Entrepreneurialism is an extraordinarily positive energy in business and society but support and practical advice are essential if they are to thrive and boost worldwide economic recovery and growth. So which countries are best equipped to nurture entrepreneurs?

As our way of paying homage to the Olympics we have given this year’s Games a new twist by measuring the statistics in a slightly different way. We have used a variety of data to come up with our rankings, including a recent survey conducted by Smaller Earth’s global entrepreneurial initiative Your Big Year, which is supported by Mazars.

Based on responses by UK entrepreneurs, the survey found that when asked which country they believed would most help them on the road to success, 36% said the United States, followed by Australia and Canada. We then took statistics from the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2012 report, which focuses on measures of burden on the creation of new enterprises and that the regulatory framework is a critical factor affecting countries’ entrepreneurial performance.

Total gold medal rankings of best countries for entrepreneurs	Total Points
UK	23
USA	22
Australia	21
Canada	19
France	17
Germany	14
New Zealand	13
Spain	11
Switzerland	7
Singapore	6

The report found that the regulatory framework conditions for starting a business are more favourable in English-speaking countries. The number of procedures needed to create a limited liability company is low in almost all OECD countries, typically between 4 and 6. Although in Greece and Spain 10 different procedures are required, according to the report. Overall, the report says that the administrative burdens are still quite cumbersome in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and the Russian Federation; South Africa is closer to the average levels.

Finally, we wanted to include a measure of available support on offer to entrepreneurs. As a company located in 69 countries worldwide and with a strong alignment with entrepreneurs through support and practical advice on offer, we decided to base this measure on the number of offices Mazars has in each of the top 10 countries listed in the Your Big Year survey.

Based on these three measures and topping our Gold Medal table as the best country for entrepreneurs is the UK with 23 gold medals, closely followed by the USA with 22 gold medals and Australia with 21.

No doubt the Olympic Games gold medal ranking table will look somewhat different by the end of the Games, but as far as the UK is concerned let’s hope it’s not too out of line!

The full methodology is below.

Watch our 2012 Olympic Special film here

For more information on Your Big Year see here

The OECD’s Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2012 report can be viewed at www.oecd.org

For more information on Mazars and its entrepreneurship initiatives please contact Lucy.Hamilton@mazars.co.uk

Methodology: Entrepreneur Gold Medal rankings

First, we took the top 10 countries considered by UK entrepreneurs questioned in the Your Big Year (YBY) survey. The most popular country achieved the highest points of 10 down to one.

If you are considering emigration where are you considering going?	Top 10 (as from YBY survey)
	Points awarded
USA	10
UK	9
Australia	8
Canada	7
France	6
Germany	5
Spain	4
New Zealand	3
Singapore	2
Switzerland	1

Second, we looked at the OECD’s Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2012 report and used the information in Figure 8.1 Starting a business, 2011, which measured the regulatory burden of setting up a business. Only those countries listed in the YBY survey were used. The country with the lowest level of burden achieved 10 points down to one for the higher level of burden.

Where is the easiest place to set up business?	OECD Entrepreneurs at a Glance 2012 report based on regulatory framework conditions.
	Points awarded
New Zealand	10
Australia	9
Canada	8
Ireland	7
USA	6
UK	5
Korea	4
France	3
Portugal	2
Chile	1

Third, we looked at the number of offices Mazars had in each of the countries listed in the Your Big Year survey. We only ranked offices present in the top 10 countries listed in the YBY survey and ranked them accordingly. The country with the highest number of offices, France, achieved the top score of 10.

Where Mazars has offices	Ranked according to countries listed where Mazars has most offices.
	Points awarded
France	10
UK	9
Germany	8
Spain	7
USA	6
Switzerland	5
Australia	4
Canada	4
Singapore	4
New Zealand	0

To come to our final Gold Medal rankings we totalled up all three columns. Where two countries had the same points we added an extra point depending on which country Mazars had the most offices.