EARLY-STAGE ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROFILE
3.2 WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT STARTING A BUSINESS?
It can be easy to assume that a normal career path progresses from education into salaried employment, based on the fact that starting a business or working for oneself may be outside one’s range of experience or expectations. In light
of this, familiarity with someone who has started a business can be an important precursor to doing the same. Similarly, a person may consider that starting a business is too difficult, or that there are no good business opportunities locally. The GEM
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Adult Population Survey (APS) explores these issues directly, asking all respondents how many people they know who have started a business in the past two years, whether it is easy to start a business locally, and whether, in the next six months, there will be good opportunities to start a business locally. The 2023 results across 46 economies are shown in Figures 3.1–3.3.
The proportion of those who know someone who has started a business varies considerably across economies, from just over one in five in Thailand to almost nine out of ten in Saudi Arabia. Notwithstanding this exceptional Saudi Arabia figure, the proportion appears to decline slightly in income groups B and C income compared to Level A. There are 11 of 14 group C economies having one in two or more adults who know an entrepreneur, compared to 10 of 17 Level B economies and nine of 15 Level A.
Figure 3.2 shows the percentage of adults agreeing that it is easy to start a business. It varies from less than one in five in Iran, Israel and Germany, to more than four out of five in Poland and Saudi Arabia. This time the proportion agreeing decreases slightly from Level C to Level B before increasing to Level A: one in two adults or more agreeing in five of 14 Level C economies, six of 17 Level B and 12 of 15 Level A. It can be
surmised that individuals in Level A economies have better access to the resources needed to start a business, while in Level C economies many people are starting businesses just to survive because employment opportunities are scarce.
As with knowing an entrepreneur, note that there is more variation within income groups than between those groups, so factors other than income are likely to be more important.
One of those factors may be the availability of local business opportunities and the ability to spot them. The APS asks respondents if they agree that, in the next six months, there will be good opportunities locally to start a business; note that these are respondents’ perceptions. Agreement may reflect a low level of local opportunities but perceivable to those with a sharp eye, or an abundance of local opportunities and a low level of opportunity recognition on the part of would-be entrepreneurs — or any combination of the two.
While opportunity recognition typically declines with income, there is considerable variation across economies, with the proportion seeing good opportunities ranging from one in four in Iran to more than nine out of 10 in Saudi Arabia, although, as with the previous two figures, perceptions are generally high. In 30 of the 46 economies, one in two or more see good
% of adults 18–64
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Thailand South Africa Morocco Iran Mexico China Jordan India Ukraine Venezuela Ecuador Brazil Colombia Guatemala Greece Latvia Estonia Romania Poland Spain Panama Hungary Slovak Republic Uruguay Oman Cyprus Puerto Rico Israel Lithuania Croatia Chile Germany Republic of Korea United States Luxembourg Italy Norway Sweden Canada United Kingdom Qatar Switzerland Slovenia Netherlands France Saudi Arabia
Level B
Level C Level A
FIGURE 3.1 Knowing someone who has started a business in the past two years (% adults) Source: GEM Adult Population Survey 2023
FIGURE 3.2 In my country, it is easy to start a business (% adults agree) Source: GEM Adult Population Survey 2023
% of adults 18–64
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Iran China Jordan Ukraine Brazil Venezuela Colombia Ecuador Guatemala Mexico Morocco South Africa Thailand India Israel Slovak Republic Puerto Rico Spain Latvia Greece Romania Uruguay Croatia Lithuania Hungary Chile Cyprus Panama Oman Estonia Poland Italy Germany Republic of Korea France United States Luxembourg Qatar Slovenia United Kingdom Canada Switzerland Norway Sweden Netherlands Saudi Arabia
Level B
Level C Level A
FIGURE 3.3 In the next six months, there will be good opportunities to start a business where I live (% adults agree) Source: GEM Adult Population Survey 2023
% of adults 18–64
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Iran Ukraine Jordan Ecuador Colombia Mexico South Africa Brazil Venezuela China Morocco Guatemala Thailand India Hungary Spain Slovak Republic Cyprus Latvia Greece Israel Estonia Panama Romania Uruguay Chile Lithuania Puerto Rico Croatia Oman Poland Italy Republic of Korea Germany United Kingdom Luxembourg Slovenia France Switzerland United States Canada Netherlands Norway Qatar Sweden Saudi Arabia
Level B
Level C Level A
opportunities, including 11 from Level C, nine from Level B and 10 from Level A.
While more than one in two adults in Iran know someone who has started a business recently, just one in four see good opportunities and only one in seven agree it is easy to start.
Despite very difficult circumstances, Ukraine scores reasonably well for these perceptions, with three out of five adults knowing a new entrepreneur, and two out of five agreeing it is easy to start or there are good opportunities locally.