Global Entrepreneurship Monitor
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) was initiated in 1999 as a joint venture of Babson College and the London Business School.
Starting with 10 participating countries, the project, now in its 12th year of operations, has expanded to include 59+ countries. GEM is the largest and most developed research program on entrepreneurship in the world. GEM is unique because, unlike most entrepreneurship data sets that measure newer and smaller firms, GEM studies the behavior of individuals with respect to starting and managing a business. GEM nations are members of an exclusive research project which provides access to the collective knowledge of some of the world’s most renowned researchers and institutions involved in entrepreneurship research. At a time in history when individual entrepreneurial activity may hold the key to transforming the global economy and discouraging ingrained economic disparity in countries with minimal economic opportunity, GEM data has influenced national economic policies and continues to expand its collaborative role.
As an example of the reach of the GEM research, in 2009, in a targeted initiative supported by the International Development Research Centre, GEM collected data in Syria, Egypt, Algeria, Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen. In 2010, GEM continued to collect data in Palestine, and Egypt and added teams in Angola and Zambia, as well as others. Bangladesh is one of the countries joining in 2011.