Characteristics of Competitive

Entrepreneurship Education
Ecosystems Around the World:
Implications for Qatar
Presented by

Mohammad Abed Shirzai

For partial fulfilment of the requirements for

Masters of Science Degree in Public Policy in Islam

Supervisor:

Dr Mohammed Evren Tok

2017




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Abstract
Qatar’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem has grown tremendously with major

institutions set up by the government to support aspiring entrepreneurs. Select incubators and

free zones have been established over the past decade to offer a range of programs for

entrepreneurs to get educated and make informed decisions. Although these efforts have

helped entrepreneurs in Qatar launch their enterprises, major issues remain unaddressed for

the government in using entrepreneurship as an economic diversification tool through

streamlining more Qatari youth to become successful entrepreneurs as elsewhere in the

world. With this being the overarching motivation, this research aims to explore

entrepreneurship education ecosystems in six major economies and entrepreneurship hubs,

including UAE, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United States and Qatar, to draw policy

implications and improvements for Qatar’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem. The key

questions addressed in this research include: what are the characteristics of a competitive

entrepreneurship education ecosystem? What are the government-level policy initiatives for

entrepreneurship education in each of these countries; what are the institution-level

initiatives for entrepreneurship education in these countries; what is impact of the policies

and institutional initiatives on entrepreneurs?

Findings from studying the entrepreneurship ecosystems in the target countries unearthed

interesting conclusions and recommendations to help improve Qatar’s entrepreneurship

education ecosystem to the next level. These recommendations in form of concrete policy

recommendations range from making the existing education system in Qatar more

entrepreneurial, establishing an independent government policy initiative, or body, to

safeguard entrepreneurship education in Qatar, encouraging more public and private

partnerships within the ecosystem to enhance entrepreneurship education, increasing

2|Page
universities-industry collaboration to allow research-empowered innovations to find a

natural flow in addressing the pressing needs of the industry, and finally, designing an

entrepreneurship-focused degree program in universities across Qatar to find alternative

study options for youth to pursue and acquire entrepreneurship skills as a discipline.

3|Page
Acknowledgements

I see a multitude of issues of various scales in our surroundings, which could easily be tackled

if one understands the science behind identifying and recommending simple solutions. I

believe this science is public policy. Therefore, this discipline has become dearer to me

throughout the last two years of my stay at Hamad bin Khalifa University.

This thesis is an effort to highlight and address an important issue that is very relevant to our

daily lives in our societies. This endeavor would not have been possible without the sincere,

most generous and guiding hand of my friend and supervisor, Dr Mohammed Evren Tok. I

had the honor to have had my first interaction with Dr Tok when I first applied for the

program two years back. He has helped me develop my understanding of the field; allowed

me to take part in research endeavors he has been pursuing; and provided me with access to

valuable learning resources all this time.

I would like to thank esteemed members of my Examining Committee for this thesis

research: Dr. Muammer Koc, Professor and Coordinator of Sustainability Division at CSE-

HBKU, Dr. Asmaa Alfadala, Director of Research at World Innovation Summit for

Education (WISE), and Prof. George White, Distinguished Career Professor of

Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar. They have dedicated their precious

time to read through this, review and provide me with valuable feedback.

Throughout the last two years, I have had the honor to take classes with esteemed professors

– Dr Dr Abdul Rahman Yousri, Dr Louay Safi, Dr Farhan Chak and others - at College of

Islamic Studies who have taught me with all their sincerity. My classmates at the program

added a remarkable, important dimension to my learning experience here. I would like to

4|Page
thank the administration at College of Islamic Studies and Hamad bin Khalifa University for

working hard to ensure my experience as a student remains a memorable one.

Pursuing graduate studies along with a full-time job is indeed difficult and it would have

been even more difficult without the continuous support of the management of BLJ

Worldwide and my colleagues there.

At the end, I would like to thank my beautiful family, parents, brothers and sisters for their

continuous support throughout this period. They have stood by me all this time and provided

with vital moral support to ensure I successfully complete this program for the benefit of

myself, the people of Afghanistan and the humanity at large.

Mohammad Abed Shirzai

Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies
April 2017

5|Page
Table of Content

1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .........................................................................7

1.1. Overview and Research Background ..........................................................................7

1.2. Research Purpose and Theoretical Framework ..........................................................9
1.3. Research Methodology .............................................................................................10
1.4. Potential Outcomes and Contributions of the Research .........................................11
1.5. Thesis Structure ........................................................................................................11

2. CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

EDUCATION AND ENTREPRENUERSHIP PROFILES OF THE TARGET
COUNTREIS ........................................................................................................................13

2.1. Definitions of Entrepreneurship Education ..............................................................13

2.2. Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and National Competitiveness ...................................16
2.3. Entrepreneurship Rationales and Profiles of Target Countries ................................19

3. CHAPTER THREE: MAPPING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION

ECOSYSTESMS OF THE TARGET COUNTRIES ..........................................................28
3.1. United Arab Emirates ..............................................................................................28
3.2. Saudi Arabia .............................................................................................................39
3.3. Lebanon ....................................................................................................................45
3.4. Singapore .................................................................................................................52
3.5. United States of America .........................................................................................59
3.6. Qatar..........................................................................................................................71

4. CHAPTER FOUR: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENTREPRENUESHIP

EUCATION ECOSYSTEMS IN U.S., UAE AND QATAR ...............................................79

4.1. National Visions, Nature of Education Systems and Policy Initiatives ...................79
4.2. Private Universities, Supporting Organizations and Incubators/Accelerators .........83
4.3. Entrepreneurial Intentions, Attitudes and Motivations .............................................84
4.4. Recommendations and Policy Implications for Qatar ............................................87
4.5. Conclusion ..............................................................................................................91
4.6. Suggestions for Future Research .............................................................................92

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1. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Overview and Research Background

Over the modern history, entrepreneurship as an economic development tool has been

promoted through various policy mandates and incentives by governments to rally its people

to actively take part in the long-term sustainable economic well-being of their societies.

Governments continue to encourage their people to disruptively innovate through their

entrepreneurial endeavors as a way to ensure economic development (Lundström, Stevenson,

2005). Majority of the entrepreneurial activities result in the creation of small to medium-

sized enterprises (SMEs), which are considered as the main drivers spearheading the

innovative diversification of national economies (Zoltan et all, 1999). Presently, SMEs are

responsible for approximately 60 percent of the private sector employment across member

countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Small

Businesses, Job Creation and Growth, OECD 1997).

Entrepreneurship, since its inception, has been practiced as a catalyst for societal change and

economic development. It is imperative to trigger entrepreneurship promotion through the

identification of a cohesive education model, both formal and vocational, to empower

individuals to identify and seize entrepreneurial opportunities (Valerio et al, 2014). New

enterprises, a direct outcome of entrepreneurial activities within an economy, have been

counted as one of the key tenets of economic development in terms of tackling

unemployment and bringing about diversification to national economies. The establishment

of successful new enterprises largely depends on the type of education youth receive at the

school and university levels.

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Entrepreneurship education and training, once only common in leading economies such as

the United States and Europe, has recently broken boundaries and spread across the globe to

emerging and developing countries. Industry experts and academic scholars have drawn

various definitions for entrepreneurship education. It takes multiple forms such as ‘education

about enterprise’, ‘education for enterprise’, and ‘education in enterprise,’ each serving a

different purpose within an entrepreneurial ecosystem (Byrne et al, 2014).

Entrepreneurship education as an academic field has grown tremendously over the last three

decades. In 1986, there were 600 colleges and universities worldwide offering courses on

entrepreneurship. This number has hiked to 2,600 schools offering a diverse range of 5,000

courses for students of all levels (Greene et. all, 2015). In addition to being an academic

field, a range of international consulting groups and non-profit institutions have developed

their own curricula and offer vocational entrepreneurial trainings for their desired target

audience.

A glittering trend in various countries across the world can be vividly seen that

entrepreneurship education and training are considered one of the main instigators in their

economic competitiveness (The Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016). Ranked as the

17th most competitive economy, United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become a regional

economic powerhouse. An array of cohesive entrepreneurship education and awareness

programs have been established by the government and the extended ecosystem to nurture

the next generation of Emirati entrepreneurs (GEM UAE, 2012).

Qatar, an increasingly popular sporting, tourist and education destination, is ranked 18th most

competitive economy by the Global Competitiveness Report 2016. Qatar’s economy mainly

relies on revenues generated through the rent of the paramount hydrocarbon resources the

8|Page
country possess. In a drive to ensure long-term economic prosperity, the government of Qatar

has set up its overarching national vision 2030 for gradual diversification of the economy.

Fostering an entrepreneurial culture and creating a wide-ranging entrepreneurship ecosystem

form one of the core elements of this diversification drive (Qatar National Vision 2030,

2008).

Qatar’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem has grown tremendously with major

institutions such as the Qatar Development Bank (QDB) and Bedaya Center, which are set

up by the government to support aspiring entrepreneurs. Select incubators and free zones

including Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), Qatar Business Incubation Centre

(QBIC), INJAZ Qatar, and Qatar Finance and Business Academy (QFBA) offer a range of

programs for entrepreneurs to get educated and make informed decisions. Although these

efforts have helped entrepreneurs in Qatar launch their enterprises, major issues remain

unaddressed for the government in using entrepreneurship as an economic diversification

tool through streamlining more Qatari youth towards becoming successful entrepreneurs as

in other parts of the world.

Therefore, this research study aims to explore entrepreneurship education ecosystems in six

major economies and entrepreneurship hubs, including UAE, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia,

Singapore, United States and Qatar, to draw policy implications and improvements for

Qatar’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem.

1.2. Research Purpose and Theoretical Framework

The purpose of this exploratory study is to understand the characteristics of a competitive

entrepreneurship education ecosystem. The study is comprised of two main stages. First, it

will explore the progress of entrepreneurship education in six major economies and

9|Page
entrepreneurial hubs, including UAE, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, United States, and

Qatar. It will use a three-level framework to study the ecosystems in the target countries:

 the government-level initiatives for entrepreneurship education;

 the institution-level initiatives for entrepreneurship education;

 impact of these policies and institutional initiatives on entrepreneurs;

Second, the study will draw a comparative analysis between UAE, USA and Qatar to suggest

improvements and policy recommendations for Qatar’s entrepreneurship education

ecosystem.

1.3. Research Methodology

As an exploratory study, this research follows a qualitative approach that is largely dependent

on the available secondary resources. The study analyzes the available literature such as

journals, books, and articles on entrepreneurship education. It will also study and summarize

the entrepreneurship education policies and initiatives undertaken by the governments of

each of the target countries. The study will then delve into summarizing the available

information about the various institution-level initiatives created in each of the six countries

as well as available studies and statistics about the current state and the progress of

entrepreneurs in each of these countries to draw policy recommendations for improving

Qatar’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem. Figure 0 shows the graphical representation

of the methodology used in this study.

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Figure 1.0: Graphical representation of methodology used in this research.

1.4. Potential Outcomes and Contributions of the Research

Outcomes of this research study will be a concrete, simplified and thorough analysis of the

state of entrepreneurship education in the six economies and entrepreneurial hubs, including

UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Singapore, United States and Qatar. The final output of the

study will serve as a one stop-shop for information about entrepreneurship education in

general and about the policies and programs of entrepreneurship education in the target

countries. Furthermore, alongside other research done by leading institutions, the findings of

this research will serve as a useful learning resource and policy document for researchers,

decision-makers and entrepreneurs, who are interested in conducting further research in this

area.

1.5. Thesis Structure

The first chapter discusses the key concepts and methodology used in the thesis. Chapter two

contains a literature review of entrepreneurship education; and the rationales behind

entrepreneurship in the target countries as well as entrepreneurship profiles of these

countries. Chapter three explores for each of the target countries: a) the government-level

11 | P a g e
policy initiatives for entrepreneurship education; b) the institution-level initiatives for

entrepreneurship education; and c) impact of the policies and institutional initiatives on

entrepreneurs. Finally, Chapter four consists of a comparative analysis of USA, UAE and

Qatar in an effort to suggest improvements and draw specific policy recommendations for

Qatar’s entrepreneurship education ecosystem.

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2. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP
EDUCATION AND ENTREPRENUERSHIP PROFILES OF THE TARGET
COUNTREIS

2.1. Definitions of Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship Education entered the mainstream literature decades ago and has become

a trending buzzword, capturing the attention of policy-makers and members of the private

sectors worldwide. The importance of entrepreneurship education has greatly been stressed

in a comprehensive report generated following the UNESCO World Conference in 1998 that

called for the development of entrepreneurial skills within national economies (Greene et al,

2015). The existing literatures suggest lack of a global definition for entrepreneurship

education. Its scope differs according to the needs and standards of each country, territory,

or population it serves.

Numerous academics and industry experts have drawn various definitions of

entrepreneurship education ranging from training programs, to methods of setting up a

business, or conducting business in general. Based on a study entitled, “Entrepreneurship

education: what we know and what we need to know”, Byrne et al (2014) outlines that

entrepreneurship education may take three forms: “education about the enterprise” that aims

to “build awareness about entrepreneurship and business creation”; “education for

enterprise”, aims to “help participants set up their own business”; and “education in

enterprise” encompasses those courses which impart management training to established

entrepreneurs and focuses on providing assistance in areas where they may need additional

assistance.”

The reason that entrepreneurship education has been defined in diverse ways is due to the

fact that entrepreneurship, as any other social phenomena, takes varying shapes from one

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geographical location to the next. It changes its nature and practices in accordance with the

culture, economic and societal needs, and governments’ long-term economic outlooks. These

differences often come in a multi-dimensional form including different perceptions towards

business, attitudes towards work and wealth, leadership and other (Liñán et al, 2015; Chell

and Karataş-Özkan, 2014). Other scholars view entrepreneurship education as a

multidimensional thinking process that helps individuals identify new opportunities and turn

their ideas into viable practices. Donald Kuratko (2004) is quoted by Rachma (2011), which

sees entrepreneurship education as “a dynamic and social process in which a person, both as

individual and in a collective group, identifies opportunities for innovation and action by

transforming ideas into practices and activities with well-defined targets within social,

cultural and economic contexts.

The question of entrepreneurship education being an academic discipline, or vocational

trainings is a topic of continuous debate among scholars in the field. It leads to the question

of whether entrepreneurs should be taught, or trained to be able to start their enterprises

(Garavan and O’Cinneide, 1994). Peter Drucker (1989) states that entrepreneurship is a

discipline like any other discipline we currently have as part of the mainstream education

system and it can be taught. Miller (1987) on the other hand states that certain aspects of

entrepreneurship can be taught, but other aspects needs to be learnt through practice and are

embedded in the person’s own mind-sets, culture and perceptions of the world. This present

a paramount challenge for academic institutions, universities in particular, to design a

comprehensive curriculum to cover all aspects of entrepreneurship (Fayolle, 2007).

Commenting on entrepreneurial pedagogy, Solomon, et al. (2002) explains that “a core

objective of entrepreneurship education is that it differentiates from typical business

education. Business entry is fundamentally a different activity than managing a business;

14 | P a g e
entrepreneurial education must address the equivocal nature of business entry. To this end,

entrepreneurial education must include skill building courses in negotiation, leadership, new

product development, creative thinking and exposure to technological innovation.”

Various scholars such as Schulte (2004), Vicens and Grullón (2011), and Wells’ (2014)

believe that universities are playing and can play an important role in fostering

entrepreneurship by equipping students with the right skills. They all agree that universities

are hubs for innovation, creativity, leadership and critical thinking, which directly impact the

wider society through their graduates. It is therefore imperative to ensure that students

receive the right type of education to be able to make informed decisions afterwards. These

scholars also agree to university-industry collaboration to provide valuable education to

students in a way that helps them grasp the practical meaning of entrepreneurship. In

particular, Wells’ (2014) believes that universities can incite innovation and entrepreneurial

spirit within students and the wider community through establishing incubators and

accelerators in collaboration with industry partners. This will surely provide students with

both extra and co-curricular activities, helping them learn about entrepreneurship and the art

of launching businesses if they are to pursue this for a career.

Various countries across the globe have adopted the aforementioned definitions and have

localized them in an attempt to address the needs of their own markets and population.

According to a comprehensive study authored in 2015 by leading experts in education policy

and entrepreneurship entitled, “Entrepreneurship Education: A Global Consideration From

Practice to Policy Around the World,” a joint publication of World Innovation Summit for

Education (WISE) and Qatar University”, emphasizes that the goals of entrepreneurship

education varies in countries based on the necessities of local economies and communities.

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In China, for example, two forces drive the formation of an entrepreneurial culture, which

include grassroots innovation and government policy to encourage people to start their own

businesses. On the other hand, entrepreneurship education in Qatar is geared towards

economic diversification and innovation.

Literature on entrepreneurship education makes it clear that this field is growing in

universities and schools across the world. For example, in USA, entrepreneurship has been

recognized as a critical component for growth of the US economy (Claire & Perryman,

2016). Business schools in universities are increasingly recognizing the need for promoting

and teaching entrepreneurship (Hazeldine & Miles, 2007; Cassella, 2011; Newman, 2012).

This phenomenon mirrors a growing interest in entrepreneurship amongst students, too.

Interest in starting one’s own business in USA peaked in the 1980s, dropped in the 1990s,

but has subsequently grown again (Rocca & Pruitt, 2009). Entrepreneurship is often taught

as a separate subject, or as a topic within other subjects, or is integrated in subjects through

projects.

2.2. Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and National Competitiveness

The term ‘Ecosystem’ has been regularly used in literature relevant to business since James

Moore (1993) used it for the first time in his article, Predators and Prey: A New Ecology of

Competition, published by Harvard Business Review. Moore (1993) stated that “to extend a

systematic approach to strategy, I suggest that a company be viewed not as a member of a

single industry, but as part of a business ecosystem that crosses a variety of industries.” As

part of the business ecosystem, Moore explained that companies co-evolve capabilities

around new innovations. They cooperate and compete to support product creation and

creativity that help encourage everyone to move towards new innovations. Mason and Brown

16 | P a g e
(2014, in Prochazkova, 2016) define entrepreneurship ecosystem as “a set of interconnected

entrepreneurial actors, organizations, institutions and entrepreneurial processes which

formally or informally connect, govern mediate the activities within the local entrepreneurial

conditions and environment.”

The well-known Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) model concentrates mainly on

new business ventures and recommends that entrepreneurship’s progress in an economy can

be linked to conditions that enhance new business creation. Alongside other conditions for

assessing the competitiveness of an entrepreneurship ecosystem, the GEM model considers

entrepreneurial skills developed through government-initiated entrepreneurship programs

and entrepreneurship education in schools and university levels as the key tenets

(Prochazkova, 2016). Similarly, World Economic Forum (WEF) also considers

entrepreneurship education and training as key to the health and wellbeing of an

entrepreneurship ecosystem. In figure 2.1, within its eight pillars, WEF’s framework for an

entrepreneurship ecosystem stresses that entrepreneurship education at universities, support

systems within the industry such as mentorships, incubators and accelerators and education

and training at school level are key to the competitiveness of an entrepreneurship ecosystem.

These three pillars highlight the importance of entrepreneurship education to train informed

entrepreneurs (Foster et. all, 2013).

Figure 2.1: World Economic Forum Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Source: Source: Foster et. all, 2013

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In recent years, as part of his work as the executive director of the Babson Entrepreneurship

Ecosystem Project, Daniel Isenberg (2011) developed another framework to define an

entrepreneurship ecosystem at the Babson College. As figure 2.2 shows, Isenberg describes

entrepreneurship ecosystem in six general domains, which include a culture, policies,

finance, markets, human capital and supports. Similar to the WEF model, Isenberg’s model

give considerable importance to government policies and support for entrepreneurship

education, universities’ support, mentoring, incubators and accelerators, and

entrepreneurship networks.

Figure 2.2: Domains of Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

Source: Babson College Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project

In the last few decades, with the increasing importance of comparative advantage between

national economies, the concept of competitiveness among nation’s have become more

significant. Competitiveness, according to the Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016 by

WEF, is defined as “the set of institutions, policies and factors that determine the level of

productivity of a country”. Productivity in this context means the driver of growth in a

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national economy, leading to improvements in income levels and higher wellbeing.

Entrepreneurship education, as one of the key drivers behind diversifying and innovating the

business ecosystem in a country, is one of the underlying tenets in this process (Knežević

and Ivković, 2013).

Evidence indicate that economic performance is at its best when the economy has more

entrepreneurial focus. The higher the number of a diverse range of small enterprises in a

market, the more competitive the economy becomes. An improved state of entrepreneurship

education adds to the competitiveness of an economy by ensuring that innovative and

creative entrepreneurs are presented to the ecosystem on a regular basis (Knežević and

Ivković, 2013). The Global Competitiveness Report measures economic performance over

multiple pillars. Fourth and fifth pillar are associated to education, stating that primary and

advanced education and training are crucial to producing qualified, creative and competitive

workforce with an acute understanding of the society’s challenges and the ability to generate

sustainable solutions (Schwab, 2008, pg. 18). Business efficiency largely depends on the

quality of higher and vocational education received by the workers in a consistent manner.

Entrepreneurship as the cornerstone of the private sector requires certain type of adapted

business education, which needs to be formalized in a thematic manner for entrepreneurs,

especially youth, to follow, if they aspire to become business leaders (The Global

Competitiveness Report 2015-2016).

2.3. Entrepreneurship Rationales and Profiles of the Target Countries

Entrepreneurship Profile: United Arab Emirates

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region has a unique approach to policy-making in

various areas, especially in the field of entrepreneurship education, mostly due to the

19 | P a g e
dominance of the public sector. United Arab Emirates (UAE), as one of the leading

economies in the GCC region, is ranked as the 47th most innovative economy in the Global

Innovation Index 2016, 31st in the global index of ease of doing business in the World Bank

2016 report and is ranked 19th for entrepreneurial attitude, activity and aspiration in the

Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016.

The rationale behind creating a vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem in the UAE is one

ingrained in the fabric of the country’s long-term economic diversification strategy. UAE

Vision 2021, an overarching national call for the country’s economic prosperity, outlines the

way forward for the economy to successfully move beyond the petrochemical era towards a

knowledge-driven and diversified economy (UAE Vision 2021). The government of UAE

has opted for entrepreneurship as one of the main diversification drivers in an effort to seize

untapped opportunities and find viable solutions for a range of national issues.

The government’s entrepreneurship strategy encourages the UAE population to undertake

entrepreneurial endeavors; however, its main target is the country’s youth. This is expected

to channel more youth to choose employment with the country’s private sector as currently

a great majority, 90% of the UAE nationals are engaged in public sector jobs, which will

ultimately help tackle unemployment among youth. Among these, UAE’s entrepreneurship

drive, aims to foster and promote entrepreneurship among the youth with a university degree,

diploma, or above, which include government employees, unemployed youth, students and

women at home.

With the UAE Vision 2021 coming into effect in 2010, a range of initiatives, led by both the

government and the private sector in support of entrepreneurship, have been formed.

According to a recent comprehensive report entitled, “Youth and Entrepreneurship in UAE,”

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which was developed by Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, the existing ecosystem

in the country is comprised of approximately 40 entities that work towards promoting

entrepreneurship through various programs and means.

Entrepreneurship Profile: Saudi Arabia

The ratification of the new Saudi Vision 2030 is counted as a crucial step taken towards

sustainable economic and social development in Saudi Arabia’s recent history. The

overarching strategic document draws a framework for enhancing the lives of its citizens

through the application of numerous ways. Developing a vibrant workface, tackling

unemployment and fostering innovation is one of the top priorities, which is envisioned to

be achieved through increasing the contribution of SMEs to national GDP from the current

20 percent to 35 percent by 2030. Education, including all types, whether formal and

vocational trainings, is expected to also take priority in tandem with developing an SME

sector. Therefore, the rationale of increased entrepreneurial activities in the country is deeply

rooted in the country’s long-term economic development philosophy (Saudi Vision 2030).

Saudi Arabia is listed as the 49th most innovative economy by the Global Innovation Index

2016, 94th in the global index of ease of doing business in the World Bank 2016, and 30th for

entrepreneurial attitude, activity and aspiration in the Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016.

The entrepreneurship ecosystem in Saudi Arabia in all levels, including strategic, or

governmental entities, and private sector institutions, is growing. Currently, according to a

study completed by Mohammad Rahatullah Khan (2016), there are more than 30 different

entities that support entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia through providing education and a diverse

range of training programs.

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Entrepreneurship Profile: Lebanon

The recent Global Innovation Index lists Lebanon as the 70th country in terms of innovation,

126th in the ease of doing business by the World Bank 2016, and 63 rd for entrepreneurial

attitude, activities and aspirations in the Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016. The range of

indices show that Lebanon is yet to achieve the required innovation, capabilities and culture

to achieve the desired level of economic development to compete with other economies in

the region and worldwide.

In terms of entrepreneurship and SMEs development, Lebanon is in an acceptable condition

within the MENA region among its closet competition. Currently, over 90 percent of

enterprises in Lebanon are comprised of SMEs, with majority of these emerging in the last

two to three decades, despite the array of challenges emanating from domestic political and

economic uncertainties as well as the ripples of the recent global recession. This progress is

rooted in the government’s consistent strategy and care for entrepreneurs, the country’s long-

standing business mind-set and independent efforts from the citizens (Lebanon SME Strategy

Roadmap 2020).

Despite all these efforts, entrepreneurs and SMEs in Lebanon face an array of challenges in

all levels. The status of research and innovation in Lebanon is quite bleak and requires further

leveraging of the untapped potential available in the population and the private sector.

Entrepreneurs also face the so called “growth barriers”, which prevent nascent entrepreneurs

from reaching their full potential, with the reason being the availability of high risk and long-

term business sustainability. Continued brain drain is another impediment for the country’s

entrepreneurship ecosystem to be able to sustain its growth rate (GEM Lebanon 2015).

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In the recent past, the government of Lebanon and private sector institutions have undertaken

a range of initiatives to support entrepreneurship education in the country. Over 100 private

sector and 45 public sector initiatives and entities form Lebanon’s entrepreneurship

ecosystem. A considerable number of these initiatives and institutions offer entrepreneurship

education and training programs.

Entrepreneurship Profile: Singapore

One of the world’s most innovative and progressive economies, Singapore ranks 6 in the

Global Innovation Index in 2016, 2nd in the ease of doing business by the World Bank 2016

and 24th among all the surveyed countries by Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016 for its

entrepreneurial attitude, activities and aspirations. The various sub-indices in terms of

education, innovation and product development evidently indicate that Singapore is in a

relatively superior condition than majority of other countries being researched in this study.

Most importantly, it is worth noting that Singapore has been progressing positively in all

dimensions of these indices looking at the data since 2010, which is a testament to its holistic

sustainable economic development.

This progress is a visible outcome of the years of hard work and strategic outlook of the

successive governments of Singapore. Over the history, since its independence, Singapore

has made constant efforts to create an entrepreneurial society, starting with a model of “State-

Guided Entrepreneurship,” in which majority of the institutions in charge of driving

entrepreneurship and managing the affairs related to small businesses were led by the

government (Shome, 2011). It was then believed to be the most efficient method as it was

controlled, more visible and measurable, which subsequently followed by a more privatized

model to ensure the larger society actively get engaged. Currently, the country pursues

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“Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship” model. It is defined as “a process of application and

customization of a combination of domain, market, industry-specified, area and cultural

knowledge to affect economically prudent and sustainable business venture” (Keng Wan Ng,

2015).

The current entrepreneurship ecosystem is comprised of more than a 100 government and

private institutions, which are in lead of developing various aspects of entrepreneurship in

the country. Majority of the efforts have been focused on developing technology innovations

and best practices, which have been evident in the country’s rankings in various global

innovation indices. Worth noting that entrepreneurship in all sectors have been flourishing

and most Singaporeans are willing to consider entrepreneurship as viable career option.

There are 2, 000 start-ups in Singapore with majority of these focusing on technology

development.

Entrepreneurship Profile: United States of America

The United States of America (USA) is one of the world’s leading innovative economies,

which is ranked 4th out of the 128 countries surveyed by the Global Innovation Index 2016.

It ranks relatively high on all sub-indices here, which is a testament to the country’s

consistency in sustaining its knowledge, innovation and creative economy. In ease of doing

business report issued by World Bank in 2016, USA ranks 8th and the same year, it is ranked

1st by Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016.

The relatively positive ranking of USA’s economy by the three global indices, the Global

Entrepreneurship Index in particular, can be traced back through the history of country. The

society and economy in USA is one of the most entrepreneurial economies across the world.

Evidenced by the progress made over the past decades and acknowledged by global reports,

24 | P a g e
more than 79 percent of Americans would prefer entrepreneurship as a favorite career choice

over working for another firm (GEM 2013 & Greene et. all, 2015). The Economist explains

that the USA is “a beacon of entrepreneurialism,” and “a study of 20 leading global

economies found that the US was one of the most favorable entrepreneurial environments in

the world” (EY, 2013 & Greene et. all, 2015).

Entrepreneurship education in particular has been growing in USA, with considerable efforts

being undertaken to ensure that entrepreneurs gain the most advanced and relevant training

possible. A wide range of policy initiatives, institutions and organization offer a growing

number of entrepreneurship education programs aimed at entrepreneurs at all levels, from

school , University, established entrepreneurs and working professionals. “Entrepreneurship

has been one of the fastest growing subjects in undergraduate curricula as the number of

university courses has expanded from 250 in 1985 to more than 5,000 today” (Greene et. all,

2015). The National Survey of Entrepreneurship Education 2012-2014 by the Centre for

Entrepreneurial Excellence at the George Washington University states that small business

management and entrepreneurship courses at universities have grown tremendously in

number and diversity of course offerings from 1990 to 2014.

Entrepreneurship Profile: Qatar

While USA has instilled a long-lasting culture of entrepreneurship within the local

communities, the State of Qatar, however, being a new entrant to the global entrepreneurship

education ecosystem, have had major relevant achievements. Qatar is a rising economy that

is heavily dependent on petrochemicals and has envisioned within its national vision 2030 to

become an innovative and knowledge-based economy. Qatar is ranked as the 50th most

innovative economy the Global Innovation Index 2016. The World Bank’s easy of doing

25 | P a g e
business report 2016 gives Qatar a rank of 83rd. In addition, Qatar is ranked as the 21st most

entrepreneurial country by Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016.

As part of the Qatar National Vision (QNV 2030), the government has set up to work towards

creating a vibrant entrepreneurship ecosystem. As part of the Qatar National Development

Strategy 2011-2016, Enterprise Qatar was established to help provide SMEs with the

necessary support, including education. In 2014, Enterprise Qatar was merged with Qatar

Development Bank (QDB), to avoid overlapping and create streamlined efforts towards

fostering entrepreneurship in the country. A considerable number of private institutions and

NGOs have been set up to provide entrepreneurship education for youth and established

entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurship is aimed at further diversifying the country’s economy to reduce

dependency on hydrocarbon (Green et al, 2015). In 2012, Gallup-Silatech’s joint publication

identified Qatar’s entrepreneurial dynamism as ‘Qatar’s rising entrepreneurial spirit’

(Gallup-Silatech, 2012). Since then, this spirit has been portrayed exponentially in the Qatari

media. Similarly, the GEM Qatar Report (2014) surveyed over 4000 people in Qatar with an

equal distribution among Qataris and non-Qataris residing in the country. The report revealed

that unlike other innovation-driven economies around the world, social values and culture

are some of the drivers behind fostering entrepreneurship in Qatar. However,

entrepreneurship education has yet to address the complexity and vibrancy of the growing

entrepreneurship ecosystem of the country. Similarly, a recent report by the Oxford Business

Group on entrepreneurship and the establishment of start-ups in Qatar, highlights the fact

that “across 73 countries, 50.4% of adults in Qatar say they plan to start a new business

26 | P a g e
within the next 3 years helping Qatar to stand out as the developed country with the highest

level of entrepreneurship intentions” (OBG Qatar, 2015)

Efforts thus far suggest that encouraging entrepreneurship promotion and entrepreneurship

education in Qatar will stimulate the mindsets and skills of youth (students, school leavers,

adult learners as well as those already engaged in entrepreneurship activities) helping them

understand the real opportunities and benefits offered through entrepreneurship. This

growing interest in entrepreneurship can act as a catalyst for socio-economic development

and growth, thus calling the need for entrepreneurship education to be studied and

strengthened in a more systematic way so that Qatar offers a more powerful and dynamic

enabling environment for entrepreneurship.

27 | P a g e
3. CHAPTER 3: MAPPING ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION
ECOSYSTESMS OF THE TARGET COUNTRIES

This chapter is intended to map entrepreneurship education ecosystems in the target

countries, including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Singapore, USA, and Qatar. In addition

to identifying the definition of entrepreneurship education in each of these countries, the

study uses an overarching three-level framework identifying: a) the government-level policy

initiatives for entrepreneurship education; b) the institution-level initiatives for

entrepreneurship education and; c) impact of these policies and institutional initiatives on

entrepreneurs.

3.1. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Government Entrepreneurship Policies

Entrepreneurship education in UAE is being promoted through two models. First, by making

the formal education curricula and study programs more entrepreneurial. Second, allowing

the private sector to establish experiential learning programs, which include holding business

plan competitions, simulations, games and incubations.

The government of UAE has established an array of initiatives to help entrepreneurs gain the

relevant entrepreneurship education and skills. The institutions created as a result of

government policies fall in multiple categories, including SME development initiatives,

ministries and government entities in support of the education sector, government entities to

support specific segments of the population, and other public sector initiatives.

Majority of the 40 different entities created by the government and the private sector to

promote some form of entrepreneurship education targeted at youth and established

entrepreneurs. Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, and Abu Dhabi

28 | P a g e
Education Council are some of the key governmental institutions doing the important ground

work for entrepreneurship education. Other key initiatives that support entrepreneurship

education in UAE, which have been established as the direct outcome of UAE government’s

policy include: Dubai SME, Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, Ruwad

Establishment, Dubai Entrepreneurship Academy, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSO),

Dubai Future Accelerators, numerous business councils, and two of the key government

universities, Zayed University, Higher Colleges of Technology and UAE University (Youth

and Entrepreneurship in UAE, 2015).

Educational Institutions

In a drive to ensure that the education system in UAE becomes more entrepreneurial, a series

of reforms were implemented as part of the Ministry of Education’s 10-year strategy (2010-

2020). The strategy embraced an innovative approach to reforming the existing education

system in the country, with a special focus on instilling an entrepreneurial mind-set in youth

through encouraging educational institutions to undertake programs towards cultivating a

sense of greater responsibility, critical thinking and problem solving, initiative-taking and

social-work. It also focused on involving families in the education life of the pupils. The

outcome of this strategy has been tangible across the country as more schools, colleges and

universities have started to undertake initiatives to make their existing curricula more

enterprising and offer an increased number of entrepreneurship courses taught by skilled

industry professionals.

According to a recent survey conducted by the Knowledge and Human Development

Authority, a considerable number of private schools, reaching 74 percent, across UAE teach

some form of entrepreneurship, mostly starting from Grade 6. Additionally, two new

29 | P a g e
schooling models as part of the new reformation of the curricula have been adopted. The

Institute of Applied Technology (IAT), catering to primary and secondary level students,

aged 15 to 18, and the Abu Dhabi New School Model, catering to both Kindergarten and

Grade-3 are expected to be implemented across all levels. Both educational models focus on

developing a number of key skills in students such as critical thinking, innovation, math and

information and communication technology (ICT), active learning, career counselling,

vocational training and entrepreneurship. According to a study, entitled “Youth and

Entrepreneurship in UAE”, conducted by Khalifa Fund, currently there are seven Applied

Technology High Schools (ATHS) across various emirates and nearly all schools in the

emirate of Abu Dhabi follow the ‘New School Model.’

The government of UAE also has a number of key initiatives to further entrepreneurship

education across its higher education institutions in an effort to train better decision-makers,

young entrepreneurs and managers across all sectors of the national economy. A general

review of the curricula taught in various universities across the UAE by Khalifa Fund shows

that entrepreneurship education is mainly part of the core business administration programs

within these universities. Certain State-run universities such as Zayed University and Higher

Colleges of Technology (HCT) have entrepreneurship-focused courses embedded in other

major disciplines. American University of Sharjah has an interesting approach to furthering

entrepreneurship education that is taught as part of the Bachelor of Science in Design

Management course. In addition, the Case Business School in Dubai has an entrepreneurship

stream as part of its Executive MBA program; American University of Sharjah has designed

an MBA with specialization in Innovation and Entrepreneurship; UAE University has a

Master’s program in Entrepreneurship and a Certificate Entrepreneurship Program through

its initiative called the ‘Emirates Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’; Zayed

30 | P a g e
University has a Master’s of Science in Innovation and Entrepreneurship; and Abu Dhabi

University offers Cisco Certified entrepreneurship certificate courses.

Furthermore, the UAE Ministry of Education and Higher Education encourage educational

institutions in both school and higher education levels to strike collaborations with members

of the private sector to provide better entrepreneurship education for their students, which

adds an important dimension to the curricula that motivates students by adopting a ‘learning

by doing’ approach. For example, since 2011, Dubai SME has an accord with the Ministry

of Education to run an entrepreneurship curriculum in schools, starting from Grade 10. Now

running across 15 schools in Dubai, the outputs of this program are various business plans

developed by the students and presented at the Young Entrepreneur Competition for broader

endorsement.

Government Policy Initiatives

Other government initiative either fully-owned by the government, or set up in collaboration

with private sector partners, also play a key role in driving entrepreneurship across UAE

through various programs such as education, training and national awareness campaigns.

Dubai SME, previously known as the Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment for SME

Development, was established in 2002 as a division of the Department of Economic

Development to support entrepreneurs with their journeys. Dubai SME offers a wide range

of educational services including counselling, training and development and business plan

preparation. Its portfolio of educational services include activities organized by Dubai

Entrepreneurship Academy, the Hamdan Innovation Incubator and the Intelaq program 1.

1
Dubai SME - http://www.sme.ae/English/Pages/default.aspx

31 | P a g e
Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development2 was launched in 2007 as part of the government’s

policy to support and educate entrepreneurs in Abu Dhabi by providing various counselling

and capacity building services. This includes continuous trainings and workshops on

business plan development and training programs to equip entrepreneurs with the skills to

actively function in the marketplace. Dubai Entrepreneurship Academy, accredited by

Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, is another governmental institution, which

endeavors to equip UAE with a pool of creative entrepreneurs. It offers training programs

for budding entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises.

Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development (ADCED)3 was established to facilitate

economic diversification and growth mainly through greater public-private sector

engagement in Abu Dhabi. Starting in 2011, ADCED has been running an entrepreneurship

awareness campaign, called Akoun, which aims at engraining a sense of entrepreneurship

among university students. As part of this program, students are provided with practical

mentoring workshops to turn their ideas into real businesses, and winners are provided with

a lump sum to start their companies.

Special-purpose Initiatives

Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSO)4 is a fully government-owned free zone that offers

various educational programs for entrepreneurs. It has a host of mentorship, incubation and

acceleration programs for new entrepreneurs, which are offered in collaboration with in-

house academic and professional institutions as well as in partnership with select external

State-run universities. In addition, DSO hosts Dubai Technology Entrepreneurs Centers

2
Khalifa Fund - https://www.khalifafund.ae/SitePages/Home.aspx
3
Abu Dhabi Council for Economic Development - https://www.adced.ae/sites/ar/SitePages/Home.aspx
4
Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority - https://www.dsoa.ae/en/

32 | P a g e
(DETC), a global hub for entrepreneurship and innovation, which offers a world-class

incubation program called Silicon Oasis Founders (SOF). SOF incubator provides regular

training and incubation program featuring mentoring, and strategic business planning

workshops. It is worth mentioning that as part of UAE’s vision to combine technology and

creative entrepreneurship, the government launched an initiative called, Future Dubai

Accelerator5, which is aimed at gathering top tech and entrepreneurial minds from UAE and

around the world to work towards improving the business and other sectors in the country.

Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry6, a non-profit public organization, has developed

an organized program to support new and established entrepreneurs with acquiring the

relevant education. Its initiatives are good examples of public-private partnerships, armed

with the proper resources and knowledge to help drive entrepreneurial growth in UAE. One

of its initiatives to support entrepreneurs, Dubai Startup Hub, created in partnership with

International Business Machines (IBM), to develop technology ecosystem in Dubai, provides

entrepreneurs with various services including trainings and mentorship, accelerators,

incubators and workspaces. ‘Dubai Smartpreneur Competition’ is another initiative by Dubai

Chamber to encourage young entrepreneurs to ensure their creativity and ideas are featured

in Dubai’s rising entrepreneurship ecosystem. It helps train and mentor entrepreneurs in a

specially-designed accelerator program in addition to other facilities provided. ‘Tejar Dubai’

is another entrepreneurs’ development program that aims to identify and develop nascent

entrepreneurs, between 18 to 25 years of age, providing them with the necessary trainings to

help them with transitioning their ideas into the commercial world.

5
Dubai Future Accelerator - https://dubaifutureaccelerators.com/en
6
Dubai Chamber - http://www.dubaichamber.com/

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TwoFour547, is free zone dedicated for media businesses and offers a range of professional

development and training services including industry-focused courses and entrepreneurship

training. Another initiative, the Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council8, is aimed at ensuring

the participation of various segments of the society are engaged in UAE’s ever growing

business landscape. It caters to working families, divorcees, widows, female graduate and

housewives. Through its flagship program, ‘Mubdia'h’, it helps provide the necessary

trainings such as market opportunity identification, teamwork, basic trainings on business

plans and marketing. Sharjah Business Women Council9 helps women across the emirate

and from other regions to realize their business dreams. It offers trainings and development

through a range of programs and projects including Souq Anwan, Al Fisht, IRTHI for ethical

entrepreneurship, Bidwa, Jeel, and Badiri.

Private Sector Initiatives

Although, when it comes to entrepreneurship education, there is an explicit overlap between

the government-run initiatives and those started by institutions in the private sector. Majority

of the private sector institutions are involved in providing education directly to young and

established entrepreneurs, or are working in partnership with the public sector organizations

to reach out to their target audiences, mainly comprising of students and common UAE

nationals aspiring to undertake entrepreneurial journeys.

International Organizations

Injaz UAE, delivers comprehensive trainings to students in schools and universities. On the

entrepreneurship education front, it prepares students for workplace assignments and

7
TwoFour54, Abu Dhabi Media and Entertainment Hub - https://www.twofour54.com/en/
8
Abu Dhabi Businesswomen Council - http://www.adbusinesswomen.ae/English/Pages/default.aspx
9
Sharjah Business Women Council - http://www.sbwc.ae/

34 | P a g e
entrepreneurship endeavors. Its work readiness programs include theory-based classes,

practical workshops and workplace shadowing. Most interestingly, its entrepreneurship

education curricula seems more like a comprehensive schooling system. It features a theory-

based entrepreneurship master class, classes on critical thinking and social studies, classes

on learning about real world business challenges, Innovation Day Camps, classes on running

a company and classes focused on start-ups. All these programs cater to different age groups.

Injaz UAE is currently reaching out to more than 35,000 students, in more than 30 schools

and universities and more than 3,000 volunteers (Injaz UAE Website). 10

BizWorld UAE is another organization that offers project-based entrepreneurship training

programs for children aged 7 to 15 across UAE in partnership with various organizations,

incubators and schools. BizWorld UAE’s vision is to train the next generation of

entrepreneurs and innovators in UAE and the broader region.11

Private Incubators, Accelerators and Competitions

Entrepreneurship ecosystem in UAE is also home to a number of privately-owned incubators,

accelerators and co-working spaces that offer education and training programs for aspiring

entrepreneurs. The Impact Hub, TURN8 Dubai, IN5 Dubai, i360 Accelerator, and Seed

Startup, are a few examples of these incubators. Start-up Weekend Abu Dhabi12, is an annual

3-day accelerator program for tech entrepreneurs and innovators to create products for the

use of the wider innovation and technology ecosystem in UAE.

10
INJAZ UAE - http://www.injazuae.org/
11
BizWorld UAE - http://www.bizworlduae.org/
12
Start-up Weekend Abu Dhbai - http://www.up.co/communities/united-arab-emirates/abu-dhabi-united-
arab-emirates/startup-weekend/9278

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Schools in UAE, Dubai in particular, regularly host a number of key competitions and

programs aimed at helping their students gain a thorough and practical insight into the world

of entrepreneurship and start-ups. The annual Young Entrepreneurs Competition equips

high-school and college students with the necessary skills to start their own businesses. As

part of the competition students create pop-up businesses and manage them for four days in

local malls, through which they learn conceptualization, business plans and marketing.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is widely celebrated across UAE by the ecosystem in an

effort to raise awareness about entrepreneurship among the youth and the local communities.

Other entrepreneurship education initiatives for schools include, F1 in Schools Challenge,

Duke of Edinburgh International Award, Paperclip Challenge, Stock Game by Dubai

Financial Market, World Robotics Olympiad, Dragons’ Den and Online Gold Trading

Competition.

In addition, schools in Dubai have access to a wide range of entrepreneurship education

activities, including IB Diploma Programme, Certified Business Professional Programme,

Enterprise Clubs, Fund Raising Event, Innovation Day, Business Activities, and Business &

Career Fairs.

Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs

Ranked as the 17th most competitive economy in the world by the Global Competitive Report

2016, UAE is the second leading entrepreneurial economy among the 15 economies in the

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, according to the Global Entrepreneurship

Index (GEI) 2016. GEI 2016 states that UAE has a medium to high level of entrepreneurship

abilities and aspirations. Figure 3.1 UAE ranks low in to Start-up Skills, Technology

Absorption, and Risk Acceptance. GEI concludes that this score is indicative of the fact that

36 | P a g e
more investment in revamping the entrepreneurship education, training and research capacity

could bring substantial positive contributions to the country’s overall entrepreneurial

performance.

Figure 3.1: Comparsison of Pillar-Level Comparison of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and
Israel

Source: Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) 2017

A report compiled collaboratively between GEM and Zayed University shows that 8 out of

every 100 adults in UAE can be considered early stage entrepreneurs. An average Emirati

entrepreneur ages from 25-34, with a higher income level, employed, having at least some

post-secondary education, and from a household size of 1-2 people. The report further goes

to state that Emirati men are 30 percent more likely than Emirati women to become early

stage entrepreneurs. More strikingly, there is a significant gap between the established

business ownership rate of 0.9% for females and for males, this number reaches 7%.

37 | P a g e
A five-year review of entrepreneurial intentions by GEM 2011, shows that UAE ranks

relatively high in this dimension. Entrepreneurial intentions peaked in 2006 and 2009, but

dropped greatly in 2011. This might be due to a number of different reasons, one of which is

the economic and financial downturn that hit the world, especially UAE, making people less

risk adverse. Figure 3.2 shows GEM 2011’s five-year overview of start-up intentions by

nationality in UAE.

Figure 3.2: GEM 2011’s five-year overview of start-up intentions by nationality in

UAE

Source: GEM 2011- an Emirati Perspective

Another important aspect that is highlighted by GEM 2011 report in regard to UAE’s

entrepreneurship landscape is social attitudes and perceptions of entrepreneurship in the

community. With a long-standing history of entrepreneurship, most traditional and family-

businesses, societal attitudes towards entrepreneurship ranks extremely high. In 2009, 88

percent of Emiratis think that entrepreneurship is a prestigious career track, which is being

received highly favorably in media, family circles and the broader community.

UAE entrepreneurs are mostly opportunity-driven as they start a business to seize a lucrative

opportunity. Another big motive for Emiratis to start a new venture is greater freedom and

independence. 63 percent of the UAE population believes that starting a new venture would

38 | P a g e
help them capture an opportunity and merely 18 percent start their ventures based on

necessities. Figure 3.3 shows the motivations for Emirati entrepreneurs.

Figure 3.3: Motivations for Emirati entrepreneurs

Source: GEM 2011- an Emirati Perspective

Considering that majority of Emirati entrepreneurs are opportunity-driven and a small

percentage of them are starting their businesses out of necessity, it can be inferred that the

existing entrepreneurship education programs and schemes in UAE has played an important

role in preparing the youth as well as other nationals to have developed the right attitude,

research capabilities and visions before starting their enterprises. This is an important

development for UAE to ensure its vision of diversifying the economy through more

innovative SMEs and Start-ups by local Emiratis.

3.2. SAUDI ARABIA

Government Policies

As part of its revised approach to economic diversification, the government of Saudi Arabia

formed a new entity, the General Authority for Small to Medium Enterprises Authority

(SMEs’ Authority) which is headed by the Minister of Commerce and Investment. The

SMEs’ Authority is working with entrepreneurs, new SMEs and Start-ups on various fronts

39 | P a g e
including funding, education and training programs. It is considered as the most tangible and

practical initiative yet taken by the government (Saudi Vision 2030).

Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) is a strategic public sector

organization that is looking after the country’s multi-billion dollar investment arm. In

addition to its regular policy mandates, it offers business and start-up training programs in

coordination with other institutions in the country. It is also performing an important task of

recognizing the efforts of innovative SMEs through it is flagship initiative called the Saudi

Fast Growth 10013.

The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) aims to find suitable jobs for job seekers

in collaboration with other institutions. To date, HRDF has placed more than 930,000 job

seekers. Occasionally, through its portfolio of training programs, HRDF helps aspiring

entrepreneurs realize their visions by setting up their businesses14.

Small Industries Development Fund and Saudi Credits and Savings Bank also offer a range

of regular workshops and seminars for entrepreneurs. Centennial Fund is another member of

the Saudi entrepreneurship ecosystem that offers educational and mentorship programs for

entrepreneurs.

In addition, there are 28 different chambers of commerce, under the umbrella of the Council

of Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which support entrepreneurs on various capacities.

One of these services include staging counselling and training sessions with local

entrepreneurs (Osama M. Ashri, 2013).

13
Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority - https://www.sagia.gov.sa/en/Pages/default.aspx
14
The Human Resources Development Fund -
https://www.hrdf.org.sa/Program/406/Saudi_Human_Resources_Gateway?bc=264

40 | P a g e
As part of Saudi Vision 2030 to provide high-quality education to its citizens,

entrepreneurship education in particular, in the premises of King Abdullah University of

Science and Technology (KAUST), a number of accelerator programs have been established

to help entrepreneurs and technology innovators successfully establish their businesses. It

offers training and mentorship to entrepreneurs both on and off campus. In addition, as part

of King Abdullah City for Science and Technology (KACST), Badir Program for

Technology Incubators, has been established. It offers entrepreneurship training and

incubation for a wide range of industries including information and communication

technology, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing technology, and other boot camps and

accelerator programs.15

With the increased emphasis on embedding entrepreneurship in higher education institutions,

as part of the King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC)16, the Prince Mohammad bin Salman

College of Business and Entrepreneurship, was established in collaboration with Babson

College. This college offers tailored education curriculum for students and aspiring

entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. Other universities across Saudi Arabia are offering

entrepreneurship courses and tracks in an effort to ensure students get a minimal grasp of the

field of entrepreneurship before they are launched in the job market.

Private Sector Initiatives

Since 2013, there has been a surge in the private sector institutions, working towards

educating entrepreneurs by offering a range of education and training services. Most of these

efforts are themed around the government’s new drive towards economic diversification. An

15
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) - https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en
16
King Abdullah Economic City - https://www.kaust.edu.sa/en

41 | P a g e
increased level of awareness about the national grand challenges and priorities have helped

the private sector institutions with opportunity and priority identification in this specific field.

Injaz-Saudi is one the leading international non-profit organizations that offers education and

trainings to students aged 12 to 29, on work readiness and entrepreneurship in more than 18

different locations across Saudi Arabia. It is reaching out to students through its various

partners in the country. In collaboration with Injaz, a range of business and development

centers and the various Chamber of Commerce and Industries are also offering coaching and

training services for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Established in 2012 as the first Saudi private sector-led entrepreneurship foundation, Qotuf

Al Riyadah – fostering sustainable entrepreneurship, is working with entrepreneurs on

trainings and education in addition to other services. Qotuf established Saudi Arabia’s first

accelerator called Flat6Labs, which invest in tech businesses and thus far, it has invested in

30 promising Start-ups. The accelerator has successfully trained more than 150

entrepreneurs, created more than 300 jobs and 50 leading mentors have been involved across

the 6 cycles17.

Effat University offers an entrepreneurship bachelor degree with a wide focus on research

on Start-ups, women entrepreneurship and challenges of the field. The Innovation and

Entrepreneurship Institute at Umm Al Qura University was established in 2012 to conduct

research into entrepreneurship and develop trainings for entrepreneurs in an effort to address

the growing economic diversification desire of the State. Entrepreneurship Institute at King

Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) is a prime institution that features a

centre for entrepreneurship studies and it envisions to train leading Saudi entrepreneurs from

17
Qoutuf - http://www.qotuf.com/

42 | P a g e
among its student body. It offers courses and various training programs including incubation

and acceleration services for students to take part. To further promote its findings and

research, it holds an annual forums for entrepreneurship, which is attended by leading

entrepreneurs and thinkers from Saudi Arabia and the wider region. Princess Nour bint

Abdulrahman University has an active Innovation Support Program that helps raise

awareness about entrepreneurship and innovation and an entrepreneurship skills

development program (Rahatullah, 2016).

Wa’ad –Aramco is the entrepreneurship arm of the oil giant, Aramco. It was established in

2011 to ignite the spirit of entrepreneurship in the wider Saudi community. It has established

its own incubation centre, Start-up Lab (SUL), which offers business accelerator, business

incubation and business development services. Wa’ad also offers 4-day intensive workshops

for business plan formulation that covers topics such as risk management, customer

segmentation, customer analysis, and strategic positioning. Furthermore, Wa’ad launched a

coaching program, called Venture Zone, which has a portfolio of targeted business

development support services for entrepreneurs, both aspiring and established. It has one-

on-one coaching for entrepreneurs and sessions are held bi-monthly, mainly in three cities,

Dammam, Riyadh and Jeddah18.

Research In Motion (RIM) in collaboration with SAGIA has training programs for

information technology entrepreneurs. A range of business and technical consulting and

Start-up development services are offered by Price Water House Coopers, Deloitte, Alvarez

18
Wa’ad Aramco - http://www.saudiaramco.com/en/home/citizenship/economy/aramco-entrepreneurship-
center.html

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and Marsal, Arthur D. Little, Charles River Associates, and Ernest and Young (EY). Other

web-based SME development platforms include iMENA, Grofin and ArabNet.

Endeavor is a leading, global, initiative that has launched in Saudi Arabia in 2012. It helps

incubate and accelerate entrepreneurs. Since 2012, Endeavor has helped 12 entrepreneurs

with launching 9 successful companies across the country with more than 460 jobs created

thus far. MIT Enterprise Forum (MITEF) Competition attracts creative business ideas and

helps them launch into the commercial world. Other leading technology incubators include

Riyadh Techno Valley, and Dhahran Techno Valley.

Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs

Saudi Arabia is ranked as the 29th most competitive economy among the 138 economies in

2016. Its national economy ranks relatively high in all pillars, but scores low on innovation

and business sophistication. The Global Competitiveness Report 2016 states that insufficient

capacity to innovate, poor work ethic in national workforce and inadequately educated

workforce are some the main sub-pillars that Saudi Arabia ought to improve. The report adds

that improving the education sector in terms of the quality of math and science training,

management and primary education will be vital to creating efficient workforce and

entrepreneurial talent.

Furthermore, the Global Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) 2016 ranks Saudi Arabia as the 30th

economy in terms of entrepreneurial attitudes, abilities and aspirations, which is 4 th in the

MENA region after Israel, UAE and Qatar. It ranks relatively above average on

entrepreneurial attitudes, but ranks almost at an average on aspirations and abilities.

As indicated in figure 3.1 taken from the GEI 2016 report, Saudi Arabia ranks higher than

all other major entrepreneurial economies in the MENA region on Start-up skills, reflective

44 | P a g e
of high rates of tertiary education. It ranks lower in produce and process innovation,

internationalization and technology absorption. This is an issue which is widely seen with

the most of the MENA countries. There are steps taken by the government of Saudi Arabia

as part of its new Vision 2030 to ensure technology product development and

entrepreneurship is promoted in the best way possible through its national education

institutions and incubations.

GEM 2010 report states that 25 percent of the population, aged 18 to 64, are involved in early

stage entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia are more prone to capture

opportunities available in the market to start their entrepreneurial endeavors than to start their

businesses purely out of necessity. 90 percent of the entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia would

like to launch their businesses upon the identification of the right opportunity, as opposed to

10 percent out of necessity. This is indicative of the positive intentions and motivations that

entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia have towards this industry.

3.3. LEBANON

Government Policies

With around 45 initiatives and programs devised and implemented by the government,

majority of them focus on developing capabilities of entrepreneurs and small business

owners and geared towards developing a culture of entrepreneurship across communities in

Lebanon. Over the past few years, the country’s focus has been on developing new

entrepreneurs, with minimum attention paid to ensuring the sustainability of these small

businesses in the long-run. Among other small institutions, the government’s

entrepreneurship education policies and initiatives are mainly run by the Ministry of

Economy, and Ministry of Trade and Investment Development Authority of Lebanon.

45 | P a g e
Therefore, in an effort to further enhance the SME sector in Lebanon, the government along

with numerous stakeholders in 2014, devised Lebanon’s National SME Strategy, the Road

to 2020. The strategy is driven by an ambitious strategic vision of “SMEs as key economic

engine for growth and job creation.” The strategy requires all relevant stakeholders to foster

“the creation of vibrant and globally competitive SMEs that contribute to employment

opportunities and high value-added economy.” One of the key goals of the strategy is to

develop the capabilities of early stage entrepreneurs and established business owners as well

as to foster a culture of research and innovation in all levels of the industry. The strategy

identifies several areas, which need to be further developed including the enhancing of

entrepreneurial motivations, increasing innovation within the ecosystem and setting a

mechanism to educate and guide these entrepreneurs.

The National SMEs Strategy is comprised of six strategic thrusts, which are geared towards

upgrading and making the country’s entrepreneurship ecosystem more competitive. Two of

these strategic thrusts, or high level actions, are “Evolving Business Leaders” and

“Enhancing Capabilities and Innovation Capacity.” These are inclusive of the establishment

of a number of key initiatives by the government in an effort to provide educational

opportunities for entrepreneurs and established businesses. Developing mentorship

networks, launching of Entrepreneurship and Family Business Centre at the Lebanese

University, introducing Apprenticeship Programs, providing National Recognition programs

for entrepreneurs and SMEs, investing in Research and Development for entrepreneurs,

establishing a commercialization office and support for protecting entrepreneurs’

innovations through intellectual property measures. A number of these strategic thrusts have

been implemented by government in collation with the private sector and there is a long-way

to go to ensure the ecosystem fully realizes the benefits of this strategy.

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Private Sector Initiatives

Lebanon’s new National SME Strategy that runs up to 2020 identifies over a 100 private

sector institutions, initiatives and programs, which are providing entrepreneurs with various

level of education and training. These initiatives ranges from incubation and acceleration

programs, education and training and other support units.

Education and Training Programs

Inspired by the strong traditional entrepreneurial culture within the Lebanese society,

entrepreneurship education has been embedded into the formal university curricula and on

campus extra-curricular activities. As part of its Management major and Master’s Degree in

Business Administration, Beirut Arab University (BAU) offers Entrepreneurship & Small

Business and Small Business Management and Entrepreneurship Courses.19

In addition, BAU Centre for Entrepreneurship has an array of programs for students and

outsiders themed around entrepreneurship education and general courses for workforce

awareness and readiness.

Lebanese American University (LAU), as part of its business degree programs, offers various

concentrations focused on Family and Entrepreneurial Businesses, or Information

Technology Management. LAU Centre for Entrepreneurship and Family Affairs has a series

of programs to help owners of family businesses with setting up new businesses and

facilitating best practices for existing family-owned enterprises to smoothly maneuver

through the complex business environment.20

19
Beirut Arab University - http://www.bau.edu.lb/Home
20
Lebanese American University - http://www.lau.edu.lb/

47 | P a g e
American University in Beirut (AUB) has concentrations and courses on entrepreneurship

as part of its degree programs. These concentrations focus on Entrepreneurship Management

in bachelor program and Leadership and Behavior in Organization Course as part its MBA

program. The Samih Darwazah Center for Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship,

envisions “achieving and sustaining globally recognized thought leadership in the areas of

Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship with a focus on the Middle East Region.” The

institution organizes an annual entrepreneurship and innovation competition, open to all

AUB students and graduates, with an aim to unearth innovative ideas, or new business

processes. The winners are awarded a considerable sum of capital to set up their business

and transition into the commercial market.21

The University of Saint Joseph in Lebanon has a Diploma program on social

entrepreneurship and a Masters of business management and entrepreneurship and a

concentration of new technologies. To support its degree programs, the university has set up

other initiatives in which students are encouraged to take part in as extra-curricular activities

such as various centers and observatories for research and innovation.22

The AMIDEAST Entrepreneurship Institute, previously known as CISCO Entrepreneur

Institute, also runs informative entrepreneurship training programs, guest lectures and

workshops, online education tools, networking events and on demand trainings. 23 Other

university-based programs include ‘Le Wagon’, a 9-week intensive coding boot camp, aimed

at training leaders and innovators in the technology and cyber spaces. In addition, another

program literally called, ‘Boot Camp’, offers entrepreneurship training, incubation and

21
American University in Beirut - http://www.aub.edu.lb/
22
University of Saint Joseph - http://www.usj.edu/
23
AMIDEAST Entrepreneurship Institute - http://www.amideast.org/lebanon/professional-
development/amideast-entrepreneur-institute

48 | P a g e
acceleration programs for university students and other aspiring entrepreneurs. Injaz-

Lebanon is yet another international non-profit organization has a comprehensive curriculum

for students, age 12 to 29, on entrepreneurship and work readiness among other.

Accelerators, and Incubators

A rich portfolio of accelerators and incubators have been set up over the past five years to

support aspiring entrepreneurs launch their ventures. Flat6Labs is one of the leading

international incubators in Lebanon, which offers mentorship, training and office spaces in

addition to other support to entrepreneurs. Speed@BDD is a Beirut-based start-up

accelerator that aims to accelerate twenty projects per year. It has a team of innovators,

mentors and business professionals, aiming to help Lebanese entrepreneurs all through the

realization of their business visions. Partnered with Banque Du Liban and United Kingdom’s

Department for International Trade, the UK Lebanon Tech Hub accelerator, which offers a

rather different education model. Aspiring entrepreneurs are brought in for 3 months training

in Lebanon and are then taken to select few international markets in an effort to acquire

international education and experience. It has thus far help over 500 businesses, raised $ 11

million and created over 360 jobs.

The Lebanese entrepreneurship ecosystem contains a wide range of co-working spaces for

entrepreneurs to network, learn and launch their businesses. In addition to numerous spaces

across the country, Alt City, Co-working 961 and FlatLab Beirut are some of the well-known

spaces for entrepreneurs to make use of. The most important one of all is the Beirut Digital

District (BDD), with a vision to create a hub for the digital and creative industries in

Lebanon. It is expected to be fully completed by 2019 that will offer a range of services for

49 | P a g e
entrepreneurs in this sector. It currently hosts 55 top growing companies in Lebanon, with a

1, 200 community members and accelerate 55 companies annually.

Within Lebanon, a number of clusters and zones to support entrepreneurs with various level

of education have been set up. These include Beirut Creative Cluster, BeryTech, Bader

Young Entrepreneur Program, Endeavour Lebanon, and LabNet.

Entrepreneurship Competitions

Bader Startup Cup Lebanon is an annual entrepreneurship competition, which aims to

educate entrepreneurs on how to design a business model, develop customers and accelerate

their start-ups into the market. As part of the Global Entrepreneurship Week, the Start-up

Cup offers a comprehensive set of coaching, mentorship and judging activities for

entrepreneurs with fresh and innovative business ideas. Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards,

Hyundai Startup Competition, Startup Campus, Global Social Venture, Femme Francophone

Entrepreneur, Intel Challenge ME IoT and MIT Enterprise Forum Arab Startup Competition,

are a few key competitions helping entrepreneurs start their ideas into potential commercial

ventures.

Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs

Currently, Lebanon is ranked 101st out of 138 countries in terms of economic

competitiveness. Detailed analysis of the index indicate that Lebanon is ranked relatively

low in two most important and relevant pillars, the business sophistication, 50th, and

innovation, 58th. This is mirrored well by the country’s ranking, 63 rd, in the Global

Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) 2017. It is indicative of a striking fact of lack of efficiency and

innovation in the business sector that is widely seen across some of the Middle Eastern

countries.

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The Lebanese economy, as showcased earlier in this study, is dominated by small businesses,

mostly family-owned and run. This is deeply rooted in the country’s history and the role of

the family in creating a vibrant business environment. Almost 70 percent of people in

Lebanon, according to GEM 2015 Report, have high trust in their capabilities to start a new

business, which is significantly higher than global and regional averages. Those having an

established firm, or “New Firm Entrepreneurship”, in Lebanon is the highest among all sixty

economies surveyed in the GEM 2015 report. Figure 3.4 shows that 44 percent of Lebanese

respondents in the GEM 2015 report have intentions to start a new business in the next six

months, with 11 percent actively engaged in starting a new business and 20 percent are

already running business. This can be summed up to say that the country has the fourth

highest level of total early-stage entrepreneurial activity, which means almost one in three

working age people in Lebanon have intentions to start a new business, or are already running

a new business.

Figure 3.4: Entrepreneurial Intentions in Lebanon

Source: GEM 2015 Lebanon

GEM 2015 Lebanon report further identifies that the rate of established business ownership in

Lebanon is the sixth highest of all countries. Considering both the total early-stage entrepreneurs and

51 | P a g e
established business owners, almost half of the working-age population is either starting a new

venture, running a new business, or own an established business.

Al though Lebanese economy is currently under extreme stress from a continuous influx of Syrian

refugees, as shown in figure 3.5, a relatively high number of respondents believe their motivations to

start a new venture is based on opportunities available in the market, or greater freedom and advanced

economic prosperity, rather than necessity. Most respondents in the GEM 2015 Report believes in

the ultimate goal of their ventures to inflict improvements in the national economy as the country

moves towards a more knowledge-based economy as outlined in the National SME Strategy –

roadmap to 2020.

Figure 3.5: Entrepreneurial Motivations in Lebanon

Source: GEM 2015 Lebanon

3.4. SINGAPORE

Government Policies

Driven by its overarching goal of becoming an even more competitive knowledge-based

entrepreneurial economy, the government of Singapore has taken bold strides over the recent

past to ensure that entrepreneurs get the necessary support on all fronts, especially on the

front of entrepreneurship education. With the majority of the support provided by the

government agencies to entrepreneurs is aimed at attracting bright research and technology

minds from the top relevant universities (Sean, 2015, Anthony, 2015).

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The National Research Foundation (NRF)24, a division of Research, Innovation and

Enterprise Council (RIEC), has been set up to support the country’s transformation into

knowledge economy through developing key priority sectors, including Biomedical Sciences

– Transnational and Clinical Research, Interactive and Digital Media and Physical Sciences

and Engineering. As part of it, is the National Framework for Innovation and Enterprise

(NFIE), which helps entrepreneurs through various schemes, some of which focus on

providing entrepreneurship education and training (Sean, 2015). NFIE was set up as a result

of a holistic research that was done to identify the gaps in entrepreneurship ecosystem in

Singapore.

As an initiative of NFIE, Technology Incubation Scheme (TIS) helps entrepreneurs grow

their start-ups, in addition to funding, through various mentoring and educational programs.

SPRING Singapore25 is an agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry that endeavor to

help small and medium enterprises through a variety of services including education and

acceleration programs. Its flagship program is called “Sector Specific Accelerator

Programme (SSA)” that encourages entrepreneurs to set up businesses to address needs of

the specific sectors. The incoming entrepreneurs are provided with an array of capability and

education trainings. (Sean, 2015).

Launched in 2003, the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE)26, another initiative

by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, a nation-wide drive to foster innovation and

entrepreneurship in Singapore. The ACE team provides a range of entrepreneurship

24
National Research Foundation - https://www.nrf.gov.sg/
25
Spring Singapore - https://www.spring.gov.sg/Pages/Home.aspx
26
Action Community for Entrepreneurship - http://www.ace.org.sg/

53 | P a g e
education services including mentoring, competitions and workshops on a regular basis for

aspiring entrepreneurs. (Sean, 2015).

Community Care (ComCare) provides social assistance for low-income individuals and

families. A number of key governmental institutions including the Ministry of Social and

Family Development (MSF) support this initiative through funding and outreach programs.

Youth Social Entrepreneurship Programme (YSEP) helps local youth with developing their

enterprises through informal workshops and mentorship programs. (Sean, 2015).

As part of the government’s strategy to develop specific sector that are vital to the national

economy, the Environment & Water Industry Programme Office, has set up Fast-Track

Environment & Water Technologies Incubator Scheme (Fast-Tech) to accelerate the

formation of start-ups focused on addressing the needs of the water sector through new

products and technology development. The team of experts within Fast-Tech provides the

incoming entrepreneurs with rigorous mentoring support throughout their stay and

continuous consultations are provide even after the start-ups are launched to the market.

(Sean, 2015).

Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Jump-start and Mentor (i.JAM) Reload scheme is an

initiative by the Interactive Digital Media Programme Office (IDMPO), funded by the NRF,

is hosted by Media Development Authority (MDA). i.JAM aims to attract and incubate new

ideas and products from across the country to address the needs of the IDM sector.

In addition, as part of the government’s approach to find new markets and support for

national entrepreneurs outside the country, International Enterprise (IE) Singapore has been

established. It has a unique program called, “Market Access Incubation Programme

(MAIP)”, that provides support to entrepreneurs on various fronts including education,

54 | P a g e
research and external market access tools. In addition, the government agencies are working

with the country’s leading educational institutions such as universities, private institutions

and academies to offer entrepreneurship courses, tracks and majors.

Private Sector Initiatives

Educational Institutions and Training Programs

On the education front, as briefly mentioned in the earlier section, the Singapore

Management University (SMU)’s specially designed program called, NUS Enterprise, offers

a range of informative seminars and programs geared towards uncovering the potential and

capabilities of the registered students. Various initiatives such as entrepreneurship education

targeted courses, a summer entrepreneurship program, and Lean LaunchPad program are

available for students to attend. NUS Start-up Runway, the most successful university-based

entrepreneurship incubation program, is also open for students to join in to realize their

entrepreneurial dreams.27

The Singapore Management University’s (SMU) Institute of Innovation and

Entrepreneurship (IIE) works closely with SPRING Singapore and NRF to nurture an

innovation and entrepreneurial culture within the student-body. SMU also offers a

technology innovation major and entrepreneurship track as part of its undergraduate degree

programs. Furthermore, the Master of Applied Information Systems programs has an

innovation and entrepreneurship track program. SMU’s Master of Science in Innovation

(MI) offers a cross-disciplinary curriculum tailored for corporate managers, creative art

professionals, technologists and entrepreneurs.

27
Singapore Management University - https://www.smu.edu.sg/

55 | P a g e
In addition, Nanyang Technopreneurship Center at the Nanyang Technological University,

is another powerhouse for entrepreneurship education, which offer both undergraduate and

graduate programs in entrepreneurship and innovation. The University hosts campus-wide

events to raise awareness of entrepreneurship through various festivals and workshops on a

regular basis.28

Accelerators and Incubators

Key incubators and accelerators have been established either in partnership with the

governmental institutions, or independently by the private sector institutions. A number of

international incubator programs that have set up in Singapore to help entrepreneurs turn

their ideas into actual products. Biofactory, Ceanbridge Accelerator, iAxil, ideas.inc, Joyful

Frog Digital Incubator, Life Sreda VC, Rockstart Accelerator, SPH Plug and Play, Startup

Focus, The Co-Foundry, The Unliver Foundry and Unframed are some of the most notable

initiatives that have presented leading entrepreneurs and small businesses, especially in the

technology sector in Singapore.

ALPHA Camp is a tech and start-up school based in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. It

helps bright minds from the Singapore universities, schools and the wider community to

build careers in technology by equipping them with entrepreneurial mind sets and linking

them with a community of entrepreneurs and professionals. Draper University’s Hero

Incubation in Singapore is a 16-week incubation and acceleration program that helps ideas

of the incoming entrepreneurs mature through participating in an array of trainings with a

Silicon Valley experienced embedded in the process. Hyper Island, another training

program, trains entrepreneurs and leaders to address the growing needs of Singapore’s

28
Nanyang Technological University Singapore - http://www.ntu.edu.sg/Pages/home.aspx

56 | P a g e
technology sector. The Testing Ground, a special 20-day program, provides a hands-on

training and mentorship program for entrepreneurs to make sure their ideas are ready for

commercialization. In addition, Great Founders, is another renowned accelerator and Start-

up launch program available for students and entrepreneurs from all levels in Singapore to

join.

The private sector in Singapore offers a wide variety of co-working spaces for entrepreneurs

and small businesses to be stationed at. These spaces are equipped with most modern

technologies and facilities a bright young technology entrepreneur and innovator could wish

for. A number of leading spaces include SCAP Ltd., the Working Capitol, CoWork.SG,

SpringBoard, HackerSpace.SG, Impat Hub Singapore, BLK 71 Singapore, Woolf Works,

and Collective Works. All of these spaces provide services to considerable number of

entrepreneurs. The most interesting of all is BLK 71 Singapore, which is created as a result

of a partnership between NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8.

Entrepreneurship Competitions

Similar to other ecosystems in this study, both the private and the public sector in Singapore,

holds regular competitions with an aim to further entrepreneurship among students, and other

aspiring entrepreneurs. These competitions are held either on campuses of the various

leading universities, or on national levels in the aforementioned Co-working spaces and

Incubators. The leading competitions include Angel Hack, BAwehack, Echelon, Imagine

Cup, Lean Startup Machine, Seedstars World, SITF Awards, Startup Singapore, Startup

Weekend and UP Singapore.

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Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs

The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2016 lists Singapore as the

2nd most competitive economy after Switzerland. This rank has been achieved consecutively

over the past six years, showing the country’s consistency and commitment in continuously

enhancing the public sector institutions. It performs well across all ten pillars of the report.

In particular, Singapore tops the higher education and training pillar. This pillar includes

entrepreneurship and other types of vocational education. Despite its array of innovation and

technology efforts, in comparison to Switzerland, Singapore lags behind on the innovation

and business sophistication pillar. This might well be due to the fact that majority of the

innovation initiatives are still going through its fruiting phases. Alternatively, on the Global

Entrepreneurship Index (GEI) 2016, Singapore ranks 24th that counts entrepreneurial

attitudes, intentions and motivations. It is lower by 4 ranks from Qatar and placed one rank

above Japan.

Singapore continues to flourish in terms of entrepreneurial activities. The total early-stage

entrepreneurship (TEA) rate based on GEM 2014 report stands at 11.0%. TEA shows the

number of people presently involved in entrepreneurial activities. Entrepreneurial intents in

Singapore have been ranked high, but due to the recent economic uncertainties, fear of

failures among entrepreneurs have grown. A large population believes that entrepreneurship

is a good career choice and those practicing it enjoy high social and economic status.

Interestingly, in 2014, Singapore ranked poorly in terms of perceived entrepreneurship skill-

sets, which mean the respondents felt they do lack certain skills, knowledge and experience

to start a business. Singapore isranked first on government policy to support entrepreneurship

and programs for nurturing new firms. Furthermore, the country ranked fifth in terms of

58 | P a g e
entrepreneurship education and training provided to new firms and rising entrepreneurs by

the various institutions operating in the relative ecosystem (GEM Singapore, 2014).

3.5. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Government Policies

The US government has a clear mandate to grow the economy through job creation,

innovation and entrepreneurship, which all go hand in hand. Under the leadership of Barack

Obama, the White House launched Start-Up America Initiative to support entrepreneurship

and innovation across the country through building partnerships and encouraging the

education sector as well as members of the private sector to start programs to support this

endeavor.29 In addition, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the Department of

Labour (DOL) have developed a number of key schemes and programs to foster

entrepreneurship education across the various states. The entrepreneurial ecosystem in the

US is receiving major support programs from the government and the public media sector

and has attracted major talent, investment and innovations from other countries.

An array of initiatives and programs have been created as part of the US ED and US DOL to

foster economic development, engage youth in entrepreneurial endeavors and attract

innovations from within and outside the country. In 2010, the US Office of Innovation and

Entrepreneurship (OIE) was established as part of the Department of Commerce through the

American Competes Act of 2010. The Small Business Administration (SBA) has also been

working in collaboration with other institutions to educate rising entrepreneurs in schools,

29
Start-up America - https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/economy/business/startup-america

59 | P a g e
universities and communities by offering skill-building workshops and special programs

(GEM USA 2015).

Over the past five years, the US ED has devised multiple education reform initiatives in an

effort to provide a well-rounded education model for the citizens in all parts of the country.

The ‘Effective Teaching and Learning for a Well-Rounded Education Program’ has been

developed to educate students about the different aspects of business, including

entrepreneurship education such as problem identification, team building, and solutions

development and preparing business cases. In addition, the Excellence in Economic

Education (EEE) program, also part of the US ED, has formed a number of initiatives for

schools, universities and communities to gain entrepreneurship skills and broader education.

A factsheet on entrepreneurship education released by the US ED and DOL in 2011 profiles

the following programs benefited by EEE to support entrepreneurship education across the

country:

 Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U.), Entrepreneurship Training for

Cleveland High School Students provides participants with an introduction to

entrepreneurship such as skill-building, business plans and team building programs

for economically vulnerable students through the National Foundation for Teaching

Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

 EconomicsPennsylvania, Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge recruits 9 to 12

grade teachers of business, economics course, personal finance and consumer

education. As part of the program, they are asked to prepare their students to attend

the Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge Day, which is a two-day program designed to

challenge student to develop a feasible business concept and learn writing business

plans.

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  Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) New York Metro, Teacher

Training & Professional Development provides training and professional

development to teachers in the New York Metro area. The participants are

undergoing intensive training on business and entrepreneurship.

 Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Greater Los Angeles,

Wholesale Field Trip assists almost 376 middle school students with an experiential

activities including a wholesale trip and selling events. Students are given a certain

budget to buy products and sell them to raise revenue. They have to do their own

market research and plans.

 Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) Fairchester Region, Middle

School Expansion has experiential learning activities for approximately 750

Yonkers Public Middle Schools students. The activities connects school learning

with real world experience and teaches students to become educated consumers and

sellers.

 Career and Technical Education (CTE) is another organization that receives

considerable federal funding to provide vocational and life-long career training.

Participants of these programs vary from high school students, undergraduate, post-

graduate and working professionals. Furthermore, the US ED is encouraging the

different States to incorporate entrepreneurship education within their CTE

frameworks.

In addition, the factsheet, states that over 2, 000 postsecondary education institutions across

the US uses a considerable amount of federal funding to run work-study programs for

students who are in need of additional funds. This work-study program ensure that students

are connected with small businesses and therefore, receives considerable business training

61 | P a g e
in the process. The National Education Start-up Challenge is another initiative by the US ED

aimed at helping students develop entrepreneurial skills through participating a

comprehensive challenge that involves developing innovative solutions to an education

programs and preparing a business plan. This program involves students from 6 to 12 grades

and post-secondary levels. Project GATE (Growing America Through Entrepreneurship)

was developed to help emerging entrepreneurs. Project GATE involved select number of

institutions involved in economic development of the country such as local small business

development centers, and Chambers of Commerce.

Private Sector Initiative

The National Survey of Entrepreneurship Education 2012-2014 provide critical overview of

entrepreneurship education in USA. Figure 3.6 shows the number and the diversity of
entrepreneurship programs offered across the country.

Figure 3.6: Entrepreneurship Programs Offered across USA

Source: The National Survey of Entrepreneurship Education 2012-2014

Within their entrepreneurship programs, these universities have a range of additional

programs designed to further hone the entrepreneurial skills of their students. The Survey

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identifies some of the core programs, which include Entrepreneurship Centers or Institutions,

Entrepreneur-in-Residence positions, Endowed Chairs of Entrepreneurship, Small Business

Development Centers, Incubators, Family Business Centers and Fellow Programs. In

addition to the academic curricula, students are encouraged to attend extra-curricular

activities outside classrooms. The most common of these activities and programs are

business plan competitions, entrepreneurship clubs, distinguished speakers series and

elevator pitch competitions. Figure 3.7 lists the most common extra-curricular activities

aimed at developing the students professionally.

Figure 3.7: Extra-curricular entrepreneurship learning opportunities for students in

USA

Source: The National Survey of Entrepreneurship Education 2012-2014

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Higher Education Institutions

Over the past decades, an increased number of higher education institutions have started

degree programs focused on innovation and entrepreneurship education. These programs and

accompanying initiatives have been set up to achieve two overarching goals of creating

higher educational value in the fiercely competitive higher education landscape in US and

most importantly, expanding America’s innovative and economic capacity. These higher

education institutions have worked towards attracting bright minds as teachers and students

from both within and outside America to design unique education models that could meet

the nation’s strategy of economic value maximization through spreading innovation,

commercialization, and entrepreneurship.

According to an extensive report by the U.S Department of Commerce, entitled, “The

Innovative and Entrepreneurial University: Higher Education, Innovation &

Entrepreneurship in Focus,” more universities and educational institutions outside the greater

metropolitan areas have started competitive education programs themed around innovation

and entrepreneurship. Traditionally, the greater metropolitan areas such as San

Francisco/Silicon Valley, Greater Boston, New York/New Jersey, Washington D.C., and San

Diego, have produced the most number of innovators and entrepreneurs.

Forbes Magazine ranks the top 50 schools that has entrepreneurship degree and certificate

programs for students. The list includes Babson College at number 1, University of

Houston, Baylor University Northeastern University, City University of New York, Baruch

College, and other in the lower ranks.30 In general, these higher education institutions offer

30
The Top 50 Schools for Entrepreneurs in 2016 by Forbes -
https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2015/11/10/the-top-50-schools-for-entrepreneurs-2/#5182d7c6470f

64 | P a g e
programs to promote entrepreneurship and innovation among students and teachers,

support technology transfer among universities and facilitate university-industry

collaboration on fostering entrepreneurship education and innovation. The report by the

U.S Department of Commerce outlines the key roles universities play in promoting

entrepreneurship and innovation in the following ways:

Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovation Among Students

Universities across America promote entrepreneurship and innovation among students

through both formal degree and certificate programs and other extra-curricular activities such

as business plan competitions, entrepreneurship clubs, on campus accelerators and start-up

internships. A select number of programs and initiatives include:

 The University of Colorado System’s Innovation and Entrepreneur Degree

Program offers a Bachelor of Innovation.

 The University of Illinois’ Patent Clinic helps law students the opportunity to draft

patent applications for student inventors.

 Washington University in St. Louis’ student internship program offers various

paid internships for students to work in a start-up’s.

 Rice University helps students raise funds for their start-up ideas and programs. Over

the past years, various campaigns have been held for this purpose.

 University of Washington holds year-round business plan competitions, seminars,

courses and mentorship for students.

 University of Florida- “INSPIREation” Hall is entrepreneurship-based academic

residential community that helps encourage student interactions with researchers,

faculty, business professionals and entrepreneurs.

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Promoting Entrepreneurship and Innovation Among Faculty

Most universities across USA has programs set up either as part of their formal curriculum,

or as part of additional independent research endeavors, through which doctoral students and

senior faculty conduct research, resulting in an array of innovations. Faculty and students are

constantly encouraged to undertake entrepreneurial endeavors. The report published by the

U.S Department of Commerce lists some of the most effective practices in this regard:

 The University of Pittsburgh has a course on Business of Innovation

Commercialization, which encourages faculty, students and researchers to get

involved in innovation, product development, commercialization and

entrepreneurship.

 University of Southern California also provides seminars, courses and workshops

for enhancing faculty entrepreneurship. In addition to the educational opportunities,

the university provides faculty and researchers with funding incentives as well.

 University of Virginia also supports its faculty through various means to acquire the

relevant entrepreneurial, commercialization and innovation experience and

knowledge for starting their own enterprises in the future.

 University of Nebraska Medical Center’s Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR)

provides support and mentorship for staff and researchers during their work to help

them identify innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities and launch them into the

commercial world through partnerships.

Universities Support Technology Transfer

The report by U.S Department of Commerce on entrepreneurship and innovation in higher

education institutions further highlights the vitality of University Technology Transfer

Offices (TTO) and Technology Licensing Offices (TLO) to engaging innovators within the

66 | P a g e
campuses with the commercial world. In addition to only focusing on commercialization of

individual technologies, the report adds that TLOs and TTOs have come to play a far bigger

role in helping students, faculty, alumni, entrepreneurs, investors, and the industry to connect

with one another, identify opportunities for innovation and product development, conduct

the required research, go through the acceleration and incubation phases and help one another

with the necessary commercialization steps. Initiatives and practices on this line involve

education and awareness for students, faculty and researchers about the importance of

turning their ideas into innovations that could impact the wider society. For instance,

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Technology Transfer Internships provides

internship and fellowship opportunities for students within the TTO.

Promoting Entrepreneurship Through University-Industry Collaboration

The report further finds that the wider industry and businesses across the US seek

partnerships with university research and innovation institutions. These partnerships have

enabled researchers and students to launch new start-ups, which are armed with the best

know-how in the country. Universities are forming strategic partnerships with leading

companies for exchanging research and innovations, internships, accelerator programs and

incentive programs. The Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive

Research (CU-ICAR), University of Minnesota’s Industrial Partnership for Research in

Interfacial and Materials Engineering (IPrime), University of Delaware’s Office of

Economic Innovation & Partnership (OEIP) and Georgia Institute of Technology’s (Georgia

Tech) Flashpoint are some of centers designed as a result of university-industry collaboration

to conduct joint research and provide acceleration programs for aspiring innovators and

entrepreneurs.

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Accelerators, Incubators and Spaces

The entrepreneurship education ecosystem across the US has been highly developed with the

greater metropolitan areas having a unique and growing number of accelerators and

incubators. The accelerators and incubators are designed to cater to the needs of the various

industries through inciting technology innovation and entrepreneurship.

The very renowned accelerators currently available in New York include: First Growth

Venture Network, Dreamit Ventures, Startup Health, Entrepreurs Roundtable Accelerator,

FinTech Innovation Lab, SeedCamp, NYC Seed, BluePrint Health, NY Digital Health,

Accelerator, TechStars, Runway Startup Postdoc at Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute, New

York Digital Health Accelerator, EdgeTech Accelerator, NYCSeedStart, Women Innovate

Mobile, AngelPad, Socratic Labs, and Barclays Accelerator. New York’s Entrepreneurship

Ecosystem has developed a number of key incubators including PreHype, BetaWorks, Soho

Tech Labs, FictiveKin, 212 Media, Pratt Design Incubator and DE-DE.31

The heart of innovation in the US is the Silicon Valley in San Francico. The various well-

known accelerators and incubators that have been set up to serve various businesses include:

Matter, Y Combinator, Upwest Labs, Parisoma, Sandbox Suites, 500 Startups, Tech Liminal,

Sudo Room, Founders Space, Startup Camp, Robotics Boot Camp, Design Thinking Camp,

Tandem, Plug And Play and Wearable World.32

Some of the most important incubators and accelerators in the greater Boston area include:

MassChallenge, The Capital Network, Summer @HIGHLAND, PayPal’s StartTank Boston,

31
Accelerators in New York - http://www.ongridventures.com/resources/new-york-silicon-alley-
resources/newyorkaccelerators/
32
Incubators and accelerators in Silicon Valley - http://www.inc.com/john-rampton/top-10-hot-incubators-to-
join-in-silicon-valley.html

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MIT Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator, BoltBoltcalls, Blade, Cogo Labs, Smarter in the

City, LearnLaunchX, InnoLoft, Greentown Labs, BioSquare, Cambridge

BioLabs/BioInnovation, Healthbox, The MD Idea Lab Incubator, Rock Health, Crop Circle

Kitchen, Tech Hub, Dat Venture, RevUp, NeuroLaunch, Hatch Fenway, Fairmount

Innovation Lab, and Launch.33

San Deigo also offers a number of accelerators and incubators with a range of training and

mentoring programs. These include: Analytics Ventures, Ansir Innovation Center and Fab

Lab San Diego, Bio, Tech and Beyond (BTNB), Springboard, CyberHive, EvoNexus, The

Founder Institute, Helping Entrepreneurs Rapidly Accelerate or HERA LABS, Janssen Labs,

The Moxie Center for Student Entrepreneurship, Plug and Play San Diego, The Wireless

Health Hub, The Startup Leadership Program (SLP), The Wireless Health Hub, The von

Liebig Entrepreneurism Center at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, The West

Health Incubator, and The Zahn Innovation Center34.

The Washington D.C area also features a number of young and growing incubators and

accelerators programs, which serve as main gathering points for entrepreneurs and

innovators. These include: 1776dc.com, Acceleprise, Canvas, Center for Green Urbanism,

Cove, the DC HIV, DC Workspaces, Dupont Circle Business Incubator, Eatsplace,

Exhilarator, Flashpoint At CulturalDC, Impact Hub DC, Startup Kitchen, Relevant Health,

33
Incubators and accelerators in boston area - https://krash.io/stories/2014/08/boston-startup-incubator-
roundup and http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2015/07/08/boston-coworking-spaces-startup-accelerators-
incubators/
34
Incubators and accelerators in each state - https://www.madebytribe.com/top-startup-incubators-
accelerators-in-each-state-infographic/

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GP Tech Labs, Halcyon Incubator, Emerging Technology Centers, and Springboard

Enterprises.

Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs

The Global Competitiveness Index 2016 lists United States as the third most competitive

economy according to the Global Competitiveness Index 2015-2016. United States have

been the powerhouse of entrepreneurial endeavors, creativity and leadership, especially

among the youth, with the world’s most competitive businesses started, nurtured and

expanded their empires across the globe.

According to GEM 2016 report, people across the United States have higher confidence in

starting a new business due to their extensive educational backgrounds, but perceive an

increasing lack of opportunities within the national economies. Across the various States, the

age groups more prone and most likely to start a business are between 35 to 44 year old.

(GEM USA, 2016).

Interestingly, as Figure 3.8 shows, entrepreneurs across the United States are mostly

opportunity driven, especially those between the ages of 35 to 44 years old. This age group

are skilled workforce with considerable knowledge of their respective industry and therefore,

able to identify the relevant opportunities and start their businesses easily. People ranging

from 18 to 24 years old are new college and university graduates are mostly necessity-driven

entrepreneurs as they do not have considerable experience to be employed easily in the

national workforce and therefore, start their entrepreneurial endeavors, to satisfy their

economic needs.

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 Figure 3.8: Motivations for people to start businesses in the United States

Source: GEM USA 2015

3.6. QATAR

Government Policies

Currently, Qatar Development Bank (QDB) is the government’s main policy initiative

toward helping entrepreneurs get the required support in terms of funding and education of

various scales. QDB provides a range of capability development services for Qatari

entrepreneurs, including mentoring, needs analysis training, and other workshops for new

and established entrepreneurs. In addition, QDB is host to a number of initiatives launched

over the past years to help educate and incubate entrepreneurs.35

In 2012, QDB launched SME Toolkit, an online resource centre, which offers advice and

guidance for entrepreneurs and SMEs in Qatar. The Qatar Business Incubation Centre

(QBIC), the region’s largest mixed-use business incubator, was launched in 2014. QBIC

currently encourages entrepreneurs whose ideas are focused on tourism and digital solutions

35
Qatar Development Bank - http://www.qdb.qa/English/Pages/default.aspx

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to join their incubation program. A range of mentoring services are provided within the

program to entrepreneurs with dedicated incubation officers, coaches and mentors for each

of the focus areas.

In addition, QDB launched Al Fikra Business Plan Competition in 2013 in collaboration with

Silatech, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, MIT Enterprise Forum and Enterprise Qatar.

The competition aims to develop entrepreneurs by providing practical workshops over the

course of five months and provides an ideal platform for aspiring entrepreneurs to showcase

their ideas and launch into the commercial world. This competition is a unique set up as it

brings together institutions from the public and private sectors to share expertise for helping

entrepreneurs.36

Private Sector Initiatives: Furthering Entrepreneurship Education Ecosystem

Educational Institutions

Qatar University offers various courses focused on introducing students to entrepreneurship

and honing their entrepreneurial skills. The courses are delivered by the College of

Engineering (CENG) and the College of Business and Economics (CBE). The University

also launched the Centre for Entrepreneurship (CFE) in 2013, which supports

entrepreneurship at the university and community at large. CFE targets students, alumni,

staff and members of the various associations, government agencies and the private sector.

CFE recently launched the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Contest that is designed to foster

entrepreneurship amongst the university’s students through various activities such as

ideation, business plan and pitches content.37

36
Al Fikra Competition - http://www.alfikra.me/en/page/History
37
Qatar University - http://www.qu.edu.qa/business/

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As part of its Bachelor of Science in Business Administration program, Carnegie Mellon

University in Qatar (CMUQ), offers a range of courses on entrepreneurship and innovation,

which are taught of world-class faculty. The courses are aimed at introducing students to the

idea of entrepreneurship, business planning and start-ups in general. Most importantly,

graduating students of business administration are required to take a capstone course entitled,

Management Game, as part of which students are introduced to running a virtual enterprise,

making tough business decisions and presenting their business outcome to a judging panel

at the end of the final semester.38

In 2015, CMUQ, in collaboration with AlFaisal Without Borders (ALF) Foundation,

launched the AlFaisal – Carnegie Mellon Innovation Entrepreneurship Center. The initiative

aims to help students with realizing their entrepreneurial dreams by offering a range of

services on different dimensions such as education, programs and incubation.39 In addition,

students are provided with a range of additional opportunities at CMUQ to hone their

entrepreneurship skills, including a number of student clubs, coding and robotics

competitions, and the university’s flagship Internal Business Case Competition.

Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education,

Science and Community Development (Qatar Foundation), also offers two courses focusing

on innovation and entrepreneurship as part of its Sustainable Development Graduate

38
Carnegie Mellon University Business Administration Program - https://www.qatar.cmu.edu/academics-
research/academics/business-administration/

39
AlFaisal Without Borders and CMUQ collaboration -
https://www.zawya.com/story/AlFaisal_Without_Borders_Foundation_and_Carnegie_Mellon_Qatar_launch_
entrepreneurship_center-ZAWYA20151109104357/

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program. The courses address these topics through various learning and practical materials

taught by leading faculty.

College of North Atlantic - Qatar (CNA-Q) offers courses focuses on developing students to

become entrepreneurs within its business studies program. CNA-Q’s Entrepreneurship

Centre provides students with extra-curricular and co-curricular entrepreneurship learning

opportunities. ‘Al Ruwad’ is a leading regional business plan competition that is run by

CNA-Q40.

HBKU has recently designed, Souqana, an on-campus platform for local entrepreneurs to

showcase their enterprises and products. Souqana aims to increase engagement between

students and entrepreneurs. It is an endeavor for students to learn about entrepreneurship and

the various intricacies of the local market.

In addition, Stenden University Qatar provides students with entrepreneurship training and

overseas trips and counselling fairs. The university has organized several trips for students

to acquire entrepreneurial skills through workshop and business plan participations in other

countries.41

NGOs and Associations

INJAZ Qatar offers around 15 training programs to different ages and academic levels. These

are focused on interpersonal skills, financial management, entrepreneurship, work readiness,

and career success. It has catered thus far to 37 public and private schools and 7 universities

across Qatar to help the student acquire entrepreneurship and work-readiness skill (INJAZ

Qatar Website)

40
CAN-Q Entrepreneurship - https://www.cna-qatar.com/Connections/entrepreneurship
41
Stenden Students trip - http://www.qatar-tribune.com/news-details/id/25961

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Founded by Silatech and QDB, Bedaya Center also provides Qatari youth with a range of

services including entrepreneurship mentoring and career guidance. It has a range of

programs of aspiring Qatari entrepreneurs and programs with students from local schools

(Bedaya Website)

Previously known as Social Development Center, ‘Nama’ - for empowerment and

entrepreneurship, offers a range of training programs for youth and entrepreneurs. The

relevant programs include Small and Micro Business Development Project and Social

Entrepreneur Development Project, which aims to build the cognitive and physical

capabilities of entrepreneurs and nurture their leadership skills. Qatar Finance and Business

Academy (QFBA) is another institution in Qatar that provides tailored capacity-building

trainings the business and finance sector of Qatar. It helps peer institutions in the ecosystem

with training expertise for their entrepreneurship programs (QFBA, Nama Websites)

Qatar’s entrepreneurship ecosystem has a number of associations that are helping recognize

and highlight entrepreneurs in Qatar as well as occasional tailored entrepreneurship trainings.

Qatar Business Association and Qatar Business Women Association are two of the most

significant.

Incubators and Accelerators

With QBIC being the largest mixed-use incubator in the region, Qatar Science and

Technology Park (QSTP), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and

Community Development, supports technology-based entrepreneurship ventures through

incubation, training, mentorship and high-quality networking programs for entrepreneurs.

Within its premises, QSTP has a range of incubation and acceleration services in addition to

innovation mind-set education for entrepreneurs in Qatar.

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QSTP’s incubation program features a range of initiatives that provide tech entrepreneurs

and start-ups with high-quality mentoring opportunities. The programs include the QSTP

Incubation Center, Tech Café, and Start-up in Residence Program. QSTP’s acceleration

programs include QSTP XLR8 and Distro Dojo. QSTP XLR8 is the only tech-based

accelerator in Qatar that provides mentorship, training and coaching for aspiring

entrepreneurs in Qatar. Distro Dojo is a special type of accelerator, which was started in

collaboration with 500Startups, provides a three-month long training and coaching programs

for entrepreneurs and start-ups. In addition, QSTP offers students with the opportunity to

acquire innovation mind-set education through various programs, including Student

Innovation Trips and Summer Internship Program (QSTP Website)

Furthermore, the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), has recently launched a

WISE Accelerator to support entrepreneurs and educators from Qatar and around the globe

to put their education business ideas into practice. Since its launch, it has been working with

aspiring entrepreneurs and educators from around the world to develop their ideas into the

commercial world.

Entrepreneurship Competitions

In addition to Al Fikra National Business Plan Competition by QDB and other members of

the private sector, Enterprise Challenge42 is another initiative of Shell Qatar in collaboration

with Bedaya Center. It helps encourage and educate youth in Qatar to consider

entrepreneurship as a career path by enhancing their knowledge of business, strategic

42
Enterprise Challenge - http://www.shell.com.qa/en_qa/media/2016-media-releases/fifth-year-of-enterprise-
challenge-qatar.html

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thinking and teamwork. Start-up Weekend is another entrepreneurship competition that is

held on an annual basis in Qatar.

Impact of Entrepreneurship Education Programs

Qatar is ranked 18th on the Global Competitiveness Report 2016. The report highlights that

Qatar is performing highly positively on the health and primary education and

macroeconomic pillars while it scores relatively low on innovation and business

sophistication pillars. It reflects its overall low ranks on the ease of doing business ranks, the

global innovation index and the global entrepreneurship index. GEM Qatar Report (2014)

surveyed over 4000 people in Qatar with an equal distribution among Qataris and non-

Qataris residing in the country. The report revealed that unlike other innovation-driven

economies around the world, social values and culture are some of the drivers behind

fostering entrepreneurship in Qatar. Similarly, a recent report by the Oxford Business Group

on entrepreneurship and the establishment of start-ups in Qatar, highlights the fact that

“across 73 countries, 50.4% of adults in Qatar say they plan to start a new business within

the next 3 years helping Qatar to stand out as the developed country with the highest level of

entrepreneurship intentions” (OBG Qatar, 2015)

Shown in Figure 3.9, research done by GEM Qatar 2014 shows that 63.4 percent perceive

good opportunities to start a business. Also, 60.7 percent of Qataris believe they have the

required capabilities to start a business, which is significantly higher than Asia and Oceania’s

average of 44.6 percent.

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 Figure 3.9: Entrepreneurial attributes in Qatar

Source: GEM Qatar 2014

Most interestingly, based on GEM Qatar 2014 findings, motivations to start a business in

Qatar has largely been opportunity-based rather than to satisfy a specific necessity. 71

percent of Qataris believes their entrepreneurial endeavor is purely to seize an existing

opportunity in the market, while 20 percent necessity-driven. A unique trend arises from the

GEM Qatar 2014 findings, which states that 56 percent of Qatari entrepreneurs believe their

enterprises are targeted toward improving Qatar’s economic development.

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4. CHAPTER 4: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENTREPRENUESHIP
EUCATION ECOSYSTEMS IN U.S., UAE AND QATAR
In an effort to ascertain the characteristics of a competitive entrepreneurship education

ecosystem and to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of entrepreneurship

education in Qatar, this section contains a comparative study between the three visibly

established and growing ecosystems in U.S, UAE and Qatar. These ecosystems have been

selected from among the six countries studied in the previous chapters due to the fact that all

three of them have several factors in common. Economic diversification and knowledge

economy, high quality education, innovation-driven economies and culturally-diverse

countries are some of the common traits between these three ecosystems.

4.1. National Visions, Nature of Education Systems and Policy Initiatives

The findings in Chapter three indicate that government policies in support of

entrepreneurship education in these three countries, in fact overall, in all six target countries,

fall in three distinct categories: entrepreneurship a key part of the national vision for

economic development and innovation, nature of the national education system and policy

initiatives in support of entrepreneurship. All three countries have progressed varying

degrees in each of these categories, which is indeed what make them unique in the set of six

target countries studied in the preceding chapter.

All three countries have been successful in crafting overarching visions for economic

diversification through entrepreneurship and innovation. Innovation and entrepreneurship

are the cornerstones of U.S’s economy since decades, with major government institutions,

such as the White House, the Department of Commerce, Department of Labor and

Department of Education, all working collaboratively toward making sure the economy stay

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competitive, diversified and innovative. The U.S’s rankings on all major global indices are

testament to this fact, with currently being the third most competitive economy, fourth most

innovative, and the first most entrepreneurial country by the Global Entrepreneurship Index

2016. The case is quite similar with UAE as its government has set up in its national vision

2021 to gradually move away from its hydrocarbon-dependent economy towards a more

diversified one that is based on innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge. Still new in its

bid towards innovative economic diversification, UAE has achieved a considerable progress

in the eyes of global evaluations. It has somewhat consistently achieved the position of the

17th most competitive economy by the Global Competitiveness Index 2016 and the second

most entrepreneurial economy amongst the 15 countries in the Middle East and North Africa

Region and being the 47th most innovative economy in the world.

Qatar, on the other hand, followed suit in 2008 with the ratification of its National Vision

2030, which serves as the government’s overarching document for economic diversification

mainly through innovation and entrepreneurship. The effects have been greatly felt in Qatar

as the country has gone up in various global ranks such as 18th most competitive economy,

21st most entrepreneurial economy and 50th most innovative economy.

What is most varying amongst the three countries is the nature of the formal education

systems in both school and higher education levels. Unlike in the U.S, the education systems

by nature in the Middle East and North Africa region have been focused on “rote learning,”

with no or little embeddedness of skills such as critical thinking, innovation, teamwork,

leadership, and problem solving. As shown in the findings earlier, the education system and

curricula, in particular across schools, colleges and universities in U.S, have moved away

from the traditional rote learning approach and have adopted a more entrepreneurial

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approach to education. As identified by the National Survey of Entrepreneurship Education

2012-2014, there are around 398 undergraduate, post-graduate, diploma and certificate

programs offered across higher education institutions. Greene et. All (2015) confirms the

number of entrepreneurship courses have increased drastically to more than 5,000 today with

this number being 250 in 1985. This is a clear indication that the higher education system in

the U.S has moved towards adopting more entrepreneurial approach to adequately address

needs of the wider economy.

On a positive note, there has been a modest reformation of the education system in UAE with

the Ministry of Education’s 10-year strategy (2010-2020) focusing on embracing a more

innovative to reforming the existing education system and instilling some of the core

entrepreneurial values such as critical thinking, teamwork, leadership and problem solving.

New schooling models have been adopted, inspired by European models and the impact has

already been felt. There has been a surge in entrepreneurial activities among school students

with one survey by UAE’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority showing that 74

percent of private school students across the country are taught some type of

entrepreneurship within their curricula. However, compared to U.S’s higher education

institutions’ approach to adopting entrepreneurship education, UAE still lags behind. A

limited number of state-run and even private universities have well-organized

entrepreneurship education and courses.

The situation is quite bleak when it comes to the case of Qatar, especially in school level.

There have been very minimal efforts by the state to ensure the school level education

curricula becomes more entrepreneurial. Findings in Chapter three don’t provide any

substantial efforts by Qatar’s Ministry of Education to support the curricula for students have

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become more entrepreneurial, although there have been sporadic efforts to initiate

collaborations with the private sector institutions such as Bedaya Centre and Injaz Qatar to

provide some entrepreneurial flavor to the education curricula in private and public schools.

On the government policy initiatives front, all three countries have varying degrees of

developments. The White House under the former President Barack Obama has created an

all-embracing policy initiative, the Start-up America, to serve as an umbrella for innovation,

entrepreneurship and start-up efforts across the country. The Department of Education, Labor

and Commerce also established various schemes such as the US Office of Innovation and

Entrepreneurship (OIE) and the Excellence in Economic Education (EEE) program and other

similar efforts. Within these programs, various schemes have been created to provide

entrepreneurs with education, training and mentorships. To some degree, the government of

Qatar had major policy initiatives such as the Qatar Development Bank (QDB), which

features Qatar Business Incubation Centre, Bedaya Centre, and event Qatar Science and

Technology Park (QSTP) as part of Qatar Foundation although semi-governmental. These

initiatives have developed certain advisory, education and mentorship programs for

entrepreneurs over the past years.

Amongst these three countries, UAE by far has the most robust, coherent and forward-

looking government policy initiatives, highly compatible with the country’s national vision

for economic diversification. These policy initiatives ranges from free zones, to national

accelerators and national funds for entrepreneurship education. Some of these have been

Dubai SME, Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, Ruwad Establishment, Dubai

Entrepreneurship Academy, Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSO), and Dubai Future

Accelerators. As the findings show, these have effectively catered to entrepreneurs across

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the country that is reflected in the intentions and motivations listed in the findings by UAE

entrepreneurs.

4.2. Private Universities, Supporting Organizations and Incubators/Accelerators

The U.S, among all the target countries in this study and in particular, in comparison with

UAE and Qatar, has a more comprehensive private higher education institutions, or

universities. Around 400 entrepreneurship degrees, with approximately 5,000 courses, are

offered in these universities with world-class faculty, combined with a range of support units.

The findings here show that in addition to entrepreneurship education in universities being

highly advanced, these institutions provide students and faculty to engage in entrepreneurial

activities by commercializing their research innovations. The University of Pittsburgh, and

University of Southern California as indicated in the findings earlier, encourage faculty to

get involved in entrepreneurial endeavors with their students. This is an ideal situation that

is lacking in most of the target countries apart from Singapore where universities do provide

similar opportunities. Throughout the findings here, it is rarely seen that universities in UAE

and Qatar has any of such initiatives for its faculty.

Universities across the U.S, especially those mentioned in the findings here, have a pool of

faculty and students with innovative and entrepreneurial mindsets, which have allowed these

institutions to set up and fund incubators and accelerators within. This in turn goes back to

creating increased interaction between students and faculty to work together towards

innovating and commercializing their inventions. The faculty can effectively serve as

mentors and partners to their students within the on-campus incubators. This interaction is

rarely seen in Qatar and UAE universities.

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Most importantly, the U.S universities have found a new way to help their students and

faculty hone their entrepreneurial skills by creating partnerships with industry organizations

and businesses. The university-industry collaborations provide an array of opportunities for

students, faculty and members of the industry such as internships, entrepreneurship

competitions, and technology transfer. This cycle of collaboration increases impact of the

academic curricula taught in schools, enhances state of innovations within universities, and

encourages students and faculty to undertake entrepreneurial endeavors. In the case of UAE

and Qatar, universities have started to undertake such collaborations with members of the

wider industry. Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar’s partnerships with AlFaisal Without

Borders Foundation, and Dubai’s Silicon Valley’s partnerships with public and private

universities to help provide better education and growth opportunities for entrepreneurs, are

some examples of university-industry partnerships in this region.

The various support units and non-governmental organizations offering entrepreneurship

education are seen widely all three countries. Junior Achievement (JA) USA, a member of

the JA Worldwide, offers entrepreneurship education programs for schools students. This

model is widely and successfully replicated in Qatar and UAE by Injaz Qatar and Injaz UAE,

both member of JA Worldwide, by offering extensive courses and programs on work-

readiness and entrepreneurship to students in schools and university levels.

4.3. Entrepreneurial Intentions, Attitudes and Motivations

Looking at the findings, entrepreneurs in all three countries have made tremendous progress

and achievements over the past years. Men and women of an average of 25 to 45 years are

most likely to take on entrepreneurial careers in these three countries, with men more likely

to take the risk and start their enterprises compared to women. Although the U.S is leading

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 in the first rank as per the Global Entrepreneurship Index 2016 on entrepreneurial attitudes,

intentions and aspirations, Qatar and UAE has made considerable progress and currently are

on the 21st and 19th ranks respectively. Entrepreneurship in all three countries as a prestigious

career and a big majority of the people would like to the take the next available opportunity

to start their enterprises, with the U.S being high on the fear of failure due to economic

downturns and financial instabilities. Entrepreneurs served by GEM reports in these three

countries are mostly opportunity-driven rather than necessity-driven. In UAE and Qatar,

majority of the entrepreneurs are with the intentions of making improvements and major

contributions to national economies. Figure 4.1 provides a summarized picture of the

findings in all six different countries.

Figure 4.1: A brief, general matrix of the findings

Framework UAE Saudi Arabia Lebanon Singapore USA Qatar
Level
 Education  Guardianshi  National SME  Pursuing a  National  Government
System p for Strategy as a sector-based drive to institution to
Reform entrepreneu way to train entrepreneurshi support and support
rship business p education educate entrepreneurs
 Experiential education leaders and approach. entrepreneurs in setting up
Learning (SME’s nurture and businesses.
Institutions Authority). capabilities.  Government- innovation.
run national  Government-
Government
 Embedding  University- entrepreneurshi  Regular run
Policies
entrepreneu Industry p campaigns policy entrepreneurs
rship Partnerships to initiatives hip
education in support and within campaigns
higher train government
education entrepreneurs to support
system and educate
entrepreneurs
.
 Internationa  Internationa  International  Universities –  University  International
l l Organizations education and degree and Organization
Organizatio Organizatio training certificate s
ns ns  Private programs
Universities –  Accelerators  University-
Private
 Incubators  Private education and and Incubators  University- based
Sector
and Universities training based entrepreneurs
Institutions
Accelerator  Entrepreneurshi Accelerators hip courses
s  Oil and Gas  Accelerators p competitions and and
Sector and Incubators Incubators competitions.
Contributio
ns

85 | P a g e
  National  National  University-  Accelerators
campaigns Campaigns Industry and
and Collaboratio Incubators
 Private Competitions n
Universities  University-
 Entrepreneur Industry
ship Collaboration
competitions
 Entrepreneur
ship
competitions

 19th most  30th most  63th most  24th most  1st most  21st most
entrepreneu entrepreneu entrepreneuria entrepreneurial entrepreneuri entrepreneuri
rial rial l economy economy (GEI) al economy al economy
economy economy (GEI) (GEI) (GEI)
(GEI) (GEI)  11% of people
 70 % of UAE in Singapore are  87 % of  50% of Qatar
 8 out of 100  25 % of nationals early stage entrepreneurs nationals say
UAE Saudi believe they entrepreneurs. , aged 35-45, they are
nationals populations can start a are willing to
are are business.  Entrepreneurshi opportunity- start a
entrepreneu involved in p, especially driven. business.
rs early stage  72% of among people
entrepreneu entrepreneurs older than 45, is  81% of  60% of Qatar
 88 % of rship in Lebanon are seen as a college nationals
Status of
UAE opportunity- favourable graduates, believe they
Entrepreneu
nationals  More than driven career choice. 18-24, are have the
rs
believe 80% of opportunity- required
entrepreneu entrepreneu driven. capabilities
rship is an rs in Saudi to start a
ambitious Arabia are business.
career opportunity
choice. -driven  Larger
percentage of
 63% of Qatari
entrepreneu entrepreneurs
rs in UAE are
are opportunity-
opportunity- driven.
driven

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4.4. Recommendations and Policy Implications for Qatar

In light of the findings in Chapter three from the six target countries and the comparative

analysis between the three entrepreneurship education ecosystems, U.S, UAE and Qatar, the

following policy recommendations and implications can be drawn to improve

entrepreneurship education in Qatar in the long-term:

 Making Education System Entrepreneurial: Similar to the education systems in

U.S.A and UAE, it is vital for Qatar to adequately implement the entrepreneurial

aspect of its education system, especially in public schools. Public schools, K-12, has

as evidenced in UAE and U.S, courses and training programs focused on math,

science, problem-solving, leadership, social responsibility and critical thinking. One

of the main ways Qatar can improve implementing this curricula, especially the

aforementioned courses, is to get rid of the various external factors affecting the

students. Improving the abilities of the teachers, student assessment and extra-

curricular activities are some of the key areas that could be further developed. This

could be done through providing comprehensive teacher training programs on

various levels and areas.

 Sector-focused Entrepreneurship Education: Qatar has a similar vision of

establishing a knowledge-based economy as the one in Singapore. Singapore’s

entrepreneurship education ecosystem is mainly focused on training entrepreneurs to

become vital players in the country’s quest for a superior knowledge-based economy

through encouraging youth to undertake technology innovations and research.

Entrepreneurship education in Qatar is not fully serving this purpose yet. In line with

QNV 2030’s vision of economic diversification and innovation, it is vital that Qatar

87 | P a g e
 revamp tech innovation and entrepreneurship education focused on addressing the

needs of the different sectors. There are certain efforts to support sector-based

education by institutions like Qatar Foundations, Qatar University, HBKU, and

QSTP. These efforts need be further thematized and reflect in the entrepreneurship

education, which is being provided to entrepreneurs by the main education providers

whether public, or private institutions.

 Establish a Key Government Institution to Safeguard Entrepreneurship

Education: A government policy initiative to develop a national entrepreneurship

education curricula and safeguard it accordingly will be highly beneficial for the

ecosystem. QDB can be helpful in terms of funding entrepreneurs and SMEs, but its

impact on developing entrepreneurship education in the country is limited. This

initiative will ultimately serve as a government umbrella organization in coordination

with the Ministry of Education and the private sector institutions on entrepreneurship

education. Most importantly, this body will create coordination among all members

of the existing entrepreneurship education ecosystem. The role of this body is

recommended to be limited to coordination, rather than regulation of the

entrepreneurship education institutions. If the perceived role goes beyond

coordination, it will impose unnecessary restrictions on entrepreneurs, which will not

prove helpful.

 Increase Public and Private Partnerships to Support Entrepreneurship

Education: Although Qatar has already progressed on creating a number of public-

private partnerships, for instance QDB’s partnership with CMUQ on creating Al

Fikra Business Plan Competition, it is vital for Qatar to ensure that this trend

88 | P a g e
 continues. This approach has several benefits for the government in terms of saving

time and monetary resources on creating know-how from scratch. It can also

guarantee impact since the existing entrepreneurship models, for instance Injaz, have

already been tested and implemented.

 Increase University-Industry-Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Collaboration:

Encourage universities with technology-focused programs to develop tangible

partnerships with the existing technology incubators and accelerators to develop and

commercialize innovations created by students and faculty. Members of the industry

can effectively use such collaborations to use the resources and knowledge available

at universities to develop innovations that address their business needs.

 Increase Entrepreneurship Education Degree Programs in Universities: There

are no undergraduate, or graduate programs across any university in Qatar. Designing

a state-of-the-art program in consultation with leading institutions, for instance

Babson College, would encourage more youth to enroll in this program and receive

formal university-level entrepreneurship education. Figure 4.2 lays out the different

policy recommendations in brief.

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 Figure 4.2: Policy Recommendations for Improving Entrepreneurship Education in
Qatar

4.5. Conclusion

From the findings and analysis in the aforementioned sections, it can be inferred that

characteristics of a competitive entrepreneurship ecosystem are several. First, the

nature of an education system, whether it fosters innovation, critical thinking,

leadership, problem solving and social responsibility, in a country directly impact the

competitiveness of an entrepreneurship education ecosystem. Second, the approach

to entrepreneurship education in an ecosystem is another important characteristic in

the sense if it is really addresses the needs of the different sectors in an economy.

Third, how much support in terms of policy initiatives does it receive from the

government on a regular basis. This is key to the durability and sustainability of an

entrepreneurship education ecosystem as through this way it will be safeguarded and

taken care of. Fourth, the degree of collaboration among the array of stakeholders

from the public and private sectors is a key indicator of how comprehensive the

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 learning material are that directly impact the quality of entrepreneurs trained. Finally,

it is crucial for an entrepreneurship education ecosystem to have participation from

the innovators, researchers and academics from the universities and other higher

education institutes. This will ensure continuous flow of disruptive innovations

armed with quality research.

4.6. Suggestions for Future Research

This exploratory research depended solely on the available secondary resources and

didn’t take the extra step to conduct focus groups and surveys with entrepreneurs in

the target countries, in Qatar in particular, due to the several reasons. In order to better

validate and understand the progress entrepreneurs have made in Qatar and the way

they have been benefited by the existing entrepreneurship programs, it would be the

ideal step for interested researchers to design a research study armed with focus

groups, surveys and interviews with the entrepreneurs, policy-makers and other

members of the ecosystem. This will add an additional piece of valuable information

to this study and in fact, it ideally be could the next stage of this study.

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