Have you thought about starting a business this year? So did the majority of Qatar’s population according to a new report.
Qatar has made it among the top 10 countries for entrepreneurs in the assessment index for 50 countries around the world.
The Gulf nation seized the ninth spot in the National Entrepreneurial Context Index (NECI) 2021 and the third in the MENA region with a score of 5.5, according to the report.
It toppled a number of developed countries, including the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom, thanks to its strong policies and optimal environmental conditions for entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.
In its latest ranking, Indonesia (6.4), Netherlands (6.3), and Taiwan (6.1) secured the top three spots, followed by United Arab Emirates (6.0), India (6.1), Norway (5.7), and Saudi Arabia (5.7).
South Korea (5.5) and Switzerland (5.4) followed Qatar, reaching 10th and 11th on the global index.
The GMI report assessed the conditions for entrepreneurs in 50 countries worldwide. It also ranked countries in terms of their ability to encourage new businesses.
The index provides policymakers with insights on how to foster such an environment. In total, 12 entrepreneurial environment conditions (EFCs) are measured to make up the context in which entrepreneurial activity takes place in a country.
For the score to be tabulated, 36 experts in each respective country (2,000 in total) weigh the factors, which include Internal market dynamics, financial environment related to entrepreneurship, and government concrete policies, priority, and support.
Per the report’s findings, Qatar secured its spot among the top counties with the highest levels of new job expectations.
“The highest levels of new job expectations were in Qatar, Chile, and the United Arab Emirates, each with one in 10 of their adults or more both starting or running a new business and expecting to employ six or more people in five years’ time,” said the report.
The nation’s population has marked a high level of entrepreneurial confidence in the last year, the report added. Despite the pandemic, the levels continued to grow even further in 2021. Such hopeful statistics can be attributed to the government’s support policies for business owners during the pandemic, including the funds given by the country’s Amir at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In total, more than 73% of Qatar’s population saw good opportunities to start a business in the nation, a one percent spike from 2020. Meanwhile, 71% stated that they had the skills, knowledge, and experience to start a business, compared to 68% in the previous year.
“Unsurprisingly given this level of confidence, the Qatar population led all GEM Level A economies in expectations to start a business within the next three years (50.4 percent) during the 2021 GEM cycle,” the report added.
In addition, the high-income economies have performed better than middle- and low-income economies on the NECI scores, the report stated, adding that the average scores of the NECI globally this year were somewhat low in general.
“A major takeaway for governments and organisations promoting entrepreneurship is that in general, contexts for entrepreneurship in every participating country could be made more conducive to promoting entrepreneurship,” said Alicia Coduras, GEM National Expert Survey (NES) Coordinator.
“Policymakers and other stakeholders would do well to scrutinize the state of the NECI pillars and identify critical areas requiring intervention.”