It’s hardly surprising that this country is buzzing right now with entrepreneurial creativity and dynamism – from internet and gaming start-ups to new businesses launching products that aim to save lives and protect the environment.
According to the 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report, Ireland is now the second most entrepreneurial of the top 15 countries in Europe, with increasing numbers of people, especially women, starting new businesses. Some 32,000 people started new businesses in Ireland in 2013 and one in every 11 adults in the country are engaged in some form of early stage entrepreneurial activity, according to the GEM Report. For a small country, with a total population of just 4.5 million, that’s a lot of drive and entrepreneurial ambition!
Ireland today is brimming with youthful energy. Over a third of the population is under 25 years of age. And we welcome entrepreneurs and foreign-owned businesses from all over the world. Recently, Ireland introduced special visa programmes and Enterprise Ireland introduced a new International Start-up Fund to support entrepreneurs that want to start-up or relocate a business to Ireland.
We also do well in World Bank rankings, which put Ireland in the top-ten worldwide for ease of doing business. According to the World Bank, Ireland is fourth in the world for the availability of skilled labour and openness to new ideas; sixth for labour productivity; seventh for the availability of financial skills; and seventh for the flexibility and adaptability of people. So what are you waiting for?