economic performance. He emphasized that a truly competitive and stable company should not need state aid because private capital is available to finance good ideas.
Wittstein Albert, founder of Munch, said from his experience that many startups funded by state venture programs did not survive after the funding dried up because their operations had been optimized for grant application requirements rather than market viability.
At the same time, Hoffmann Tamás, CEO of Holcim Magyarország, pointed out that certain investments with high social value — such as carbon capture and storage — require state involvement because they are not currently profitable on a purely market basis.
Productivity: figures and causes
Quoting OECD data, Hoffmann noted productivity differences: in Hungary one hour of work produces on average €55 of GDP, while in Germany the figure is €96. He attributed this gap to higher mechanization, stronger innovation and shorter working hours in Western Europe; Hungarian SMEs often try to compensate for low efficiency through overtime.
Generational transfer and professional management
Another contested statement presented at the event said that most Hungarian founders would rather drive their company into bankruptcy than hand control to professional management or bring in external investors. About 60 percent of the audience agreed with this claim.
Hoffmann stressed the sector-wide problem of poor delegation and lack of trust: many owners concentrate day-to-day responsibilities in their own hands, blocking scaling. Dr. Szabóné Dr. Benyeda Zsófia, co-owner and strategic CEO of Prophyl, reported that organizational development and appointing an external (non-family) CEO produced a breakthrough for her company. Today the firm operates with a professional management team independent of ownership, which opens the door to external capital.
Kulcsár Ildikó, CEO of Cudy Future Kft., highlighted the role of external expert support in successful handovers and noted that in her family business both daughters already work at the company and the next generation is preparing for leadership.
Innovation and artificial intelligence
The panel also discussed innovation and technological adaptation. Wittstein Albert said that by applying artificial intelligence (AI) in his company they were able to optimize a nearly 100-person team down to about 30 people without reducing revenue. He argued that managers in white-collar sectors must understand and operationally apply AI tools.
Kulcsár Ildikó reinforced the necessity of technological adoption, noting that implementing new solutions often meets significant internal resistance among employees.
Foreign expansion and competition
Using construction as an example, Hoffmann argued that over the past decade and a half domestic protections and abundant state contracts meant supported large companies were not forced to innovate, leaving them unable to compete successfully in neighboring countries’ infrastructure tenders (for example in Slovakia and Romania). By contrast, the presence of foreign multinationals in Hungary forces local players to compete and improve efficiency.
What will determine SME success in the next two years?
Panelists agreed that internal efficiency improvements, climate adaptation and predictability of government economic policy will be the key success factors over the next two years. The discussion underlined that having funding alone will not fix structural problems: professional management, internal organizational development and technological adaptation are necessary for Hungarian SMEs to become more competitive.
