Ireland ranks as the eighth most entrepreneurial nation in the world, just behind the US, a new survey has found.
The ranking looked at a number of factors, including fear of failure, availability of financing, education and early-stage entrepreneurial activity.
The ranking, which was compiled by US mergers and acquisitions broker Latona's, was topped by Chile, with India, Guatemala, Canada and Luxemburg rounding out the top five.
Some 36 per cent of entrepreneurs in Ireland offer a product or service that no other businesses hold, compared with 48 per cent in Chile and Luxemburg.
Almost 40 per cent of people said a fear of failure would prevent them from starting a business in Ireland; the highest rate was seen in Morocco, where 64 per cent said it would hinder their ambitions. the most fearless were in Angola, where only 17 per cent of people said fear of failure would prevent them from setting up a business.
In Ireland, only 15 per cent of the population not already involved in entrepreneurial activity said they planned on starting a business within three years.
“Our research shows there are a lot of factors that go into creating a nation of entrepreneurs,” said Rick Latona, company director. “While funding and education play a big part in nurturing entrepreneurial intentions, it’s clear that creative innovation, courage and self-motivation are huge drivers of success when it comes to starting a business.
“It’s great to see countries across the world are all ranking in the top 10 entrepreneurial nations and are being recognised for the efforts they are making to support up and coming entrepreneurs. With new businesses being of great benefit to both the economy and society, it is important for nations to encourage this activity.”
The index was compiled using data from the Global Entrepreneur Monitor, ranking the world’s top entrepreneurial countries based on metrics, with weighting assigned to each metric to create an overall score for each country.
