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New data from the upcoming 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) shows that entrepreneurship is beginning to flourish in Kenya. The country scores higher than all other sub-Saharan African countries for technology transfer and research and development expenditures (as a percentage of GDP).
Global Entrepreneurship Network and the GEDI Institute released the data for Kenya as part of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit yesterday in Nairobi.
“The patterns of ‘lightning’ speed development that we witnessed in China are starting to appear in the skies over Kenya.” said Zoltan Acs, the founder and president of the GEDI Institute. “The development of institutions that support entrepreneurship across the Sub-Saharan African region follows a similar pattern to that of China ten years ago.”
The Global Entrepreneurship Index provides a detailed look at the entrepreneurial ecosystem of countries by combining individual data such as opportunity recognition and risk perception with institutional components like the depth of capital markets, globalization and spending on research and development.
The composite index gives policymakers a tool for understanding the entrepreneurial strengths and weaknesses of their countries’ economies, enabling them to implement policies that foster productive entrepreneurship.
Two areas that provide Kenyan policymakers with a large opportunity for improvement – not only among the startup ecosystem but within all sectors of society – are tertiary education (23rd among Sub-Saharan African countries) and corruption (26th among Sub-Saharan African countries).
The full report, with data from 132 nations, will be released in November during Global Entrepreneurship Week when it will provide a backdrop for policy-driven discussions at related events around the world.
“Policymakers around the world are searching for ways to strengthen their startup ecosystems to help new firms start and scale,” said Jonathan Ortmans, president of the Global Entrepreneurship Network. “This Index looks beyond the rankings and helps them develop data-driven policies and programs to support entrepreneurs and generate economic growth.”
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About The GEDI Institute
The GEDI Institute is a research organization that advances knowledge on links between entrepreneurship, economic development and prosperity. The Institute was founded by world-leading entrepreneurship scholars from the George Mason University, University of Pécs and Imperial College London. The flagship project of the Institute is the Global Entrepreneurship Index, a breakthrough advance in measuring the quality and dynamics of entrepreneurship ecosystems at a national and regional level. The GEI methodology has been validated in rigorous academic peer reviews and has been widely reported in media, including in The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Forbes.
About Global Entrepreneurship Network
The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) operates a platform of projects and programs in 170 countries aimed at making it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a business. By fostering deeper cross border collaboration through initiatives engaging entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and entrepreneurial support organizations, GEN works to fuel healthier start and scale ecosystems that create jobs, educate individuals, accelerate innovation and strengthen economic growth. For details on the programs and initiatives that make up GEN, visit genglobal.org and follow @unleashingideas on Twitter.
