Photo by Kammutty VP © The Peninsula
Qatar has been ranked first in GCC countries in Global Entrepreneurship Index 2018 while the country secured second place in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and 22nd position globally.
According to 2018 Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI), released by The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute (GEDI), Qatar stands at number 22 out of 137 countries included in the index in global ranking with 55% overall GEI score.
The Index further indicates that individual score of Qatar is 77% and its institutional score is 73%. Individual score means the entrepreneurial qualities of the people in the ecosystem while institutional score represents quality of the institutions that support entrepreneurship. The GEI 2018 has termed “high growth” as Qatar’s strongest area regarding entrepreneurship.
Government Communications Office of Qatar also tweeted about Qatar’s achievement in international arena saying: “The Global Entrepreneurship Index 2018 shows strong growth in Qatar, ranking first in the GCC, second in the region, and 22nd in the world.”
On ‘component scores’ which are also called ‘pillar level scores’ in Global Entrepreneurship Index 2018, Qatar received 68% scores for opportunity perception, 20% startup skills, 44% risk acceptance, 74% networking, 74% cultural support, 75% opportunity startup, 34% technology absorption, 88% human capital, 60% competition, 86% product innovation, 52% process innovation, 100% high growth, 53% internationalization and 96% for risk capital.
The Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute (GEDI) is the leading research organisation advancing knowledge on the relationship between entrepreneurship, economic development, and prosperity.
The Institute, headquartered in Washington, was founded by leading entrepreneurship scholars from George Mason University, the University of Pécs, Imperial College London and the London School of Economics. The Institute’s flagship project is the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI), a breakthrough advance in measuring the quality and dynamics of entrepreneurship ecosystems at a national and regional level.
According to the Index, GEI scores have improved by 3% globally on average since last year’s Index. The top ten countries for 2018 show a pattern similar to last year’s—high-income, mostly European nations. The top countries are the United States, Switzerland, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Sweden and France.
On the MENA region, the GEI further says that the region shows greatest strength in the areas of Product Innovation and Risk Capital. “The region is bringing new products to market and integrating new technology, while also providing the capital to help businesses grow.”
It further says: “The MENA has improved by 2.9 percent on average over last year’s GEI scores. The MENA region would see the quickest gains by improving competition: reducing barriers to entry for new firms.”
The Global Entrepreneurship Index is a composite indicator of the health of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in a given country. The GEI measures both the quality of entrepreneurship and the extent and depth of the supporting entrepreneurial ecosystem. GEDI has identified the 14 components the Institute believes are important for the health of entrepreneurial ecosystems, identified data to capture each, and used this data to calculate three levels of scores for a given country: the overall GEI score, scores for individuals and institutions, and pillar level scores (which measure the quality of each of 14 components).
