At the end of last year I had a post on how entrepreneurship and free markets have helped transform farming in New Zealand. In a study recently released by Babson College, finds that the indigenous Maori are the world’s third most entrepreneurial people.
– In terms of Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity, Aotearoa (Maori New Zealanders) at 17.7% and New Zealand at 17.6% were surpassed globally only by two other countries (Thailand and Venezuela).
– About 83% of Maori entrepreneurs are opportunity entrepreneurs, a value comparable to Canada, Austria, and the United States.
– About 25.0% of Maori versus 13.1% of the general population say they expect to launch a start-up in the next three years.
What drives this entrepreneurial spirit? For New Zealanders, both Maori and non-Maori, wealth creation is not as important as is independence. Maori have twice as many independence-driven entrepreneurs as wealth-driven entrepreneurs. The typical New Zealand entrepreneur is an opportunity-based lifestyle entrepreneur, opting for work-life balance rather than wealth creation.
The one concern from this study is that their success rates are fairly low. Only 37% of Maori entrepreneurial start-ups survive three-and-a-half years compared to 62% in the general population. There is clearly a significant opportunity to improve their success rates through education, which can as much as double success rates.
The full report can be downloaded here.
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