Rated High by Ernst & Young

Korea has been classified as one of the most entrepreneur-friendly countries among G20 members. However, it has ranked as low as 14th when it comes to support measures for entrepreneurs. 

According to the entrepreneurship survey report published on August 29 by Ernst & Young, Korea topped the list alongside the United States, Britain, Australia, and Canada. They were followed by Japan and Germany in the second group and China and Brazil in a third group. 

The accounting consulting firm conducted a survey on the five fields of funding accessibility, entrepreneurship culture, tax and regulation systems, training, and assistance measures, and analyzed related quantitative data to decide the ranking. The 20 countries were classified into four groups, five in each of the groups. A total of 1,500 or so entrepreneurs took part in the survey. 

Korea ranked second in the second field, third in the third, and fourth in the fourth. Still, it took the 14th spot in the field of support measures, including entrepreneur network accessibility, mentoring, and business incubating, and came in eighth in funding accessibility. 

The report explained that Korea’s good performance in the entrepreneurship culture category can be attributed to its aggressive R&D investment and high number of patents. It added that Korea has a comparative advantage in terms of the abundance of a highly-educated workforce, relative low tax burdens and the degree of bureaucracy that is relatively low as well. Meanwhile, it pointed out that it is not easy to start new businesses there due to the environment giving greater favor to large corporations. Also, venture firms have little access to financing resources in spite of well-developed financial systems. Approximately 70% of Korean entrepreneurs who participated in the survey answered that financing was their biggest hurdle. 

Ernst & Young advised that the methods of funding be diversified so that more adventurous and capable industrialists can make new challenges and achieve success. “We’ve been keenly interested in entrepreneurship for a long time, and have striven continuously to give an impetus to it,” said Kwon Seung-hwa, head of Ernst & Young Han Young. He continued, “I believe that entrepreneurship is the key to solve the problem of youth unemployment, which has posed a great challenge to not only Korea but also countries all around the world.”

He went on, “The survey results indicate that Korea is more business and entrepreneur friendly than previously thought, and I’d like to call upon the government to come up with more measures so that the young generation can start their own innovative businesses thinking out of box.”