This paper investigates the role of small and medium economic enterprises (SMEO) in the rise of right-wing authoritarian regimes and subsequent symbiotic relations between the two. We argue that SMEO’s have played a major role in supporting the right-wing populist parties in countries where business dependency on the state is high. Previously excluded from the patronage ties to the state and in demand of favorable policies from the state, SMEOs largely supported right-wing parties’ ascendancy to power. In part, this support was based on the expectation that they would benefit from the government-allocated incentives, tax breaks and other incentives to SMEOs. Additionally, we argue, the ideological similarities between SMEOs and right-wing populist parties have enabled the relationship to last longer. In order to dissect this relationship, we design an original business elite survey in Turkey, targeting high-ranking business leaders of small, medium and large private companies. In addition to the 400 business elite survey responses, we conduct in-depth interviews with 42 business leaders in major business hubs in Turkey (Istanbul, Bursa, Izmir, Konya, Gaziantep) and Ankara. Our findings suggest that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) helped SMEOs grow over time and that this growth is sensitive to government economic policies. These firms have become accustomed to government incentives, such as tax breaks, assisting social security payments of workers, export incentives and others. Their current competitiveness and recent expansion to markets outside Turkey depend on these government programs. The evidence also suggests that this symbiotic relationship persists even under conditions of economic crisis, when SMEOs readily adopt and disseminate the point of view that the crisis can be traced to foreign interests and global geopolitical struggles, absolving the domestic government from responsibility for the onset of the crisis or for diffusing it. This paper fills a gap left by existing research, which mostly focuses on the rise of such parties through social policies or nationalist and anti-elite discourses, catalyzed by rising inequality that increases uncertainties in the social and economic life of ordinary people. In this respect, this project outlines the political economy of right-wing populist parties in developing countries and calls for further studies on business-party relations.