Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016 - Colm O’Gorman, DCU Business School

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2016 Survey of Entrepreneurship in Ireland was published yesterday.

The annual report, sponsored by Enterprise Ireland, was authored by Dr Colm O’Gorman, Professor Entrepreneurship at DCU Business School and Paula Fitzsimons of Fitzsimons Consulting.

It shows that one in every 23 people in Ireland (aged 18-64 years) is a new business owner. These figures are similar to the US and high compared to European countries.

Other key findings:

• Ireland ranks 6^th highest in Europe for new business owners
• Ireland ranks 3^rd highest in Europe for intrapreneurs - 1 in 13 employees are active as intrapreneurs, involved in developing or launching new goods or services for their employer
• More than two thirds (70%) of new business owners expect to be an employer within three and a half years of starting-up
• Almost four in ten new business owners expect to employ 10 or more people within five years.
• Aspiration to become an entrepreneur is highest among those aged 25 to 34 in Ireland
• ‘Fear of failure’ would prevent 4 in every 10 people from starting a business.

Commenting on the GEM Survey, An Tánaiste and Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Frances Fitzgerald TD said:

“The GEM 2016 report provides timely research which will help inform our entrepreneurship strategy and in particular, the mid-term review of The National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship. With 35,000 new business owners in 2016, Ireland ranks 6^th highest in Europe for new business owners. I am particularly heartened that the rate of early stage entrepreneurship in Ireland has now returned to the levels observed pre-recession and that many Irish entrepreneurs have growth ambitions and expect to be employers.

“Like most countries, there are more male entrepreneurs (63%) than female (37%), but that gap narrows as one moves from actively planning to actually starting a new business. At 1 in every 14 women in Ireland, the number of female entrepreneurs in 2016 is the highest noted since GEM research started in 2000. Initiatives to encourage female entrepreneurship, like Enterprise Ireland’s dedicated female entrepreneurship unit, are helping to further reduce the gender gap.”

Download the full report here: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016 Survey of Entrepreneurship in Ireland