Simpler to start a business
Registering a small business should take days and a small fee, not months of paperwork. Fewer steps means more people can turn an idea into a real company.
SDG 8.3
United Nations · SDG 8 & 9
Robert Nikic and United Nations SDG 8 & 9
Making it easier for anyone, anywhere, to start a business and grow it.
Entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9.
Robert Nikic at the United Nations General Assembly hall.
SDG 8 — Decent Work & Economic Growth
SDG 9 — Industry, Innovation & Infrastructure
Two-time Inc. 5000 · #35
TEDx Speaker
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Robert Nikic at United Nations Headquarters in New York, October 20, 2025.
Summary
In short
Robert Nikic is an entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. His work focuses on the basics that decide whether a small business survives: getting paid faster, fair access to credit and products, selling across borders, and simpler rules for starting a business.
October 20, 2025 · New York
The day I walked into the United Nations
On October 20, 2025, I held up a United Nations grounds pass with my name on it and walked across the plaza at UN Headquarters in New York, past the flags of the member states.
My family came to America from the former Yugoslavia with five suitcases. I was the kid learning English for everyone, and later the founder who failed for years before anything worked. Nothing about that road pointed to this building.
Inside, I tapped my pass at the door of Conference Room 6 and walked in. I wasn't there for the photo. I was there to bring in the view of people who rarely get a seat in rooms like that: the shop owner waiting to get paid, the founder who can't get credit, the worker waiting on a second chance.
Role
Role at a glance
- Role
- Advisor on innovation and economic growth
- Works with
- An international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9
- Focus
- Small business, entrepreneurship and digital trade
- Based
- United States
The Rails
It's not the capital, it's the rails
Most small businesses don't fail because the idea is bad. They fail on the basics: waiting too long to get paid, not being able to get products or credit, not being able to sell to customers in another country, and red tape that costs more than they can afford.
Robert calls these the rails of a business, and fixing them is the focus of his work. When the rails are simple, cheap and fair, more people can start a business, keep it alive and grow it.
Watch: It's Not the Capital, It's the Rails"A lot of people think businesses fail because of lack of capital, lack of marketing or lack of innovation. No, it really comes down to the policy of what it actually takes to start that business in the first place."
Robert Nikic on WFLA Daytime
Priorities
Focus areas
Faster to get paid
Small sellers often wait weeks or months for money they have already earned. Faster, cheaper payments keep cash flowing and businesses open.
SDG 8.10Fair access to credit and products
Small firms are often turned away for credit because they lack collateral, not because they lack sales. Fair access to credit and products lets good businesses grow.
SDG 9.3Selling across borders with digital tools
A small shop with an internet connection can reach customers in any country. Simple, low-cost digital tools make that reach real instead of theoretical.
SDG 9.cSecond chances and decent work
A past mistake should not close the door on work or on starting a business. Second chances turn people into employees, founders and employers.
SDG 8.5Positions
What Robert advocates
- 01
I want to cut the paperwork and fees it takes to register a small business.
- 02
I want small sellers to get paid in days, not months.
- 03
I believe small-business credit should be judged on real sales data, not only collateral.
- 04
I want it to be cheap and simple for a small shop to sell to customers in another country.
- 05
I believe people with a past deserve a real second chance at work and at starting a business.
Background
Why it's personal
Fled the Balkan wars as a child
Robert's family left the Balkans during the wars of the 1990s.
Arrived in the U.S. with five suitcases
The family started over in America with almost nothing.
Watch the storyYears of failed businesses
Several ventures failed before one worked, teaching him what really breaks small businesses.
2011–2026
Founded and led a company recognized twice on the Inc. 5000
Ranked #418, then #35, among America's fastest-growing private companies, built without outside investment.
October 2025 – Present
Advisor on innovation and economic growth working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9
Bringing the view of founders and small-business owners into conversations on decent work, credit, trade and digital access.
2026
Stepped away from operating roles
After more than 20 years of starting companies, Robert stepped away from operating roles at the company he founded. Today his work centers on United Nations SDG 8 & 9.
a letter on purpose
RN
Robert NikicIn service of United Nations SDG 8 & 9
To those who have been counted out —
I've never believed that the size of an economy is what matters. What matters is whether one person, anywhere, can start something of their own and make a living from it. That's why I serve as an advisor on innovation and economic growth to an international council working on United Nations SDG 8 & 9. Not as a title, but as a duty.
I know what it's like to start with nothing. Everything I've built since rests on one thing: someone gave me a chance. A chance to work, to learn, to fail and try again.
So my focus is simple. I want it to be faster to get paid, easier to get credit and products, cheaper to sell across borders, and simpler to start a business at all. Those are the roadblocks that stop most small businesses, and they're the ones I work to remove — for the shop owner who can't reach a customer overseas, the worker waiting on a second chance, and the founder in a place the world forgot.
If that work helps even one more business cross a border, or one more person get their chance, then everything it took to get here will have meant something.
With purpose,
FAQ
United Nations SDG 8 & 9 FAQ
Robert Nikic's advisory work supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The content of this page has not been approved by the United Nations and does not reflect the views of the United Nations or its officials or Member States. Learn more at un.org/sustainabledevelopment.