GEM 2006 North Wales Report
11th Oct 2007 - 08:00:01More Needs to be done to stop young people in North Wales turning their backs on starting new businesses in the region.
GEM 2006 North Wales Report (English)
GEM 2006 North Wales Report (Cymraeg)
These are the findings of the unique Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study undertaken by Professor David Brooksbank and Professor Dylan Jones-Evans of the National Entrepreneurship Observatory for Wales.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) was begun established in 1997 as a joint initiative between Babson College and London Business School. It describes and analyses entrepreneurial activity across a large and growing range of nations. Through producing internationally comparable data on the entrepreneurial activity, the GEM study is unique as the only longitudinal study of entrepreneurship undertaken throughout the major nations of the World. The project is supported by European Structural Funds, the Welsh Assembly Government, the University of Glamorgan and Cardiff University.
The research shows that entrepreneurial activity amongst working age adults in North Wales was measured at 5.7 per cent in 2006, which is higher than the average for Wales. However, as Professor Jones-Evans points out, this varies considerably by gender and age.
“There has been a major decline in entrepreneurial activity by women in North Wales in the last twelve month, falling from 4.8 per cent in 2005 to 3.8 per cent in 2006. This is disappointing, given the amount of funding that has been allocated to programmes to develop female entrepreneurs in the region”.
“However, the most surprising result is that only one in two hundred young people are becoming involved in starting and managing a new business, a tenth of the activity rates for the rest of Wales. This is dramatic decline on last year’s rate of 3.3 per cent of young people involved in entrepreneurial activity across the region. It also demonstrates that much more needs to be done to create the right environment in which young people can, if they so desire, start up a new business. This includes the provision of finance, the right type of training and support and mentoring from experienced businesspeople. There are plenty of talented young people within the region who have the motivation and creativity needed to start a business. They just need support and encouragement to do so. In particular, the schools, colleges and universities in the region need to step up their efforts in encouraging greater enterprise education which, as our studies have shown, has a real impact on encouraging young people to become more entrepreneurial.”
According to Professor Brooksbank, there are also two other trends that warrant further investigation by policymakers to ensure that the region increases its entrepreneurial potential
“The proportion of lifelong residents - i.e. those who were born and still living in the region - involved in entrepreneurial activity has declined from 4.6 per cent in 2005 to 2.9 per cent of the population in 2006. At the same time, the proportion of in-migrants who are starting their own business has increased to 8.3 per cent, considerably higher than for the rest of Wales or for the UK as a whole.
“Therefore, North Wales is more dependent on incomers, particularly from the rest of the UK but also, to a lesser extent, from overseas, to supply the entrepreneurial capital of the region.
“However, the study also shows that, in 2006, 5.3 per cent of fluent Welsh speakers in North Wales were involved in new business starts, as compared to 3.8 per cent in 2005. This is still lower than the proportion of non-welsh language speakers starting a business and suggests that possibly more support is needed via organisations such as the Welsh Language Board to help encourage welsh speakers, especially young people, to become involved in starting a new business.”
Copies of the other regional reports can be found at www.neo-wales.com/publications.
