What Makes the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs? Endeavor and GEM Release New Report

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solutions to unemployment in developing economies are the talk of the town with this week’s Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York City focusing on “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Generating Employment for the 21st Century.” A new report released today by Endeavor, and the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) verifies that the answer to job creation lies in high-impact entrepreneurship. Although rare, high-growth entrepreneurs employ significantly more people than low-growth entrepreneurs. Click here to download the full report [PDF]. To download a one-page report summary, click here.

“The report proves that entrepreneurship has an important role in propelling future growth. High-impact entrepreneurs take advantage of new opportunities to lead the way in creating jobs and fostering economic growth in their countries”

The 2011 High-Impact Entrepreneurship Global Report, sponsored by Ernst & Young, is based on a survey of more than 800,000 people worldwide, of which over 70,000 were entrepreneurs in 60 countries. Key findings of the survey include:

• In the next five years, high-growth entrepreneurs project to add between 3 times to 15 times more jobs than low-growth entrepreneurs.
• High-growth entrepreneurs represent only 4% of the total entrepreneurs who responded to the GEM survey, yet the businesses they have founded created close to 40% of the total jobs generated by all entrepreneurs who responded to the survey.
• Once high-growth entrepreneurs become successful, they are the most likely to start funding other ventures as angel investors.

“The report proves that entrepreneurship has an important role in propelling future growth. High-impact entrepreneurs take advantage of new opportunities to lead the way in creating jobs and fostering economic growth in their countries,” said Rhett Morris, the director of Endeavor’s Center for High-Impact Entrepreneurship. “These individuals are also most likely to support the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

The report also examined attributes of high-growth entrepreneurs, including age at launching their businesses and education levels. To receive a copy of the report or to learn more about Endeavor’s Center for High-Impact Entrepreneurship, contact Rhett Morris at [e-mail].

About Endeavor:

Hailed by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman as “the best anti-poverty program of all,” Endeavor is leading the global movement to catalyze long-term economic growth by selecting, mentoring, and accelerating the best high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. To date, Endeavor has screened more than 28,000 entrepreneurs and selected 604 individuals leading 385 high-impact companies.

With support from Endeavor’s worldwide mentor network, these high-impact entrepreneurs:

• Have created over 156,000 jobs
• Generated over $4.5 billion in revenues in 2010
• Inspire future generations to innovate and take risks

Headquartered in New York City, Endeavor currently operates in 15 countries throughout Latin America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. As the high-impact movement expands globally, Endeavor will continue to prove that anyone with a big idea can succeed, from Silicon Valley to Latin America, the Middle East, and beyond.

About The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor:

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is a not-for-profit academic research consortium that has as its goal making high quality information on global entrepreneurial activity readily available to aside an audience as possible. GEM is the largest single study of entrepreneurial activity in the world. Initiated in 1999 with 10 countries, GEM 2010 conducted research in 59 economies all over the world.