Late last year, The Kaufman Foundation, a US-based group that promotes entrepreneurial activity, released a curious study that posed the question “is entrepreneurship contagious?” It is an interesting question and one that has prompted The Irish Times and AIB’s to colaborate on the entrepreneur nights that will run across Ireland between now and October 2014.
The researchers surveyed a sample of two thousand to learn whether they were entrepreneurs, or knew any entrepreneurs, thenselves. Respondents to the survey were also asked to distinguish between what Kaufman called “growth entrepreneurs” and other entrepreneurs - the “growth” species are those whose entrepreneurial activity creates new jobs.
The headline figures are interesting. Only 15% of those surveyed knew a growth entrepreneur (although a further 18% knew other types of entrepreneurs such as those whose activity was to subsist alone). 48% of respondents earning below $25,000 knew a large number of subsistence entrepreneurs, but were half as likely to know a growth entrepreneur as their peers with higher incomes, particularly those earning above $75,000. Note that all figures concern the United States only.
Gender
There was a strong gender divide; 25% of men but only 12% of women knew a growth entrepreneur, 22% of men versus only 11% of women knew an entrepreneur of any kind and were themselves an entrepreneur. However, the gender divide was far lower for respondents who were growth entrepreneurs themselves and also know others who are growth entrepreneurs. For men the figure was 39% and for women it was 29%.
Community
But what is most interesting is that the Kaufman researchers examined whether those who knew entrepreneurs were more likely to be entrepreneurial themselves. 38% of those who know a growth entrepreneur are growth entrepreneurs themselves. Similar figures applied to other types of entrepreneurs.
And herein lies the paradox: if entrepreneurship is as imitative as these findings suggests, then it is not quite the individualistic, go-it-alone pursuit of the alpha-personality that is often presumed. A strong entrepreneurial community has a role to play in supporting new entrepreneurs.
In Ireland, particularly in the last 5 years, a strong community has formed among technology entrepreneurs. This is partly through the sterling efforts of individuals such as Eamon Leonard, an entrepreneur who is now VP at EngineYard and partly through the infusion of cash into, and the showering of profile upon, startup incubators such as LaunchPad and DogPatch. But there is a need for regular and meaningful exchanges between entrepreneurs of all sectors and not just technology. The Entrepreneur Nights are one step in that direction.
The text of the Kauffman report is available here.
