World’s greatest entrepreneurial country revealed

Despite being one of the poorest countries in the world – or perhaps because of it – the East African country of Uganda has been revealed as the country whose people show the greatest entrepreneurial spirit.

UK B2B marketplace, Approved Index, has created a map showing which countries are the most entrepreneurial around the world (See bottom of this page).

Surprisingly, the results reveal that those with the fiercest entrepreneurial spirit are most likely to be found in developing nations.

The map looks at entrepreneurship across 73 countries, accounting for over 70% of the world’s population. Incredibly, topping the list of most entrepreneurial countries by almost double any other is Uganda, with 28% of its adult population having started a business, while the least entrepreneurial title is taken by Suriname (0.2%).

It is interesting that Uganda ranks as the most entrepreneurial country as the word entrepreneur often conjures images of Bill Gates and other tech giants. In this case, it appears that people are forced to start small businesses in order to survive.

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Looking amongst developed nations, Australia ranks highest in position 26, followed by Canada in position 27, the UK at 33 and the USA at 37.

Trilby Rajna of Approved Index comments, “In countries where the economy is poorer, or where unemployment rates are high, citizens turn to starting their own small businesses where they see opportunity. I am South African and will never forget the makeshift cardboard photo booth pitched outside the traffic department in Cape Town. All that was needed was a camera, a portable printer and a plain wall. People like myself who had forgotten to bring ID photos along for their license renewal were queuing up outside. It was an excellent idea.”