GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP MONITOR: ARMENIA NATIONAL REPORT 2019/2020

It is our great honor to welcome you to the pages of the First Edition of the GEM Armenia National Report. Armenia is historically considered to be a nation of individual entrepreneurs, phenomenon inherited from our predecessors. It is believed that those inborn entrepreneurial skills allows Armenians to generate value by creating or expanding economic activities aimed at identifying and exploiting new products, processes or markets. However, such beliefs have never been properly tested to reveal the real picture behind those traditional interpretations. Armenian Government in power after the 2018 Velvet Revolution considers entrepreneurial activities pivotal for ensuring vibrant private sector and perceives those as main drivers for achieving accelerated and inclusive economic development, attracting new investments and improving productivity. Competitive and innovative SMEs are targeted for extensive special support, as those are important for achieving sustainable development in post COVID 19 world and creating middle class in the country. Further development and promotion of entrepreneurial culture, establishment of more favorable legislative and institutional frameworks and support for the development of SME’s internal capacities are also on the Government’s development agenda. Considering the above, the expansion of the high quality and evidence based Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study in 2019 to cover Armenia as well is important for understanding the current state of entrepreneurship ecosystem, revealing existing issues, developing targeted policies and strategies and continuously monitoring the short- and long-term impacts of changes.
In the pages that follow, you will read about the hypothesis made by the Armenia National Team before implementing the first GEM study in pre-COVID year of 2019. Then, the analysis of entrepreneurship context in the country, social and cultural foundations of entrepreneurship, level of entrepreneurship, motivations and aspirations of the Armenian entrepreneurs and perceptions while exiting the business are presented. It worth to mention that the study shows high level of entrepreneurship in Armenia, when one out of each five adults are engaged in early-stage entrepreneurship (7th among 50 GEM countries) and 28% of population is engaged in any early-stage or established business (6th among 50 GEM). This to some extent is reflection of changes occurred in Government policies following 2018 Velvet Revolution, which brought more optimism to the future developments in the country among different segments of the population. At the same time study shows need for actions in such areas as entrepreneurial education, R&D transfer, Government entrepreneurial programs and entrepreneurial finance. These areas need to be strengthened the most to foster entrepreneurship activity in the country.
We, at Ameria cjsc Management Advisory Services are extremely proud to be a National Team of the GEM. We appreciate this exciting opportunity to contribute to the entrepreneurship development in Armenia and hope to continue implementing this important economic, national and academic research. We consider implementation of GEM 2020 round much more important taking into account the COVID-19 situation and its impact on the economy and entrepreneurship.