The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) provides an annual assessment of  the entrepreneurial activity, aspirations and attitudes of individuals  across a wide range of countries. GEM is the largest on-going study of  entrepreneurial dynamics in the world. Initiated in 1999 as a partnership  between London Business School and Babson College, the first study covered  10 countries. In 2013, 67 countries participated in the research. One of  the unique features of GEM is the facility which it provides to compare  countries with each other across a range of variables pertinent to  entrepreneurship. This is made possible as the research is carried out in  exactly the same way in each country and is coordinated by the Global  Entrepreneurship Research Association (GERA) based in Babson College in the  United States.

The findings include:   

• There was an increase in the rate of Total Early Stage Entrepreneurial  Activity (TEA) in Ireland in 2013 – 9.2% up from 6.1% in 2012. Ireland is  now ranked 2nd across the EU-15 and 9th among the EU-28 countries
• One in eleven of the adult population in Ireland are engaged in some aspect  of early stage entrepreneurial activity.
• The gender gap has narrowed and not because less men were early stage  entrepreneurs (as was the case in 2012).
• In terms of new business owners the gender ratio is 1.4:1
• In terms of total early stage entrepreneurs it is 1.9:1.

There had been a serious concern about the pipeline of entrepreneurs for  the future. (This was reflected in the Report of the Entrepreneurship  Forum). This was turned around in 2013 with 14.7% of the population  indicating their intention to set up a new business in the next three  years. This is higher than EU 15 average (11.5%) but somewhat behind EU-28  (15.9%).

Early stage entrepreneurship is higher among immigrant groups (11%) than it  is among the non-immigrant population (8.8%).

The majority of early stage entrepreneurs expect to become employers (85%).

The number of early stage entrepreneurs that have ambitious growth  aspirations and expect to employ 10 or more after five years (22%),  compares very favourably with international averages.

13% of early stage entrepreneurs have, or expect to have, 75% or more of  their customers in overseas markets. This is the 4th highest rate for  significant exporters across the OECD.

Irish early stage entrepreneurs are relatively innovative with 27% of their  products/services considered new to all customers compared to their  international counterparts, 17% (OECD), 16% (EU-28) and 18% (EU-15).

Four out of five adults in Ireland have a high regard for successful  entrepreneurs (81%). The rate is second only to Finland (85%) across all EU  and OECD countries in this respect.

The level of perception of supportive media coverage about entrepreneurs in  Ireland (60%) remains higher that the international averages across the  OECD (51%), EU-28 (49%) and EU-15 (49%).

The rate at which individuals are turning to entrepreneurship out of  necessity continued a downward trend (19% from 28% in 2012). This rate is  lower than the international averages across the OECD (21%) and EU-28 (24%)  and broadly similar to the EU-15 (18%).

The rate of owner managers of established business is now at its lowest  rate since 2004 when it was 6.5%. The rate in 2013 (7.5%), however, remains  higher than the average across the OECD (6.6%), the EU-28 (6.4%) and EU-15  (6.6%)..

The rate at which entrepreneurs were discontinuing their business increased  slightly in 2013. This increased from 1.2% in 2012 to 1.9% in 2013. This  rate is on par with the averages across the OECD (2.1%), EU-28 (2%) and  EU-15 (1.7%).

The majority of entrepreneurs that closed their business cited that the  business was not profitable as their reason for doing so (59%). 10% claimed  to have problems getting finance in order to keep the business going.

Informal investors are a vital source of funding for new businesses in  Ireland. There was little change in the number of adults reported having  provided funds in the past three years (June 2010 to June 2013) to a  business started by someone else (3.4%). The average amount invested by  individuals in Ireland (€18,700) during this period was relatively low in  comparison to the OECD average (€23,000).