What Does GEM Say About Minority Entrepreneurship

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) is the largest and longest-running social science research project in the world and the GEM Adult Population Survey database now runs to millions of cases of individuals from 114 economies since it started in 1999. In this chapter, the authors show that entrepreneurial activity among minorities may in practice be more a result of, rather than a solution to, a lack of basic economic alternatives (such as social security), while a theme of unfulfilled intentions points to discrimination during and after start-up. On the positive side, it does appear that entrepreneurship may be a stepping-stone to more regular employment or better business opportunities for individuals at risk of discrimination, such as immigrants.