The social contract as a form of state social assistance began to be most actively used from 2021–2022, when all constituent entities of the Russian Federation began to receive federal co-fi nancing, although before that it had been practiced in a number of regions as a pilot project. It should to stimulate a citizen’s own eff orts to get out of poverty, helping to increase income in the long term, supporting entrepreneurial and other labor initiatives. This article refl ects the results of the study conducted in 2022–2023 in Ulyanovsk region using quality methods - interviews with recipients of this support measure and experts who assist in the design, writing business plans, etc. We studied motives, reasons and life contexts for deciding on the conclusion of a social contract by citizens in the direction of individual entrepreneurial activity. The study showed, that the main reason for making contracts was a conscious desire to start/expand self-made business products by purchasing equipment or equipping their workplaces, the desire to self-realization or provides services to the population and transfer one`s favorite occupation from the category of hobbies to a source of income. For some informants, the incentive was the desire to change jobs, which were not suitable for various reasons and start their own business. Young women with children were attracted by the opportunity to work by the schedule convenient for them. For some respondents, the desire to conclude a contract was associated with the desire to have not just a well-equipped, but a separate workplace from the house, space (due to the lease of premises). As a rule, recipients of assistance had some training in the fi eld in which they planned to work (vocational education, mastery of skills in the production or provision of services based on the previous work experience or the ability to do something with their own hands at the level of a hobby).