Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector & Arab Springs
Key findings include:
• A significant proportion of respondents expressed interest in entrepreneurship as a profession.
• In every country surveyed a large proportion of respondents indicated that if given the choice they would prefer to be self-employed or own a business. While many cited the greater independence it would offer, other business owners started their initiatives out of economic necessity not opportunity.
• Roughly half of respondents across the region are at least somewhat familiar with the term entrepreneurship — in both its business and social senses —indicating growing awareness of this emergent sector.
• There is a strong interest in volunteerism —more than one in four respondents region wide is currently active in some form of volunteering — indicating a greater involvement in social causes, a pathway towards social entrepreneurship.
• Respondents indicated very high rates of failure of new businesses and NGOs. Lack of finance remains the largest challenge to starting a business, while bureaucratic hurdles such as legal registration and interference from authorities were cited by those operating in the NGO sector.
• Across the region, the majority of respondents believe that young people are more interested in improving their communities and contributing to the long-term development of their societies after the revolutions.