Author Description

The 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) survey represents the 17th year GEM has tracked rates of entrepreneurship across multiple phases and assessed the characteristics, motivations and ambitions of entrepreneurs, and the attitudes societies have toward this activity. The appendix to this report features a page of resultBelow are select major findings from the report.Societal Values about entrepreneurshipAcross 60 economies around the world, 68% of working age adults, on average, perceive high status for entrepreneurs in their societies and 61% believe they receive positive media attention. In the factor-driven and efficiency-driven economies, two-thirds of adults on average think entrepreneurship is a good career choice. In the innovation-driven economies, 53% have this belief. Three countries from the Asia region (Kazahkstan, Philippines and Indonesia) exhibit high levels on all three indicators, with three-fourths or more people stating that entrepreneurs receive high status and are represented positively in the media, and that entrepreneurship is a good career choice.Self-perceptions about entrepreneurship On average, 42% of working age adults in the GEM economies see good opportunities around them for starting a business, but a little more than one third of them would be constrained from starting due to fear of failure. However, more than half of the working age population in the 60 economies, on average, feel they have the ability to start a business. High levels on these three indicators can be seen in African countries (Senegal, Burkina Faso and Botswana) and Barbados, where over half see opportunities, with less than one-fifth of them feeling constrained by fear of failure, and close to three-fourth or more believing they have the capabilities to start. Twenty one percent of people surveyed in the 60 economies, on average, intend to start a business in the next three years.