Moscow – St. Petersburg. On 19 April 2013 the presentation of GEM Russia 2012 results was held in Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russian Federation with the participation of heads of government, public figures, entrepreneurships, academic community and the media representatives.

 

Only 7% of the Russian population is involved in entrepreneurial activity. This is the data of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) in 2012 announced by the research team of Saint Petersburg University GSOM.

Noteworthy, Russians do not aspire to join the ranks of entrepreneurs. The GEM Russia data estimates that only 3,8% of Russians intend to open their own business in the nearest three years. This index for BRICS countries is 21% in average, for Eastern Europe — 24%. Moreover, half of those having entrepreneurial intentions are active entrepreneurs trying to create a new company. Thus, newcomers among entrepreneurs are about 2%. This is the lowest level not only for participating countries in 2012 but for Russia since 2006 as well.

Today, 4,3% are early-stage entrepreneurs, those who are less than 3 years involved in entrepreneurship. This is every 23rd adult in Russia. To compare, in BRICS countries every 8th adult is involved in early-stage entrepreneurship, and in Eastern Europe — every 11th.

The share of established business (more than 3,5 years from starting a business) among all entrepreneurs is 33% in Russia. In developed countries the number of experienced entrepreneurs exceeds the number of newly created.

The growth expectations of Russian entrepreneurs are low as well. Under the GEM 2012 data in Russia only every 10th early-stage and 20th established entrepreneur expected to create more than 20 working places in five years. In 2011 to compare every 5th early-stage and 4th established entrepreneur could have been classified as significant growth-oriented. It is interesting that 20% of Russian entrepreneurs noticed that they do not plan to create any job in five years. It is twice as much than in 2011.

According to the GEM data presented by SPSU experts in 2012 by the number of people involved in early-stage entrepreneurial activity Russia is ranked on 67th position among 69 countries.

"Global Entrepreneurship Monitor" is the world largest entrepreneurship study. In 2012 more than 198 000 adults from 69 countries took part in the survey. With the largest sample to date, this group of economies represented an estimated 74 percent of the world’s population and 87 percent of the GDP. In Russia GEM project is carried out be Saint Petersburg University GSOM team headed by professor Olga Verkhovskaya, Department of strategic and international management.

Note: The representative sample in 2012 comprised of 3 500 adults at the age of 18-64.

 

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is an annual assessment of the national level of entrepreneurial activity. GEM is the research program, based on a harmonized assessment of the level of national entrepreneurial activity for all participating countries, involves exploration of the role of entrepreneurship in national economic growth. Started as a partnership between London Business School and Babson College now it expanded to 69 in 2012. Russia has been participating since 2006.

GEM Research has three main objectives:

• To measure differences in the level of early stage entrepreneurial activity between countries
• To uncover factors determining the levels of entrepreneurial activity
• To identify policies that may enhance the level of entrepreneurial activity