A study showed that more than 80% of the adult population in the Dominican Republic believes that they have the skills and intentions to start a business, and only 38% of these said they were afraid of failure.

This research was carried out to learn about the effects of the pandemic on the Dominican entrepreneurial ecosystem and was carried out by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Mipymes (MICM), Barna Management School, and the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE), who presented the third edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2021-2022, which analyzes the conditions that impact the entrepreneurial environment in more than 40 countries around the world.

Among its main findings, the GEM also confirmed that the effects of the pandemic caused by covid-19 show a reduction of five percentage points in established businesses in 2021 compared to 2018.

“From the MICM we are working to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the DR by articulating actions that improve access to financing, training and development of human capital,” said the MICM minister, Víctor -Ito- Bisonó.

Also, Paulo Alves, a rector of the Barna Management School, said that the academy would use these inputs to investigate problems related to entrepreneurship, MSMEs, and innovation. “All of this that we are doing will allow us, without a doubt, to continue having a positive impact on the country in all organizations, and contributing to the improvement of managerial quality, that quality of people who have the responsibility of being better leaders in their organizations” Alves added.

Luis Manuel Pellerano, president of ANJE, stated that the business sector sees updating the GEM results through this inter-institutional alliance as a significant step. Pellerano said that “from the Association we collaborate with the execution of innovative initiatives, such as this one, in pursuit of the development and growth of our young entrepreneurs. This mechanism will be consolidated as a reference and source of information for all those involved in the design and application of support processes for the entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

The realization of this study also had the support of Banco Popular Dominicano, INICIA, E. León Jimenes and GAM Capital.