According to a study by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Spain is among the 20 best countries to start a business.
How easily can you start a business in Spain? Is government support enough? To what extent is education linked to entrepreneurial activity? These (and many more) are some of the questions that the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study tries to elucidate and that, due to the answers found, place Spain in the top 20 of the best countries with a good environment for entrepreneurship.
Our country, in particular, is ranked 16th out of 54, ahead of Ireland, Sweden and Germany. It is preceded by the United States, China, Luxembourg and Canada, with Qatar being the best country to start a business, according to the latest GEM World Report 2018/2019 prepared by the network of experts and institutions collaborating in this project.
The factors that analyse whether a country’s environment for entrepreneurship is better or worse are included in the National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI). In the case of Spain, its physical infrastructures and government initiatives to promote entrepreneurs are the two strengths that place the country in the top 20.
On the other hand, a greater effort is needed in terms of education (both in school and university). The study also points to the high administrative bureaucracy as a sensitive issue for entrepreneurs and notes other conditioning factors, such as business financing (4.46 out of 9) or the transfer of R+D (4.63 out of 9).
Most active entrepreneurs
Although the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor debuts with the NECI index on its twentieth anniversary, its main objective in recent decades has been another: to measure entrepreneurial activity. Through the Entrepreneurial Activity Rate (TEA), the report measures business initiatives with less than 3.5 years of life in the market that are led by people between 18 and 64 years of age.
In the case of Spain, the TEA now stands at 6.4%, compared to 6.2% in 2017. The increase in the rate is slight, but no less important: the figure is closer to pre-crisis levels (7.6% in 2007) and is the second consecutive year in which it has remained above 6%. Countries with less economic development, such as Guatemala or Angola, have much higher rates (up to 40.8%), while in Germany the TEA is 5%.
If we take into account the rate measured by consolidated projects (those with more than 3.5 years on the market), Spain loses one point (to 6.1%) and is positioned below the average of European and North American countries (7.4%) due to low activity during the economic crisis.
Even so, the effects of entrepreneurial activity are not going unnoticed. Focusing on employment,
As quantity is not synonymous with quality, the report also reveals that about 70% of the new jobs that have been created in the last year are full-time. About 60%, in addition, are permanent.
Finally, GEM experts agree that parity in entrepreneurship is becoming more and more visible. Nine women set up their own business for every ten men who do the same, a figure that is well above the European average (six women for every ten men).
Although parity seems to be a reality when starting a new business venture, this condition is not met in all sectors. When we put the magnifying glass on the female presence of the technology and digital sector in Spain, the results are conclusive: it is almost nil
