Singapore’s student entrepreneurs most ambitious among 26 countries: global survey

A global survey with over 90,000 respondents from 26 countries has found that among student entrepreneurs at the undergraduate and graduate level, Singaporeans are by a mile the most ambitious of them all.

On average, these business-minded students plan to grow the number of employees they have to 23.26, up from the 2.81 they have now. That’s above a factor of 8. Otherwise, student entrepreneurs in Singapore are not too different from their counterparts: Their businesses have on average 2.18 partners, and each founder holds about 52.42% equity.

And like most other countries, student entrepreneurs in Singapore are a very small minority, forming only 1% of the students surveyed.

The Global University Entrepreneurial Spirit Students‘ Survey (GUESSS) is conducted by the Swiss Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, in collaboration with Ernst & Young. In Singapore, about 2,400 students were surveyed, representing business and economics, natural sciences, and social sciences.

The survey has uncovered more interesting insights about the state of entrepreneurship among students.

Starting a business right after studies does not appear to be a priority among many aspiring student entrepreneurs. Only 9% of business, economics, and social science students plan to start a company right after they graduate. The figure for natural science students is slightly higher, at 11%. However, about 30% of students plan to do a startup 5 years after they graduate.

All in all, a healthy 39% of Singapore students have repeatedly thought about starting a business.

Nonetheless, the entrepreneurship environment in Singapore can still be further improved. Singapore, China, Japan are the countries with the strongest perceived barriers to entrepreneurship.

In Singapore, access to capital is rated as the most foreboding barrier-to-entry, followed by the lack of contacts to customers and financial risk.

When asked to state whether universities are providing adequate education and support related to entrepreneurship, Singaporean students perceive contact platforms with investors, contact points for entrepreneurial issues, education on running family businesses, and mentoring as the most inadequate areas.