(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
DOHA: Young Arabs are more entrepreneurial than before with more than half believing members of this generation are more likely to start a business, says a survey.
The eighth annual ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth Survey revealed that when asked ‘Do you feel people in this generation are more likely to start a business than in previous generations’ 54 percent agreed, with GCC youth most enthusiastic at 62 percent compared to 54 percent in North Africa and 44 percent in the Levant.
For the survey, international polling firm Penn Schoen Berland (PSB) conducted 3,500 face-to-face interviews with Arab men and women aged 18-24 in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Yemen.
Some 36 percent of young Arabs said they intend to start their business in the next five years, 37 percent in the GCC, 39 percent in North Africa and 31 percent in the Levant.
Real estate is the preferred choice for a start-up in the Gulf states, where 24 percent of youth said they would opt to launch a property-related company, whereas technology was the top choice for would-be entrepreneurs in the Levant (15 percent) and North Africa (18 percent).
Retail is the second most popular choice in Levant and North Africa for 15 percent and 16 percent of respondents, respectively; however in the Gulf nine percent would opt to start a retail operation.
Across the Middle East, 34 percent said they did not intend to launch their business, while 30 percent didn’t know.
Lack of financial resources to start a business was cited as the main reason overall, by 20 percent of young people, however in the GCC eight percent believed they lacked the means to do it alone, while in North Africa, 37 percent saw this as the biggest hurdle. Young Arabs believe governments can do more to support young entrepreneurs, with 39 percent saying encouraging affordable lending should be made a priority; 25 percent calling for education and training to be improved and made more available; and 19 percent asking for government regulations and red tape to be cut.