Page 52 - guidance-supporting-europe-s-aspiring-entrepreneurs-policy-and-practice-to-harness-future-potential

Guidance supporting Europe’s aspiring entrepreneurs
Policy and practice to harness future potential

decreased to just over one quarter, due to a growth in those with higher levels of
education.

Figure 6. Education level of European entrepreneurs (EU-27), 2000-09

Source: Eurostat, 2010.

Young Europeans are seen to have particularly strong entrepreneurial
tendencies (Volkmann et al., 2009). Some of the key barriers to entry, such as
those linked to geography, have been removed with ICT developments; as global
popular culture continues to be centred on youth, many young people have been
able to exploit their fluency in digital technology to create successful businesses
in music, video games, internet retail and other industries (Ibid.).
Entrepreneurship is also common among many migrant communities as it
can contribute to reducing social exclusion and raising living standards (CEEDR,
2000). Studies show that, in certain EU countries, migrants demonstrate notably
higher rates of self-employment than the native population (see Table 2). This is
evident in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France,
Hungary, Latvia, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The
opposite is true for Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain , Italy, Cyprus and Portugal.

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