When it comes to setting up and developing a business, Qatar is the best country in the region, according to a recent global report. Qatar has topped the region in terms of ease of starting and developing a business in the National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI) created by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). The Index measures and ranks the ease of starting and developing a business in different countries.
In the 2019-2020 report, Qatar has secured third place in the global ranking, leaving behind US, China, Japan, UK, Germany and other major global economies.
Switzerland has topped the rankings that included 54 countries that were covered in the study, followed closely by the Netherlands.
The outstanding performance of Qatar reflects a strong entrepreneurial spirit amongst its population, and a supportive entrepreneurial ecosystem. The high ranking of the country is a result of the numerous initiatives and efforts undertaken in Qatar to encourage the growth of entrepreneurship, and create a sustainable entrepreneurial environment.
It is not the first time Qatar has earned appreciation for creative conducive environment for entrepreneurs. Last year, the World Bank had listed Qatar as one of the top 20 countries in the world in terms of their improvement to the ‘Ease of Doing Business 2020’ score. Qatar had earned spot in the top global business environment improvers by embarking on ‘an ambitious program to improve its business regulations’ according to the World Bank.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor is a consortium of national country teams, primarily associated with top academic institutions, that carries out survey-based research on entrepreneurship around the world.
According to the report, physical infrastructure is universally rated the most well-developed of the framework conditions that support entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship Education at the school-level is universally regarded as the least developed, weakest condition.
Data from NECI was derived from the 2019 GEM National Expert Survey (NES) in which national experts were asked to assess the national environment for entrepreneurship in terms of 12 GEM-defined framework conditions. These results were used to construct the NECI which is a composite number to measure and rank the ease of starting and developing a business in each economy.
Four of the top 10 ranked economies in the rankings are from Europe & North America, four are from Asia & Pacific, and two from Middle East & Africa. The finding of the report indicates that innovation and entrepreneurship are increasingly an important part of the business landscape in a wide diversity of countries apart from the “usual suspects”, such as the United States.
