Anderton welcomes information in global survey

Economic Development Minister Jim Anderton has welcomed indications that New Zealand is heading in the right direction in building an innovation and enterprise culture.

The 2002 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor run in 37 countries was released internationally at 4 am this morning. http://www.entrepreneur.ac.nz/

“New Zealand is a nation of small businesses, and small business make up a significant proportion of our total employment and economic output. In this sense, entrepreneurial activity is a vital component in our drive towards returning New Zealand’s per capita income to the top half of the OECD,” said Jim Anderton.

The survey found that; New Zealand is one of top ten the most entrepreneurial countries in the world ahead of the USA, Australia and the Canada; the New Zealand business environment was the most conducive to business start ups of any country in the world; New Zealanders rate themselves very highly, as having the necessary skills and experience to start a new business, and New Zealand women rank themselves higher than women in any of the other countries; and New Zealanders are far more entrepreneurial than other nations in the 35-64 year old age groups.

“Our entrepreneurs are continuing to maintain a positive attitude toward business success and report that the New Zealand business environment is one of the most conducive to starting a business in the world. We are placing a greater emphasis on reducing the costs of compliance for business, and in areas such as the business registration and incorporation we are leading the world.

“The information in this survey is useful for guiding us in supporting and working with businesses, but the tests that count are our GDP performance, how we rank on key indicators compared to other OECD nations, and our productivity increases.

The survey of 2,836 New Zealanders and 113,282 people around the world in 36 countries indicated that there are approximately 341,000 entrepreneurs in New Zealand.

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