Barclays Wealth study highlights improvement on MENA environment for entrepreneurs

The global survey - the seventh report in the Barclays Wealth Insights series - polled almost 1,000 entrepreneurs identifying their motivations, characteristics and how the enterprise environment they operate in has changed in the last 10 years.

The UAE, in particular, has seen a remarkable improvement due to strong government support and its implementation of several initiatives that aim at strengthening the basis of the economy, such as the development of the country's infrastructure, the removal of obstacles, the elimination of bureaucracy and significant investment in education.

"The overall environment for entrepreneurship benefits highly from the fact that the Middle East and North Africa are still at an early stage in their economic development. Conditions in emerging markets are more likely to improve in comparison to more mature markets, as the political, regulatory and economic institutions that support entrepreneurs become more established.

Entrepreneurship in the Middle East has been quite slow to develop until recent years. However, this situation has drastically changed, due to a variety of factors that encourage the development of start-ups," said Soha Nashaat, CEO of Barclays Wealth, Middle East.

The survey shows that the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council have become far more conductive to entrepreneurship over the past 10 years. Ongoing liberalisation & privatisation programmes, the development of major financial centres in the region and a greater willingness to attract foreign investment, have all contributed to an increasingly fertile environment for successful entrepreneurs. Compared to the GCC, Europe's growth is stifled by the cost of doing business and regulatory constraints, which in turn holds a range of implications given the current climate.

"The respondents from the Middle East and North Africa feel that the options for expanding internationally have provided the biggest opportunity for progress. This is without a doubt contributed to the government's ongoing support to further strengthen the respective financial and regulatory frameworks in these countries. It is also fascinating to see how less than 50% of respondents feel the availability of talent had increased, even though the MENA region shows the highest improvement in available talent," continued Nashaat.

The study also identified the most important traits required to succeed as an entrepreneur. Perseverance (44%) was deemed to be the most essential. This was followed by willingness to take risks (35%) and creativity (33%). These characteristics were consistent across all markets, suggesting that the challenges faced by entrepreneurs do not vary widely.

Respondents also showed varying responses on why it was important for them to be entrepreneurs. The ability to be your own boss (42%) was the most popular benefit of being a successful entrepreneur, followed by achieving financial independence (39%). The ability to create influential new products and services was the third most popular (38%). Only 29% of entrepreneurs saw the ability to make large sums of money as the most important benefit.

Gerard Aquilina, Head of International Private Banking and Vice Chairman, Barclays Wealth commented:

"There is little doubt that qualities such as creativity or ability to take risk are useful and feature regularly, but it's interesting to see that tenacity has risen to become the most valuable attribute. Breaking down the inevitable barriers is key to not only getting a business off the ground, but also reaching the next summit the entrepreneur is aiming for. Regardless of which country you operate in, this ability will prove to be even more essential in the face of economic downturn, when opportunities become scarcer."