1. Entrepreneurship Survey of the EU (25 Member States), United States, Iceland and Norway Fieldwork: January 2007 Report: April 2007 Issued: 8 th October 2007

2. Self Employment prospects looking brighter for Malta

3. In Malta self employment is preferred to normal employment, 2004 - 2007 “In five of the NMS10, the preference for employee status has increased since 2004. This is mostly the case in Cyprus (+6), Slovenia (+3) and Slovakia (+1). We have seen a very strong decrease in this ratio for Latvia (-20), together with Lithuania (-9) and Malta (-5).”

5. Preference for Self Employment Status Measures: 1) Personal Independence 2) Business Opportunities 3) Better Income 4) Freedom to choose the place and time of working 5) Lack attractive (permanent) employment opportunities 6) Members of family or friends are self employed 7) Favourable economic climate 8) Desire to avoid employment-related uncertainties 9) Other

6. Reason for improvement in self employment status in Malta (1) “The degree of personal independence associated with being self-employed interests the Austrians the most (83%), but is also mentioned by a relatively large number of citizens in Germany, Belgium, Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Poland and Malta (70%). Although respondents in Iceland are the least interested in this issue, 46% still mention this factor”.

7. Reason for improvement in self employment status in Malta (2) “A favourable economic climate is the most important reason for Estonians (18%), to be self-employed followed by the Czechs, Maltese (11%), Latvians and the Greeks (more than one out of 10 citizens mentioned it). No respondents from Ireland or Iceland mentioned this reason.”

8. Malta ranks higher than EU average in desirability to become Self Employed

9. Feasibility of Self Employment 2004 - 2007 Those who replied that self employment is not feasible decreased from 74% in 2004 to 70% in 2007.

11. How would you describe your current situation? Never thought about opening a business – 50% Thought about it – 10% Thought about it but gave up on the idea – 22% Currently starting a new business – 1% Still active today – 3% No longer an entrepreneur – 1% No Answer – 14%

13. (24%) out of those who have not started business have gave up on their project ideas Q11. Have you ever started a business or are you taking steps to start one? Yes – 5.1% No – 92.3% Q11a. From the 92.3% - How would you describe your situation? It never came to mind – 54.6% Thinking about starting up a business – 10.3% Thought of it or had a taken steps to start a business but gave up – 23.5% (followed by UK (25%), Austria (25%) and Germany (26%)). Therefore, Out of total population - 92.5% * 23.5% = 22%

14. Experience in setting up a business

15. Malta highest ratio of businesses still active, 2004 -2007 “Citizens in Malta have the highest ratio of still active businesses (56%), followed by citizens in Greece (51%) and Iceland (46%). In each of the countries surveyed, more citizens started their still-active business over three years ago than in the last three years.” “The Slovenians mentioned in the highest percentage (49%) that they once started a business but they are no longer entrepreneurs (because the business failed, or was sold, transferred or closed.). The Slovenians are followed by the Danes (48%), the Italians (43%) and the Cypriots (43%). Citizens of Malta report this situation in the lowest proportion (17%).”

16. Malta has the lowest proportion (17%) of businesses opened which are no longer active

17. Elements when considering setting up a business 1) Appropriate Business idea 2) Receiving necessary financial means 3) Appropriate Business Partner 4) Dissatisfaction with previous situation 5) Changes in family circumstances “An analysis of the results for the 28 countries included in the survey, reveals widely differing characteristics for each of them. However, one can see that Italy and Malta are the two Member States most in line with the EU average.”

18. More Maltese see business as an Opportunity rather than necessity Business as an opportunity: 2004 – 46% 2007 – 62%

19. Entrepreneurship Education “Other Member States, apart from Portugal, that scored highly in these educational categories were Malta (66%)… … 39% of Irish students developed an interest in becoming an entrepreneur (a figure only beaten by Malta (44%) and Portugal (50%).”

21. Evaluation of entrepreneurial difficulties Main difficulties faced in 2007 1) lack of financial support 2) complexity of administrative procedures 3) difficulties in obtaining useful information 4) risk of failure “Complexity of the process: …Lithuanians mentioning it with highest rate (78%),… Iceland, Austria and Malta (56%) are seen to have the least complex processes”.

22. Thank You