Bosnia and Herzegovina is the European leader in terms of the percentage of residents involved in entrepreneurship in a period of three and a half years – this is the main message of the presentation of the latest GEM report held on Monday in Mostar.
This represents the great return of BiH to the global GEM map after more than 14 years of hiatus.
The largest share of early entrepreneurs in Europe
Professor Dr. Vjekoslav Domljan pointed out that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the “European champion” when it comes to the early stage of entrepreneurship, but also that it is leading the way at the world level.
“We are not only European, but also world champions in the export of early entrepreneurs for the year 2024,” said Domljan.
According to the survey, as many as 23 percent of respondents started a business in the last three years – the highest percentage in Europe.
The great return of Bosnia and Herzegovina to GEM research
The director of the LINK Entrepreneurial Center, Alisa Gekić, emphasized the importance of the fact that BiH once again found itself in the world’s largest academic research on entrepreneurship.
“Thanks to the efforts of LINK and partner organizations, we managed to put Bosnia and Herzegovina back on the global world map,” said Gekić.
Although the results on early entrepreneurs are encouraging, Gekić warns that the business environment is still a big challenge and calls on the authorities and international actors to support the continuation of GEM research.
Bad environment and lack of mature businesses
Domljan particularly emphasized the key problem of the domestic economy – the lack of mature entrepreneurs.
“The number of mature entrepreneurs is below the European and world average, and it is they who give stability to the economy and create jobs,” he said.
Even more serious is the fact that BiH is the last among the 51 countries included in the GEM when it comes to the quality of the entrepreneurial environment.
“Education, access to capital, social environment are bad, and there is no culture of valuing successful entrepreneurship,” said Domljan.
Entrepreneurship is not celebrated enough
Although Bosnia and Herzegovina is among the countries with the most new entrepreneurs, they face a number of barriers – from the lack of systemic policies, through weak support from institutions, to the absence of a culture of recognizing success.
Domljan concludes that BiH still does not have a developed system for monitoring and promoting successful entrepreneurial practices, which slows down the development of a stable and sustainable economy.
GEM (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor) has been monitoring entrepreneurship in more than 60 countries for more than 20 years and enables a direct comparison of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the rest of the world.
