IOBE presents its annual report on entrepreneurship in Greece

Fewer entrepreneurs began a new business this year, apparently due to uncertainty in the Greek market and to heavy taxation of the self-employed, said the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE) in its annual report on entrepreneurship presented on Monday, according to ANA.

Some of the report's conclusions include the following data:

• - The number of people aged 18-64 who were at the early stages of starting a company in 2016 dropped to 5.7 pct (380,000 people), from 6.7 pct (450,000) in 2015. It is one of the lowest ranges historically (2003-2016: 6.9 pct).
• - The percentage of the population that interrupted or suspended its business activity in 2016 comprises 3.8 pct of the general population (around 260,000), higher that of 2015 (3.0 pct). Seven in ten said they did so because of lack of profits.
• - The number of women entrepreneurs at the early stages of a startup dropped to 4.8 pct (around 168,000) compared to 6 pct in 2015, while of men it dropped to 6.6 pct from 7.5 pct in 2015.
• - Almost one in three businesspeople (35 pct) have at least one college degree, with 7.8 pct holding a graduate degree or specialization as well. But 42.7 pct are high school graduates, a higher percentage than recorded in 2015.
• - Three in five businesspeople declared that no possible customer would consider the offered products or services new or innovative, while 15.6 pct believe that everyone will see their products as being innovative. According to the report, this statistic may be attributed to the fact that new startups generally tend to belong to consumer services.
• - One in three businesspeople said they are focused entirely on the Greek market, while one in three said that over a quarter of their revenues came from customers abroad (a slightly lower percentage than the average of innovative countries' 35 pct). It seems however that it is the first time there is a strong export tendency, as it is the first time that the percentage of those who export over 25 pct of their turnover climbed to over 70 pct.
• - Despite the fact that 64 pct of all Greeks state that being an entrepreneur is a good choice for a professional career and 66 pct believe that successful businesspeople are treated with respect and recognition, the percentage of the population that could see business opportunities six months ahead is the lowest globally, at 13 pct. In addition, the report said, even if 71 pct of new entrepreneurs express confidence in their knowledge and abilities to run a business, Greece retains one of the globally highest percentages in terms of fear of failure, at nearly 70 pct.

As for obstacles to entrepreneurship, they are the continuing discouraging business environment compared to most European countries of innovation. Some of it can be attributed to the economic crisis, but a great part relates to structural and foundational weaknesses of the country such as bureaucracy, changing tax regulation, lack of efficient promotional mechanism, among others.

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