A Survey Of Entrepreneurs Worldwide Their Insights. Their Challenges. Their Needs

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A Survey Of Entrepreneurs Worldwide Their Insights. Their Challenges. Their Needs

CREATING WEALTH
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
A SURVEY OF ENTREPRENEURS WORLDWIDE:
THEIR INSIGHTS. THEIR CHALLENGES. THEIR NEEDS
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 1
CONTENTS
Introduction .......................................................................................................................................2
Key Findings ......................................................................................................................................4
State of the Economy ....................................................................................................................6
Competitive Advantage: From Paris to San Francisco ................................................... 16
Challenges to Wealth Creation ............................................................................................... 22
A Wishlist for the Government ............................................................................................... 32
Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 34
Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................... 35
Methodology .................................................................................................................................. 36
2 | CREATING WEALTH
INTRODUCTION
The mindset of the world’s entrepreneurs is crucial for our future economic growth. They will
build their businesses, invest in them and create jobs—if they are con?dent in their countries’
economies, and if they ?nd the legal and social environments they operate in conducive to
doing business.
Forbes Insights and Societe Generale Private Banking conducted a survey of 210 entrepre-
neurs worldwide, augmented by in-depth interviews with more than a dozen entrepreneurs
and Forbes wealth analysts, to take the pulse of how they see future economic growth.
There is one issue on which all entrepreneurs agree. The majority of respondents from every
region see entrepreneurs and business leaders as a positive factor for economic growth.
Apart from that, there is little agreement.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 3
There are times when regions’ sentiments are in sync, such as when Europeans and North
Americans agree that the future lies in small and midsize companies. Both regions also con-
sider government to be a negative factor for business, even though the North American and
European governments took diferent tacks to combating the ?nancial crisis.
Asian and American survey respondents are similar in that they sound very enthusiastic
about their own countries’ economies. There are also similarities between Middle Easterners
and Asians when it comes to concerns regarding business transparency.
These entrepreneurs’ mindsets are in?uenced by factors that go far beyond dry numbers
and statistical probabilities. Nowhere is that subjectivity more visible than in the answers to
the question: which geographical regions will generate the most wealth? The answers might
lead us to believe that the respondents are not looking at the same world. In most cases,
they cited regions closest to them as generating the most wealth in the coming decade. This
not only re?ects on the still-incomplete state of globalization, but also shows where each
region’s investments will be targeted.
There is one more issue on which the majority of entrepreneurs from every region agree.
They would all advise their children to go into business. There is a caveat, though: not all of
them would be happy to see their children starting a company in their homeland.
4 | CREATING WEALTH
KEY FINDINGS
EUROPEANS ARE THE LEAST CONFIDENT ABOUT THEIR ECONOMIES, YET THEY LOOK TO EUROPE
AS THE REGION THAT WILL CREATE MORE WEALTH OVER THE NEXT DECADE THAN MOST OTHER
REGIONS:
Europeans sound the least con?dent about their countries’ economies, with the largest percentage (36%) classify-
ing them as poor. They see wealth creation as dependent mostly on small and midsize enterprises (34%), followed
by national champions (32%). They are the most negative about their government, with the largest percentage of
Europeans seeing current government policies as a negative for business (67%) and red tape as the top obstacle
(39%). Europeans have the lowest percentage of respondents who believe that their country has a competitive
advantage (35%). This is balanced by the belief of many more (59%) that their companies have a competitive ad-
vantage. European entrepreneurs feel the least admired among all regions (34%). However, that overall negativity
is contradicted, as Europeans look to Europe as the region that will create more wealth in the next decade than any
other region except China. Thus, their darker sentiments may re?ect a negative bias. Says French entrepreneur
Yves Weisselberger: “I think there is a false impression that people in France don’t like entrepreneurs.”
ASIANS ARE ENJOYING A ROTATION BENEFIT, WITH THEIR ECONOMIES REEMERGING IN GLOBAL
COMMERCE AFTER A MULTI-CENTURY LAG:
Asians are the most enthusiastic about the economy in their country (73%), in their region (72%) and in the world
(61%). They look to national champions (60%) and multinationals (49%) as the major factors in wealth creation.
They see their governments as mostly (69%) positive for business. More than in any other region, Asian entrepre-
neurs believe that they are admired (69%), socially conscious (62%) and operate in a pro-business climate (76%).
“This optimism is coming from a rotation bene?t,” says Forbes Asia’s Tim Ferguson. “The great civilizations of
China and India went into a multi-century lag and now are reemerging to their proper places in global commerce.”
One caveat to this fast growth: lack of business transparency (35%) and red tape (33%) are the top challenges to
wealth creation.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 5
NORTH AMERICANS HAVE A STRONG BELIEF IN THEIR COUNTRY’S ECONOMY AND COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE, PLACING THE UNITED STATES ABOVE CHINA IN TERMS OF WEALTH GENERATION OVER
THE NEXT DECADE:
North Americans feel much more positive about their country’s and their region’s economy, with 63% classifying it as
very good, than they do about the world as a whole, with the biggest percentage (39%) believing that the state of the
world economy is poor. The majority (56%) see government as a negative for business. They also have the most wide-
spread belief in their country’s (76%) and company’s competitive advantage (72%). Interestingly, while 81% of North
American entrepreneurs consider themselves crucial to their country’s well-being, just 61% feel admired, and 59% feel
stigmatized for their wealth, revealing a dichotomy amid the growing income inequality. North America is the only
region to place the United States above China as the region that will generate the most wealth over the next decade.

Dave Ashton, an American entrepreneur operating in France, expresses a typical sentiment about America’s po-
tential for growth when he says: “The guys who started Facebook or Instagram are now going to move into revo-
lutionizing health care or entertainment.”
MIDDLE EASTERNERS AND AFRICANS ARE MORE CONFIDENT ABOUT THEIR OWN COUNTRY’S
ECONOMY THAN THEY ARE ABOUT THE REST OF THE WORLD, AND ARE MOST POSITIVE ABOUT
GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN BUSINESS:
Middle Easterners and Africans are con?dent about the state of the economies in their own country, with 57% clas-
sifying it as very good, while they are neutral on the economies of their regions (43%) and the world as a whole
(50%). They look to multinationals as the main factor for economic growth (57%), followed by small and midsize
companies (54%). Out of all regions, they are the most positive about their governments’ role in business, with
86% classifying it as very good. They are very down on their competitive advantage, with just 18% saying their
country has one, and only 4% believing this about their companies. Perhaps in some cases diversifying their econ-
omies beyond oil will change these perceptions. There is some confusion about attitudes toward entrepreneurs,
as almost an equal number feel stigmatized for their wealth (60%) as feel admired (64%). The entrepreneurs from
the region we spoke with agree there is a need for young people to get involved in business. Says Sahar Mohamed
Aly El Sallab, an Egyptian entrepreneur: “I would advise my son to start a business. I would advise him to do it in
Egypt because the need is huge.”
6 | CREATING WEALTH
STATE
OF THE
ECONOMY
How entrepreneurs view their economy
depends on where they are—geographi-
cally and historically (Figs. 1, 2 and 3). In
this report we will explore what underlies
the current European pessimism about
their economies, Asians’ surging opti-
mism, Americans’ perpetual con?dence
and Middle Easterners’ concerns about
the stability of their region and how it
afects their own country.
Figure 1. State of the economy in your country
Very good Neutral Poor
All respondents
Europe
Asia Pacific
North America
Middle East & Africa
53% 29% 18%
36% 34% 30%
73% 18% 9%
63% 28% 9%
57% 36% 7%
Figure 2. State of the economy in your region
Very good Neutral Poor
All respondents
Europe
Asia Pacific
North America
Middle East & Africa
52% 30% 19%
39% 34% 28%
72% 16% 11%
43% 32% 25%
63% 30% 7%
Figure 3. State of the economy in the world
Very good Neutral Poor
All respondents
Europe
Asia Pacific
North America
Middle East & Africa
44% 38% 17%
45% 42% 13%
50% 36% 14%
61% 35% 4%
39% 35% 26%
Note: Some bars do not add to 100% due to rounding.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 7
Figure 4. What factors does the wealth creation in your country most depend on? (Top Five)
Europe
Asia Pacific
North America
Middle East & Africa
KEY
Small & medium enterprises
National champions
Multinationals
Workforce
Educators
Government
Bankers
Regulators
34%
32%
32%
30%
30%
60%
49%
45%
25%
24%
44%
39%
33%
30%
20%
57%
54%
32%
29%
29%
Europeans stand out among the regions in feeling the least positive about the state of their
country’s economy, especially as compared with that of neighboring countries. How can this
low level of con?dence be increased? The hope is in the entrepreneurs. In its belief in entre-
preneurs, Europe is similar to North America. Although American and European economic
outlooks are very diferent—with Americans much more optimistic than Europeans about
their country, and yet much more pessimistic about the world at large, while Europeans are
down on their country, up on the region and neutral on the world—entrepreneurs in these
two regions agree that wealth creation in their countries most depends on small and midsize
companies (Fig. 4).
Europe and North America:
Diferent Moods, Similar Solutions?
8 | CREATING WEALTH
“The turnaround starts with
the entrepreneurs, and then it
permeates bigger businesses,” says
British entrepreneur Anna Sofat,
founder of Addidi Ltd., a fnancial
services boutique for women and
their families. Her level of conf-
dence about the British economy
can best be described as “quiet
optimism,” as the post-2008 losses
are believed to have been washed
out: entrepreneurs are beginning
to feel comfortable with taking
more risks, which has fed through
to the overall economy. “We’re
doing well compared to the rest
of Europe, though perhaps not as
well as the U.S.,” she sums up.
She credits the government’s
eforts to convince banks to lend
more with the uptick in entrepre-
neurial activity. In Britain, Sofat also notes attractive
tax incentives for people investing in businesses, which
have enabled more businesses to raise funding from
angel investors or individuals.
Overall in Europe there is more left to do on that
front, as 42% of European entrepreneurs, the largest
percentage among all regions, see the difculty of access
to capital as having a negative efect on the economy,
according to the Forbes Insights survey. Europeans and
Americans also view the role of government and regu-
latory policies as a negative for their economies, which
may partly result from the pro-free market and indi-
vidualistic approach of Western democracies as well as
the post-2008 increase in the intensity of the regula-
tory environment.
While the startup rates across member countries
of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) fell on average, in the United
Kingdom they have exceeded their pre-crisis levels.
Sofat herself would advise her daughter, a business
psychologist, to start her own frm, which is not some-
thing that she would have done fve or 10 years ago.
Forbes Poland’s deputy edi-
tor, Jacek Pochlopien, agrees that
“entrepreneurs are the salt of
the earth” of the economy. He
points out that they are the seeds
for reaping pride in the future, in
the wake of so many well-known
European champions that have
been bought out by outside capi-
tal. Among the fagship brands no
longer owned or majority-owned
by Europeans are such spectacular
consumer brands as Saab, Jaguar,
Land Rover, fashion brand Cerruti
and Nokia.
Pochlopien explains why
Europeans have so much more
confdence in their neighbors’
economies than in their own.
The reason, he says, lies in very
disparate and unique challenges.
The French may worry about the funding of their agri-
cultural sector, the Swiss about the strength of their
currency and Italians about pension reforms. They may
not fully grasp the depth of one another’s issues, which
may account for why they see their own economies as
worse than their neighbors’.
What all countries in Europe have in common are
the political risks entailed in tackling economic issues.
The uncertainties about how these issues will be solved,
or whether the process might lead to social unrest, may
lead to extra caution on the part of business people.
This caution, in turn, translates into slower investment
in business, hurting the economic turnaround.
In France, Yves Weisselberger and his American
partner, Dave Ashton, founders of SnapCar, a smart-
phone-enabled private chaufeur service for B2B
customers, both agree on the role of entrepreneurship.
“The future of countries rests on entrepreneurs. Growth
is not going to come from established industries. They
are not considered innovative. Here, entrepreneurs are
really valued at the moment,” says Weisselberger.

What all countries in Europe
have in common are the
political risks entailed in
tackling economic issues.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 9
Figure 5. Effects on country’s economy
Positive Negative
42%
58%
84%
16%
19%
81%
96%
4%
Europe Asia North Middle
America East &
Africa
What effects do business leaders and entrepreneurs
have on your country’s economy?
100
80
60
40
20
0
Europe Asia North Middle
America East &
Africa
What effects do workforce skills/mobility have on your
country’s economy?
63%
37%
65%
35%
69%
31%
96%
4%
100
80
60
40
20
0
Europe Asia North Middle
America East &
Africa
What effects do government policies/regulatory
environment currently have on your country’s economy?
33%
67%
69%
31%
44%
56%
86%
14%
100
80
60
40
20
0
Europe Asia North Middle
America East &
Africa
What effects do the financial sector/availability of
capital currently have on your country’s economy?
58%
42%
71%
29%
69%
31%
96%
4%
100
80
60
40
20
0
10 | CREATING WEALTH
“I think there is a false impres-
sion that people in France don’t
like entrepreneurs. Everyone val-
ues entrepreneurship. That has
changed a lot over the past 10 to
20 years.” But from the outside,
people tend to underestimate this
change, he adds.
“Economically, France is sort
of in the middle of the wealthy
nations of Europe,” comments
Ashton, “often feeling like we
are looking up at Germany but
glad we are not Italy, Spain and
Portugal. But being in the middle
troubles people here.”
Guido Molinari runs Divino,
a gelato maker with manufac-
turing based in southern Italy
and sales mostly in the U.S. mar-
ket, a situation that afords him a
view of both countries. “The two
countries could not be set in more
diferent paths at the moment.
While the U.S. is showing strong growth, a decline
in unemployment, increasing wages and a wide avail-
ability of capital for investments, Italy is facing deep
uncertainty, close to zero foreign direct investment,
high unemployment—especially among young peo-
ple—and few solutions provided by a political class that
has lost people’s confdence,” he says.
Getting Europe’s long entrepreneurial history
back into high gear will take many more people like
SnapCar’s Weisselberger. Luisa Kroll, Forbes wealth
editor, is not surprised that Europeans are the least
bullish about their economies. “They were some of
the earliest entrepreneurs, and they’ve been so suc-
cessful over not just decades, but centuries. In recent
years there’s defnitely been a sluggishness not just eco-
nomically but in terms of their state of mind. There’s a
perception that they’re not at the forefront of the entre-
preneurial economy, as the emerging markets or the
U.S. are,” says Kroll.
Kroll, the editor of the Forbes
Billionaires list, analyzes entre-
preneurship through the prism of
the world’s most successful private
fortunes. She sees the forefront of
today’s economy as composed of
technology-related, frst-generation
entrepreneurs. Her observation
when comparing Europe with the
rest of the world is that “in Europe
there are not enough people like
self-made, risk-taking, anti-estab-
lishment French tech entrepreneur
Xavier Niel [founder of Internet
service provider and mobile oper-
ator Iliad] to set the example, to
make people believe that they too
can copy that success, fueling the
economy.”
European billionaires typ-
ically come from real estate,
fnance or retail, and not from the
newer industries such as technol-
ogy. The 2014 Forbes Insights /
Societe Generale Private Banking report Behind the
Staying Power of Wealth Creation in Europe found that
while Western European fortunes are long lived,
Europe (excluding Russia) has been generating large
fortunes at a slower pace than the Americas and the
Asia Pacifc region.
In contrast, in the U.S. new classes of young tech
titans are continually entering the Forbes Billionaires
ranking. They are no longer just the founders of
Facebook, Google and Twitter. The list has been get-
ting longer, and now includes the founders of Snapchat,
Uber and Airbnb. They have become a symbol of
prosperity, an aspiration for many college students to
emulate, even though this may sometimes mean drop-
ping out of college.

In the U.S. new classes of
young tech titans are
continually entering the
Forbes Billionaires ranking.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 11
For many Americans, starting a business, especially
in technology, carries with it a huge “cool factor, is
seen as a sexy alternative to a corporate life,” says Scott
Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council,
a membership organization for young business people.
“A tech startup going public generates a tremendous
amount of media exposure, but when most major
corporations put out a press release, no one knows
something happened.”
Elizabeth Holmes, 30, is the best example of the
strength and sustainability of this technology wealth
wave sweeping the U.S. She is the youngest self-
made billionaire woman. She dropped out of Stanford
University to start a blood-testing company, Theranos,
in 2003 with money she had saved for college. With
a painless prick, her labs can quickly test a drop of
blood at a fraction of the cost for most commercial labs,
which need more than one vial. Today the company is
valued at $9 billion.
Among American entrepreneurs, 63% of whom
have strong confdence in their country’s econ-
omy, there is more than just the sense that things are
improving. There is renewed belief that the country’s
economic steadiness stands out in the world, and this is
perhaps the reason that Americans have so little conf-
dence in the rest of the world.
Gerber believes that the way Americans perceive
the state of the world results from how they learn about
it. For many the main source is the media, which often
gives a distorted view. Americans feel secure at home,
where they can work within a stable democracy and do
not have to fear that the economic playing feld could
change very quickly due to political factors.
The U.S. stock markets are doing very well ver-
sus other markets. The dollar is fnally strengthening.
American entrepreneurs Forbes Insights spoke with
sounded bullish. Asher Weinberger, founder and CEO
of Twillory.com, represents an American view when
he says: “The future here in the U.S. is bright. We
have a relatively open, fexible and dynamic economy.
Businesses have the capacity and freedom to change and
reinvent themselves. In addition, I believe our Federal
Reserve got a head start on corrective measures when
other countries may have procrastinated.” (Europe is
catching up on the monetary corrective measures. In
January the European Central Bank launched quantita-
tive easing measures to shore up the Eurozone.)
Even if the recent monetary policies in the Eurozone
work, they are just one piece of the economic puzzle.
Europe still has its work cut out for it in terms of spear-
heading entrepreneurship. As part of the survey, we
asked entrepreneurs if they would advise their children
to start a business in their country. Despite diverging
views on all of the other issues, roughly three-quarters of
entrepreneurs from each region agreed that they would
advise their children to go into business for themselves.
However, SnapCar’s Dave Ashton, an American
entrepreneur living and working in France, sounds a
note of caution for Europe when he says: “I don’t think
the environment towards entrepreneurship is unfavor-
able in France or in Europe in general. But I would
advise my children to start a business in the United
States if given the choice. It’s probably easier to build
a small business there, make it relatively proftable and
live comfortably doing that. And since there is more
job liquidity, if you fail, you can just get back into the
regular employment market.”
Agrees Molinari: “ [I would advise my children to
start a business] in the U.S., absolutely. But I would not
say the same in Italy. I would, however, advise young
people in Italy to help bring abroad the many amazing
products already in existence that small and medium
Italian companies manufacture and currently only sell
in the domestic Italian market.”
12 | CREATING WEALTH
Asians are the most positive overall, with a vast major-
ity saying that the state of the economy in their country,
region and the world as a whole is in very good shape.
They feel the happiest about their own country’s econ-
omy (Fig. 1).
“This optimism is coming from a rotational beneft,” says Tim Ferguson,
editor of Forbes Asia. “The great civilizations of China and India went
into a multi-century lag, and now they are reemerging to their proper
places in global commerce. The entrepreneurs in those regions recog-
nize this, and are therefore imbued with a certain fundamental optimism
that you don’t fnd in other regions.”
“While there’ve been a lot of fts and starts, there’s the sense that
their fnest times may not have come yet,” agrees Kroll.
Ferguson believes this optimism is largely legitimate, as there has
been real growth not only in China but in a number of the surround-
ing economies in Southeast Asia. Countries such as Indonesia and the
Philippines have solidifed their domestic consumer markets, creating
the basis for genuine and sustainable prosperity. India’s Nirav Modi,
founder of Firestar International, a diamond jeweler, is bullish on his
country (see sidebar, page 15), putting its growth prospects ahead of
Southeast Asia’s.
There is some degree of overoptimism, which may blind enterprises
to the risks not only of a slowdown in China, but also of a debt overhang
in China and sometimes in their own domestic economies. While the
debt levels, both household and corporate, are not as bad as they were
during the 1997-98 fnancial crisis in Southeast Asia, they are nonethe-
less considerable. There is also an element of uncertainty about China’s
debt overhang due to the absence of transparency.
The Chinese economy is slowing, and China is the most powerful
infuence on the region’s economic standing. Asian economies that have
strong domestic consumer markets now could probably sustain mod-
est growth rates without rapid growth in China. But Southeast Asia and
greater China really need Chinese growth of at least 6% to keep the cur-
rent optimism in force. So does Japan, which is struggling to restore
growth. Despite its diplomatic problems with China, Japan has an enor-
mous economic stake in the growth of China, its largest trading partner.
Sums up Ferguson, “False optimism can lead to over-leveraging.
But in terms of equity capital investment, a robust spirit in Asia can
only be helpful.”
Unlike Europeans and
Americans, Asians look to
their multinational and
national champions as
factors for growth.
Asia: Its Finest Times Have Yet to Come
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 13
Although the extent of the fall in oil prices is deeper
than many analysts anticipated, the oil-producing Gulf
states can rely on their large holdings of foreign currency
reserves. As an example, for Kuwait, oil production repre-
sents 80% of government revenues, and the country has
a budget surplus of almost 40% of GDP.
Lebanese telecommunications billionaire Najib Mikati believes that
“countries of the region with high dependence on the oil sector are
likely to experience budgetary pressures that, inter alia, could result
in the scaling down of large public investment projects in the infra-
structure and social sectors. Falling oil prices should, however, provide
further incentives for those countries to diversify their economic base
beyond energy-related sectors.”
Unlike Europeans and Americans, Asians look to
their multinational and national champions as factors
for growth. The stellar examples of Asian multination-
als are the ever-enlarging family companies. To some
degree these enterprises were early benefciaries of crony
capitalism, but for the most part, over the last 20 years
they have been forced to better adapt to a genuine mar-
ket economy and the world market. These multinational
enterprises are indeed exemplary of the rise of Asia.
They have become the multinationals of this generation
and are spreading their wings throughout the world.
They start with the companies that belong to
Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-Shing: conglomerate
Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, the former
British trading group, with operations in 55 countries.
(Hutchison Whampoa is currently in talks for British
mobile frm O2.) Many of the richest families in the
Philippines and Indonesia also own conglomerates.
It was a Chinese Internet company, Alibaba, that
claimed the record for the largest U.S.-listed initial pub-
lic ofering, and a world-record-breaking IPO, after
raising $25 billion. Its founder, entrepreneur Jack Ma,
is now worth $23 billion, which makes him the 33rd-
richest person in the world, according to the Forbes
Billionaires list.
Family conglomerates are also a pattern in India.
In fact, the Forbes Insights / Societe Generale Private
Banking report Global Wealth and Family Ties revealed that
India has one of the highest percentages of family-run bil-
lionaire fortunes (73%), just after Hong Kong (75%).
These family groups often involve themselves in a
dozen or more seemingly unrelated enterprises. Most
Western business analysts would fnd fault in not focus-
ing on core competencies. But Forbes Asia’s Ferguson
points out that these conglomerates operate in econo-
mies that are still not very transparent, and the supply
relationships are not as reliable as they are in more
developed economies. Therefore, it makes sense for a
family company in India that is in the steel business to
also be in the logistics business, the household goods
business, etc., as it allows them to rely on their own
internal, trustworthy sources of supply.
Middle East: Reaching Beyond the Oil Bufer
14 | CREATING WEALTH
“Looking at the GCC economies, there has been
lots of talk in the media around the impact of oil
prices in this region,” says Bader Al Kharaf, member
of the executive committee of MA Al Kharaf & Sons
Company, a large multinational conglomerate run by
one of the richest families in the Middle East. “With
break-even levels expected to range around US$75, it is
expected to see those countries tapping into their [cur-
rency] reserves. But I believe they will continue the
growth momentum, with strong GDP growth levels.”
The possibility of having to tap into the reserves
may underlie the relatively tepid level of confdence
that Middle Easterners profess in their countries’ econ-
omies, with just over half (57%) satisfed that their
economies are in a very good place. The need for
diversifying economies beyond oil production may
be behind the fact that survey respondents from the
Middle East look to both multinationals and small
enterprises as engines of growth. Understandably, con-
sidering the political upheavals in their region, Middle
Easterners have the lowest level of confdence in their
regional economy.
“Economic recovery in the MENA region is
expected to be fragile, as many countries face politi-
cal and social turmoil, including from the recent
drop in oil prices,” says Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, CEO
of Mashreq Bank. The Al Ghurair family is one of
the oldest and wealthiest families in the United Arab
Emirates, with business interests including banking,
shopping malls, real estate, cement manufacturing and
food industries.
While down on the prospects for the region, Al
Ghurair is bullish on the economy of the UAE, thanks
to the farsightedness of the country’s leadership. “The
vision of the UAE leaders was to establish UAE as
the region’s hub for trade, tourism and services with
unmatched infrastructure,” he says. It worked. Today
Dubai International airport stands alongside the air-
ports of Paris, London and Hong Kong as among the
world’s busiest, and it is defnitely more spectacular.
Interestingly, although both Al Kharaf and Al
Ghurair stress the importance of large government
infrastructure projects in diversifcation of the econ-
omy, survey respondents from the Middle East did
not include government among their top fve factors
in wealth creation. On the other hand, the Middle
East was the only region to point to the importance of
educators in wealth creation, which was borne out in
interviews. Al Kharaf, for example, is a board mem-
ber of INJAZ Kuwait, a non-proft, non-governmental
organization whose purpose is to deliver educational
programs on entrepreneurial and leadership skills
aimed at inspiring and educating future generations.
But Forbes’s Kroll believes the Middle East has
some catching up to do in terms of diversifcation and
global expansion. “They have built their countries and
the region around a couple of sectors, and they’re fairly
insular. You don’t have too many businesses that have
huge success outside the Middle East,” she says.
And while Middle Easterners are inherently entre-
preneurial, they do not yet have an ecosystem for
entrepreneurs in place. “The players might even be in
the country, but they don’t know who the other players
are,” says Gerber, based on his meetings with venture
capitalists, seed accelerators and politicians in Egypt.
There’s no networking infrastructure enabling them
to connect. “They’re basically starting where Silicon
Valley started 30 years ago.”
While Middle Easterners are inherently entrepreneurial,
they do not yet have an ecosystem for entrepreneurs in place.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 15
Nirav Modi, founder of Firestar International,
a diamond jeweler. Member of the Forbes
Billionaires list, with wealth estimated at
$1.5 billion.
What is your assessment of the current state of the
economy in your country, in your region and in the
world?
India is growing at 7% on a large base. As compared to
that, the Asian Tigers are growing at 5%. The India growth
story will kick of when incomes at the bottom of the pyr-
amid grow. That is beginning to happen. It will easily add
2% to India’s GDP in the next decade. India’s competitive
advantage is its hardworking, educated workforce.
An interview with…
How are entrepreneurs treated in your country?
India is one of the few countries in the world where the en-
trepreneur is a hero. This is because there is a huge aspi-
ration factor; people want to better their lot and come up
in life. India now has a pro-business climate, with friendly
tax and investment rules. That’s led to a sea-change in the
mindset of entrepreneurs.
Would you advise your child to be an entrepreneur/
start a business in your country?
I would de?nitely encourage them to get into business
and only in India. The maximum opportunities are here.
The market is exploding. That said, children decide their
own destiny.
What is the biggest challenge with running your
business?
In our business the biggest challenge I face is selling the
concept of brand India. People don’t yet appreciate that
the ?nest jewelry can be made in India as well, not just
France or Italy.
Which industries will generate the most new wealth
over the next decade?
The rising middle class in both China and India will pro-
vide an opportunity to consumer goods companies. On-
line sellers in India are seeing their valuations surge even
though they don’t yet earn pro?ts.
What are the top challenges to wealth creation, in your
country, region and the world?
The biggest challenge in India is that the regulations keep
changing, and there is no clarity on how they are to be im-
plemented. The devil remains in the ?ne print. We have seen
large companies being slapped with tax notices on the basis
of retroactive changes to rules. I would like the government
to bring clarity to our tax laws and simplify them.
The India Growth Story
16 | CREATING WEALTH
COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE: FROM PARIS
TO SAN FRANCISCO
Succeeding in business requires having an edge over the competition. American entrepre-
neurs have the most con?dence in the competitiveness of their country and their business.
Asians follow, owing their competitive advantage to the enthusiasm and energy generated
by emerging onto the world scene after having fallen behind for centuries; the sheer size of
their economies and their upside potential; labor costs; and the industriousness and edu-
cation of their people. In certain cases, the Asian competitive advantage also stems from
government funding—a factor some other entrepreneurs might decry as creating a less-
than-level playing ?eld.
Respondents from the Middle East have the least conf-
dence in the competitive advantage of their countries or
companies. They may be sufering the consequences of
the so-called resource curse, also known as the paradox
of plenty. The plenty in this case is the oil reserves in the
region. The paradox of plenty means that countries rich
in natural resources, especially those whose economies
depend on resource exports, may be unable to use that
wealth to boost their economies—to increase their
competitive advantage—and may experience lower eco-
nomic growth than countries without natural resources.
As was described in the previous chapter, Middle
Eastern entrepreneurs, as well as their governments,
are aware of the need to diversify and develop more
Figure 6. Do you believe that your country has a competitive advantage?
No Neutral Yes
29%
37%
35%
11%
22%
66%
76%
10%
15%
46%
18%
36%
EUROPE ASIA NORTH AMERICA MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
Note: Some charts do not add to 100% due to rounding.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 17
value-added industries. The task before them is to con-
tinue to build the competitive advantage by, among
other things, creating the right incentives and climate
for entrepreneurs.
In Kuwait, Al Kharaf sees his country’s compet-
itive advantage as stemming from its longstanding
prominent merchant families, the government’s big
investments in infrastructure and a strong belief in
education. He does admit, however, that the coun-
try sufers from increased bureaucracy and a relatively
slow decision-making process. “Setting up a business
in Kuwait is defnitely not a smooth process,” he says.
Europeans do not have much confdence in the com-
petitiveness of their countries. They do, however, have
much more confdence in the competitive advantage of
their own companies. That’s a good sign, considering
that growth starts with business owners and managers.
What is North Americans’ belief in their competitive
advantage based on? The frst factor that entrepreneurs
and Forbes wealth analysts point to is the education
system, which allows students to experiment intellectu-
ally and take time to make decisions about their career
tracks, which do not have to be thought of as perma-
nent. In many parts of the world, this might be perceived
as directionless meandering. In North America it is
thought of as being fexible and having an open mind.
And while it is highly valued, formal education is not
seen as the be-all and end-all. Bill Gates, founder of
Microsoft, is just one in a long line of successful college
dropouts who landed on the Forbes Billionaires list.
“There is a tradition in the U.S. to encourage peo-
ple to go out on their own,” says Forbes’s Kroll, who
sees the American education system as one of the fac-
tors contributing to America’s competitive advantage.
“When people have room to breathe they do wondrous
things,” agrees Twillory.com’s Weinberger.
Apart from “room to breathe,” the U.S. has a
well-established and broad infrastructure for nurtur-
ing entrepreneurs, such as business incubators, venture
capital fnancing and college networks, another major
advantage for entrepreneurs.
Kroll, who analyzes the business of the most success-
ful entrepreneurs worldwide, believes that Americans
have a competitive edge when it comes to their cre-
ative approach to marketing. They create market needs
and line extensions for products that are not necessarily
inherently innovative or are not American inventions.
A good example of this marketing prowess is Starbucks,
which operates in 65 countries, including Italy, a coun-
try that introduced the cofee house 400 years ago.
Another basis for the competitive advantage is “piv-
oting.” In business this term refers to a drastic and
fast change in the business model, often necessary for
survival. The current business model of Twitter, a mes-
sage-sharing platform, is the result of such a pivot. The
company originally started as a platform for podcasts,
but then iTunes began taking over the podcast niche.
The company changed course after two employees
came up with the idea of a status-updating micro-blog-
ging platform.
Figure 7. Do you believe that your company has a competitive advantage?
No Neutral Yes
59%
6%
35%
68%
8%
25%
72%
6%
23%
41%
4%
55%
EUROPE ASIA NORTH AMERICA MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
Note: Some charts do not add to 100% due to rounding.
18 | CREATING WEALTH
Conversations with European entrepreneurs and
analysts confrm that Europe’s issues with confdence
about competitive advantage lie more at the economy
and policy levels rather than in a lack of confdence in
individual entrepreneurs.
Molinari believes that U.S. entrepreneurs have an
advantage due to easier access to capital and having the
largest domestic consumer market worldwide, which
helps companies expand to a proper size before having
to face the great challenge of targeting foreign markets.
In Italy, meanwhile, entrepreneurs have to con-
tend with a stagnating domestic market, which
forces them to look abroad for consumers desiring
innovation. “Despite this, probably due to the great
ingenuity of Italian entrepreneurs, Italy manages to
keep ahead of many rivals in several sectors, including
fashion, design and food,” he says.
In Poland, Ryszard Florek, founder of FAKRO—a
manufacturer of building materials with 3,300 employ-
ees around the world—believes that the country,
although perceived as an economic success story, still
needs to “invest in improving the awareness of Poles
and building a sense that the quality of life in an eco-
nomic community depends on all citizens. Up to now,
the potential of Poles is largely wasted,” he says.
The issue of employment laws in France hurt-
ing the country’s competitive advantage, brought up
by SnapCar’s Ashton, reveals the depth of social and
political changes that are needed in France to more
successfully compete on a global level.
Compared with other countries and regions, France
is more geared toward protecting long-term employ-
ment at the expense of liquidity in the employment
market, says Ashton. “That employment law makes it
difcult for France to compete efectively on a global
stage,” he notes.
France has a competitive advantage in its educated
people and technological innovations. “The French
understand very well the need to create critical mass to
facilitate innovation,” says Ashton. In 2013 the “mega
digital incubator” was ofcially unveiled by media bil-
lionaire Xavier Niel, who is thought of as France’s
Bill Gates, and the mayor of Paris. To be completed in
2016, the complex is to house around 1,000 startups.
“They are trying to replicate a geographic grouping
that can be industrious,” says Ashton, who himself hails
from the San Francisco area’s Silicon Valley, the most
efective such grouping of tech educators, entrepre-
neurs and fnanciers.
Ashton believes that while entrepreneurship does
work in France in many ways, the current state of
the legal employment law structure makes it impossi-
ble for Paris to work as well as San Francisco. What
is needed is acceptance that the social beneft for soci-
ety as a whole from disruptive innovation, which also
disrupts job security, outweighs the beneft of hang-
ing on to the old models. As Amazon CEO Jef Bezos
told Foreign Afairs: “New inventions and things cus-
tomers like are usually good for society.…That kind of
improvement for customers is often good for society,
even if it’s difcult for people who are invested in the
traditional methods.” Old models may ensure job secu-
rity, but never permanently.
Conversations with European entrepreneurs and analysts con?rm that
Europe’s issues with con?dence about competitive advantage lie more
at the economy and policy levels rather than in a lack of
con?dence in individual entrepreneurs.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 19
Paris-based Hugues Franc, founder and
CEO of Beeleev, an international commu-
nity of business owners.
Do you believe that Europe has a competitive
advantage ?
Our level of education is very high, we have a lot of excel-
lent schools. I believe it is the key to growth and com-
petitiveness. We have nothing to be ashamed of when it
comes to higher education. There is also a development
of the entrepreneurial mindset. More and more young
people are taking the plunge and creating companies,
thanks to their level of education.
How are entrepreneurs treated in Europe?
The laws are not the same from one country to the other.
Governments are ?nally beginning to realize that they
need to encourage entrepreneurship. In Western Europe,
the entrepreneurial mindset is growing fast, especially in
Scandinavia. Western Europe is one step ahead of Eastern
Europe. However, Eastern Europe is restructuring, which
should result in great things in the upcoming years, for
instance, in Poland.
An interview with…
Would you advise your child to be an entrepreneur in
Europe?
Yes! As much as people claim the contrary, countries in
Europe really help entrepreneurs. If you have a good idea,
then you should go ahead. Now that more and more peo-
ple have seen that it is possible, we are heading towards a
world full of entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurs have understood that they need to help
each other to succeed, and networking is becoming more
important. At Beeleev we make it easy for entrepreneurs
to connect. The network of incubators and accelerators is
very active, fostering meetings between entrepreneurs,
advisors, external partners and big companies. Incubators
such as Numa in Paris or NDRC and Wayra in Dublin are
fast-growing and are now developing abroad. All these fac-
tors make Europe a good place to start your own company.
Which industries will generate the most new wealth
over the next decade?
The digital industry is clearly taking over, with new inven-
tions and improvements coming out all the time. In this
industry, new jobs are created every day. Also, a collab-
orative economy is a huge and growing trend, especially
when good ideas are mingled with digital. One example is
the success of BlaBlaCar, a French carpooling company,
which now also operates in several international markets.
What types of business structures will generate the
most new wealth over the next decade?
It is more than time to start counting on small businesses
to create the most new wealth. Big companies have been
creating the most wealth for quite some time now, and it
is not going to change. However, the tendency for small
business to really impact the economy is growing, espe-
cially in the digital industry realm. Their main advantages
are their capacity to innovate and their ?exibility to make
those innovations available on the market quickly.
Heading Towards a World Full of Entrepreneurs
20 | CREATING WEALTH
Technology holds the most promise in
terms of wealth creation (Figs. 8 and 9).
At the same time, for entrepreneurs, “deal-
ing with technology” has emerged as a top
challenge. Simply put, they cannot aford to
miss the latest technological trend, even if
they are in another sector. Of course, these
days there are no companies that are not
in some way dependent on technology yet
threatened by its powers of disruption.
Figure 8. What will be the top drivers of wealth
creation over the next 3 to 5 years?
Technology
Innovation
Entrepreneurship
New business models
Globalization
(Top ?ve answers. Based on answers from all respondents.)
64%
59%
32%
30%
20%
Figure 9. Which industries will generate the most
wealth over the next decade?
Technology
Finance
Online retail
Green energy
Energy
Real estate & construction
(Top six answers. Based on answers from all respondents.)
48%
38%
31%
26%
25%
25%
The Challenge and Promise of Technology
In Asia, as everywhere else, mobile technology is disrupt-
ing distribution models across industries. For example,
the Chinese retail banking industry is being turned up-
side down by the rise of mobile banking through Internet-
based companies. While there are regulatory issues, “the
technology gets ahead of the regulators and the central
government,” says Ferguson.
Just as in China, technology entrepreneurs around the
world are disrupting traditional business models across
all sectors and creating new expectations in the digitally
savvy customer. In the UK, ?nancial advisory ?rm owner
Anna Sofat believes that her sector is not yet technology-
savvy enough, but she anticipates a technology-fueled
revolution in how people interact with their ?nancial advi-
sors. Sofat also stresses the swift impact that social media
can have on reputations within the sector and the need to
react quickly.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 21
For the Al Ghurair banking family also, one of the key
challenges faced by Mashreq includes competitive pres-
sures from non-traditional rivals, as the UAE is beginning
to see forays into the banking space by non-bank entities,
such as telecom players, who are trying to capture market
share by ofering ?nancial services in digital modes.
Apart from technology, succession and family manage-
ment and ownership are among the top issues that entre-
preneurs ?nd challenging to deal with. They often go hand
in hand. For example, a recent study of business owners
conducted by PwC
1
found that only 16% of them have a
discussed and documented succession plan in place.
These issues are part of the bigger category of “talent
management.” Asked about his top challenges, Christo-
pher Longsworth, chairman and CEO of Invesca, a real
estate company, says: “People. One of the top challenges
we face is ?nding individuals that we can trust to run our
businesses with the same competency and energy that
we do. Delegation is critical for any fast-moving entrepre-
neur. Giving employees great bene?ts and a stable career,
instead of just a job, makes it more likely that your agen-
das align.”
Growth is also among the top challenges. And while most
entrepreneurs strive for faster growth, dealing with it can
be a challenge in itself. That is what Molinari is now facing,
thanks to tapping into the worldwide demand for health
products. His company, Divino, makes natural, fat-free,
gluten-free and Non-GMO (Genetically Modi?ed Organ-
ism) Project Veri?ed gelato-?lled fruits, handcrafted on
the Amal? Coast: these are proving to be the right prod-
uct-market mix for consumers from London to New York,
and from Sydney to San Francisco. “We have a product
that appeals to middle- and upper-middle-class consum-
ers worldwide, and we need to make sure our production
is able to sustain an ever-increasing demand as we open
up to new markets.”
1
Up Close and Professional: The Family Factor, Global Family Business Survey, PwC, 2014
Figure 10. Top challenges of running a business/company
(Top ?ve answers. Based on answers from all respondents.)
33%
30%
25%
24%
24%
Dealing with new technologies
Succession issues
Growth rate
Access to capital/balance sheet
Family ownership and/or management
Apart from technology, succession and family management and ownership are among
the top issues that entrepreneurs ?nd challenging to deal with.
22 | CREATING WEALTH
CHALLENGES TO
WEALTH CREATION
Red tape and heavy taxation are the top challenges to wealth creation in the respondents’
countries. The largest percentage of Europeans point to red tape, and the largest percent-
age of Americans decry heavy taxation. Entrepreneurs we spoke with could not agree more.
“Without a doubt the greatest challenge to wealth creation is the recent over-involvement of
government, increased taxation and regulation,” says Twillory.com’s Weinberger.
Sofat, while acknowledging that the government in
the UK has been promoting entrepreneurship through
its tax policies, nonetheless believes that red tape is an
issue. “They’re trying to reduce it, but the approach is
still too heavy-handed,” she says. Describing new pen-
sion regulations that would in efect require fnancial
advisors to deliver fnancial advice devised by the regu-
lators, she comments, “The government should just set
the framework, and the businesses themselves should
then be responsible for delivering the solutions.”
Beeleev’s Franc thinks a lot of European countries
are afraid of risk and need to change their mindset.
“The economy is stable, but the challenge, which is
linked to risk-taking, is to make it easier to fnd more
funding more quickly,” he says.
Agrees Marek Belka, president of Poland’s National
Bank, criticizing European bankruptcy laws: “In
contrast to America, it is difcult to go bankrupt in
Europe. If you go bankrupt, you are lost in infamy
for the rest of your life. The creditors will haunt you
throughout your whole life. In Europe, there is sanctity
of contracts. If we don’t change it, we will leave this
[entrepreneurial] potential unused.”
2

Florek sees Eastern and Central Europe operating at
a disadvantage to Western Europe. “We lack the capi-
tal and economies of scale that are in the possession of
Western enterprises. Development of Polish companies
is also hindered by the inability to take advantage of
the privileges that are available to foreign investors in
our country,” he says.
For respondents from Asia and the Middle East,
the top challenge to wealth creation in their country
is lack of business transparency. Forbes Asia’s Ferguson
notes that this lack of transparency results in the entre-
preneurs in the region being of two minds. “While
they are quite proud and enthused about the growth
engines in their economies, they also realize that it can
be murky as to who’s making money and how. I think
they hold a dual impression of their own economies,”
says Ferguson.
2
The Polish Phenomenon, McParlin Partners in association with the Kosciuszko Foundation and the Ministry of Foreign Afairs, Republic of Poland
For respondents from Asia and the Middle East,
the top challenge to wealth creation in their
country is lack of business transparency.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 23
Figure 11. What are the top challenges to wealth creation in your country?
KEY
Red tape State of the economy Corruption
Lack of business transparency Income inequality Lack of business infrastructure
Heavy taxation
39% 42% 35% 48% 43%
32% 34% 33% 39% 39%
29% 33% 27% 37% 36%
26% 22% 24% 22% 32%
21% 22% 24% 19% 21%

ALL RESPONDENTS EUROPE ASIA NORTH AMERICA MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
24 | CREATING WEALTH
The banking systems and equity markets are rea-
sonably open, and it is possible to get a true picture of
who is prospering and who is not. “I think this open-
ness will be adopted broadly speaking, and over time
there will be less reason for concern about transpar-
ency,” says Ferguson.
Ferguson notes two other main concerns for the
future growth of Asia. One is the huge environmental
damage that has been inficted by elements of economic
growth. The other is the income divide that, he says, is
widening faster in Asia than anywhere in the world.
The social fabric of Asia is traceable to elements
of Confucianism, which is based on the cultivation of
virtue, altruism and hierarchy. These values are being
undercut by the widening division between the rich
and poor. The gap between the elite and the rest of the
population is part of the reason behind the recent reac-
tions against the family-run conglomerates, known as
chaebols, in Korea; the intense hostility on social media
towards the richest people in China; and Thailand’s
recent political problems. “All these indicators sug-
gest that the cohesiveness of these Asian societies is
threatened, and therefore one source of their economic
strength could be undercut,” says Ferguson.
Income inequality is perceived as one of the top
challenges to wealth creation in North America. The
income disparity has been generating headlines, and
the term one-percenters is now widely used to stress the
income disparity between the richest and the remain-
ing 99% of the population. Some of the frustration over
this growing divide was expressed by the Occupy Wall
Street movement. Recent protests included attack-
ing the buses in San Francisco that ferry well-heeled
Google employees to work.
American entrepreneur and angel investor David S.
Rose believes that some level of income inequality is
inevitable and needs to be accepted. “The top challenge
to wealth creation globally, including the U.S., is that
as technology advances, an ever-increasing level of both
education and entrepreneurship is required to create
wealth. As such, the unequal distribution of wealth will
continue to skew, and every society, led by advanced
ones such as the U.S., will need to come to terms with
the fact that the rich will get richer and the poor will get
relatively poorer,” he says.
Other entrepreneurs are trying to remedy the
income divide with their philanthropy. America’s rich-
est people, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor
Warren Bufet, started the Giving Pledge. They pledged
to give most of their fortune to charity and asked other
business moguls to do the same. To date, 123 of the ultra
wealthy, mostly Americans, have signed up.
Income inequality is perceived as one of the top
challenges to wealth creation in North America.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 25
Entrepreneurs:
Admired in Asia. Unappreciated in Europe?
Crucial in America. Getting Mixed Messages
in the Middle East?
How entrepreneurs themselves feel about their societies’ attitudes toward them is subjec-
tive. Therefore, in the title to this section, we highlighted with a question mark the survey
results that do not coincide with what we have heard in numerous interviews. This is the
case with Europe and the Middle East. What entrepreneurs from these regions told us in
interviews is more positive than the survey results.
It should not come as a surprise that entrepreneurs
from America and Asia, the regions that are the most
positive about their economies and future growth, are
getting the most positive vibes from their country-
men. It is noteworthy, though, that in North America a
larger percentage of survey respondents consider entre-
preneurs crucial than think they are admired.
While being entrepreneurial is a mindset, entre-
preneurs cannot fully fourish without the right
conditions, social, legal and political. “The U.S. fos-
ters a pro-business climate, which is supported by our
Constitution and legal system,” says Cleveland Brown,
CEO of PayScout, a payment processing frm. Al
Ghurair says that “Dubai has always brimmed with a
spirit of entrepreneurship” and explains that entrepre-
neurs, both locals and expats, are considered to provide
a strong boost to the UAE’s economy. “The nation
continuously strives to improve the ease of doing busi-
ness for entrepreneurs and has climbed up to reach the
22nd position in the most recent World Bank Ease of
Doing Business Index, up from the 25th position last
year,” he notes with pride.
Such an efcient legal framework is needed in
Egypt, but there are eforts under way to create a busi-
ness-friendly environment, says Sahar Mohamed Aly
El Sallab, chairman of HitekNOFAL Solutions (see
sidebar, page 28).
An important part of the acceptance of entrepre-
neurs by their society is predicated on whether the
whole population benefts from the spoils. While the
world as a whole is seeing an economic convergence,
with the number of people living in advanced coun-
tries increasing, the divisions within many countries
are acute. Despite the undercurrent of class divisions
in Asia, entrepreneurs there are admired more than in
other regions, in part because the entrepreneurial soci-
ety of the past generation or two is so closely associated
with the rapid increase in living standards in many
Asian societies as a whole, says Forbes Asia’s Ferguson.
26 | CREATING WEALTH
Entrepreneurs understand and act on the need to
contribute to society. “Businesses and business leaders
are being judged for their overall contribution to the
betterment of society, not just by their bottom lines,
and successful entrepreneurs are responding in kind,”
says Twillory.com’s Weinberger. Twillory, a men’s shirt
maker, has a charity program built into every purchase.
Every package includes a prepaid mailer bag. All cus-
tomers need to do is replace the items they just received
with unused garments in good condition. Twillory
inspects, launders and repackages the clothes and
donates them to charity.
In Great Britain also, entrepreneurs are willing to
give back because they see themselves intertwined with
their communities. Especially among women, says
Sofat, there is a movement toward social entrepreneur-
ship, which is a business model in which social benefts
come before fnancial benefts.
Being part of a critical mass helps entrepreneurs.
“After 2008 more people started their own businesses,
and they are now looking at entrepreneurs with dif-
ferent eyes,” says Sofat. On top of that, the technology
boom over the last few years produced many more
younger entrepreneurs, who have a diferent mindset.
“They’re far more willing to fall down and step up and
try again,” she says. ”In technology, after all, the frst
try is always beta, meant to be improved on.”
This is making failure more acceptable. While the
tone in which Europeans describe failure is still much
more muted than in the U.S., where it is a learning
experience, there is a shift in mindset. “We’re hearing a
lot about the American treatment of failure,” says Sofat,
“which is, if you haven’t failed in a business, you haven’t
experienced everything. How do you know what you’re
going to be like when there is a downturn?”
Sofat also credits television shows such as Dragon’s
Den and Apprentice, which show entrepreneurs com-
peting for funding or jobs, with improving the
entrepreneur’s image. While in big Hollywood movies
such as Wall Street, business people are typically carica-
tured as villains, the reality shows, which often invite
regular people to compete for funding and pitch their
businesses, are democratizing entrepreneurship.
SnapCar’s Ashton, meanwhile, goes as far as to say
that France is roughly equivalent in how it values its
entrepreneurs to the United States, outside of Silicon
Valley. The successful model of Silicon Valley has not
been replicated efectively, whether in the U.S. or else-
where, he believes. However, entrepreneurs in France
are at a disadvantage versus Americans due to the legal
environment.
While being entrepreneurial is a mindset, entrepreneurs cannot
fully ?ourish without the right conditions, social,
legal and political.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 27
Figure 12. Entrepreneurs…
ARE STIGMATIZED FOR THEIR WEALTH
ARE ADMIRED FOR COURAGE AND PERSISTENCE
OPERATE IN A PRO-BUSINESS CLIMATE
ARE SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS
ARE CRUCIAL TO OUR COUNTRY’S WELL-BEING
Middle East & Africa
North America
Europe
Asia
Asia
Middle East & Africa
North America
Europe
Asia
North America
Middle East & Africa
Europe
Asia
North America
Europe
Middle East & Africa
North America
Asia
Europe
Middle East & Africa
60%
59%
43%
38%
69%
64%
61%
34%
76%
63%
60%
42%
62%
48%
44%
43%
81%
65%
56%
53%
Italy’s Molinari, however, who does business
both in the U.S. and Italy, sounds much more neg-
ative. “In Italy people perceive entrepreneurs as
a threat to the status quo and often are suspicious
of the reasons a young person would entertain the
idea of starting a venture rather than working for
the government, taking on the trade of their par-
ents or simply emigrating to fnd better prospects,”
he says.
According to Brown, the future looks bright.
“Millennials may become the greatest generation of
this century, driven by their entrepreneurial dreams
and their desire to support conscience-minded busi-
nesses. Already, we have witnessed the development
of a work ethic based on working smart, rather than
the old mantra of success through long, hard hours.
Millennials love to innovate and adopt technology
to get results efciently, excellent skill sets for entre-
preneurs,” says Brown.
Sums up Longsworth: “Being an entrepre-
neur is not just about a possible fnancial windfall.
There’s an intrinsic value to the lessons learned
through failure and perseverance. That sense of
accomplishment and level of earned discipline is
not something you can get at a 9-to-5 job.”
KEY
North America
Asia
Europe
Middle East & Africa
28 | CREATING WEALTH
Sahar Mohamed Aly El Sallab, Chairman of
Cairo-based HitekNOFAL Solutions
What is the state of entrepreneurship in your country?
Entrepreneurship has been promoted since 2011. Google
started with a contest to select the best entrepreneur
project, and over 5,000 young people applied. Since then
we have seen the emergence of several large business
incubators, networks of mentors such as myself and the
creation of several angel funds. Today entrepreneurship
is being taught at the American University and the Brit-
ish University, and Cairo University is following suit. We
still need to work on the ecosystem for entrepreneurs and
update the backward laws. However, I believe that entre-
preneurship can save our economy.
What challenges is your company facing?
Our company has risen from a small to a medium size.
The most important aspect was recruiting good trained
engineers, and getting good consultants to help us create
a proper organization chart.
The challenges are not inside our company. They result
from the laws, for example, those related to the availabil-
ity of foreign currency. Since we are a technology compa-
ny, up and running, we just need the government to move
fast without too much bureaucracy and without favoring
larger business organizations.
Would you advise your children to start a business?
Yes, I would advise my son to start a business. I would
advise him to do it in Egypt because the need is huge.
Filling a Huge Need
What is the state of your country’s economy?
The current state of our economy is still weak as a result
of the political and social changes that have been taking
place. However, there are actions being taken to strength-
en the private sector, and to restore some of the trust that
was lost with investors. These changes include laws that
would ease the process of doing efcient business in the
country. Red tape and backward laws are an issue.
Does your country have a competitive advantage?
The competitive advantage is the cheap labor compared
to the rest of the world. The population is large and
young. Thus, given training, we can become a manufac-
turing base. Another competitive advantage is the geo-
graphic location, making us a transportation hub between
Asia, Africa and Europe. Once the proper laws are in place,
companies will be able to use these advantages to grow.
An interview with…
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 29
Where Will the Most Wealth Be Created?
Predictions by Geography
Entrepreneurs’ views about where wealth will be created are so disparate they might
make one wonder if they are all looking at the same world (Fig. 13). Regional biases are
clearly visible in how entrepreneurs think about the geographies’ potential to generate the
most wealth over the next decade. Typically, the closer the country or region, the higher
it is ranked. Clearly, proximity, awareness of and participation in the geographically closer
markets lead to a positive bias.
Not surprisingly then, respondents from Asia place Asian
regions or countries as the top three highest-ranked
areas. Middle Easterners are the only ones pointing to
India, a country next door to them, as having the most
potential; they also rank Turkey, another neighbor,
much higher than entrepreneurs from other regions.
Interestingly, these results also show that Europeans
may have more confdence in themselves than they let
on. While they sound negative about the state and pros-
pects of their economies (Fig. 1), they do believe that
Western Europe will create more wealth than the U.S.
over the next decade, and will be second only to China
in that regard.
North Americans are the most convinced that the
U.S. will generate the most wealth—a view that is not
shared by any other region of the world. In fact, other
regions place the U.S. behind or on par with Europe,
but not ahead of it. North Americans are also much
more narrowly focused in their view, pointing to just
two regions, Asia and Latin America, as generating
substantive growth, with every other region getting a
vote of confdence from less than 20% of respondents.
Forbes’s Kroll is not surprised by these fndings.
“Americans are pretty confdent in themselves overall.
There was a period of pessimism after the fnancial cri-
sis. But Americans have regained their confdence in
themselves. I’m not sure I completely agree that the
United States will generate the most wealth. You can-
not count out China.”
Ashton measures the odds between China and the
United States based on what he witnessed in the 1970s
and 1980s, when the United States was in competition
for economic supremacy with another Asian country.
“The vast majority of wealth creation over the next 10
years will come from the United States and China. In
the ‘70s we fretted that Japan was going to overtake the
United States economically. Not only did that not hap-
pen, but the United States massively widened its lead.
That will continue because we have the critical mass
for that innovation. The guys who started Facebook or
Instagram are now going to move into revolutionizing
health care or entertainment,” he says.
North Americans are the most convinced
that the U.S. will generate the most
wealth—a view that is not shared by any
other region of the world.
30 | CREATING WEALTH
North America Respondents
United States 63%
China 48%
Asia as a whole 35%
Latin America 22%
India 15%
Europe as a whole 15%
Western Europe 15%
Russia 13%
Central Europe 11%
Middle East 7%
Eastern Europe 6%
Turkey 4%
North Africa 4%
Sub-Saharan Africa 4%
Figure 13. Where most wealth will be created over next decade
European Respondents
China 34%
Western Europe 29%
United States 26%
Europe as a whole 25%
Russia 25%
Middle East 22%
Central Europe 21%
Asia as a whole 21%
India 16%
Eastern Europe 16%
Turkey 10%
Latin America 8%
North Africa 1%
Sub-Saharan Africa 1%
Overall, entrepreneurs we spoke with felt that the
potential of some regions is underappreciated. This
is true for Latin America and Africa. “Everyone is
looking at Asia and its incredible growth, but South
America is the player everyone still underestimates.
I think we will see great things emerging from this
region in the upcoming years. For example, Chile is
very turned towards entrepreneurship. Sub-Saharan
Africa has also proven very interesting for entrepre-
neurs,” says Franc.
Ferguson agrees: “In terms of overall heft, it’s about
right that China is number one in the rankings. But
you could make a case for emerging areas like Africa or
Latin America as having higher growth rates than parts
of Asia.” Adds Molinari: “Asia will still be in absolute
terms the greatest wealth creator, but in relative terms
I see many African countries like Tanzania growing at
double-digit rates.”
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 31
Asia Paci?c Respondents
China 51%
Asia as a whole 36%
India 33%
Europe as a whole 25%
United States 24%
Eastern Europe 18%
Western Europe 16%
Central Europe 16%
Russia 16%
Middle East 15%
Turkey 15%
Latin America 13%
North Africa 9%
Sub-Saharan Africa 5%
Middle East & Africa Respondents
India 50%
China 39%
Middle East 39%
Turkey 36%
Europe as a whole 18%
United States 18%
Asia as a whole 14%
Western Europe 7%
Central Europe 7%
Russia 7%
North Africa 7%
Eastern Europe 4%
Latin America 4%
Sub-Saharan Africa 4%
Figure 13. Where most wealth will be created over next decade
Al Kharaf believes that the next decade will be pri-
marily dominated by the U.S. and MENASA (Middle
East, North Africa and Southeast Asia—excluding
Japan) as the most sought after investment destinations
yielding sustainable risk-adjusted returns. “There has
been an increased interest in Africa in recent years, and
I do believe that appropriate opportunities do reside
there,” he says.
According to Forbes.com contributor Mfonobong
Nsehe, author of the Forbes Africa 30 under 30, a
ranking of the 30 most promising African entrepre-
neurs under the age of 30, “Africa’s growing crop of
young entrepreneurs will transform the continent and
rewrite its future. And they are taking charge of that
destiny now. Today, a growing number of Africans are
building innovative technologies and businesses that
are solving critical socio-economic problems, while
creating job opportunities for Africans. It’s an entre-
preneurial boom. The young folks are taking the
lead—and are making fortunes for themselves in the
process. As they should, because what good is entrepre-
neurship if it doesn’t create wealth?”
32 | CREATING WEALTH
A WISHLIST FOR THE
GOVERNMENT
We asked survey respondents and entrepreneurs we spoke with how—and if—their govern-
ments can help their businesses. Their opinions were divided (Fig. 14).
Asian entrepreneurs would ask their governments to
foster innovation, eliminate trade barriers and create
tax-free zones. Are Asian governments doing enough
in that direction? In Asia, business regulations inhibit
innovation. Despite technological innovations like
the mobile revolutions sweeping Asia, there are nev-
ertheless issues with logistics in the region, as trade is
hampered by diferent regulatory environments, cus-
toms barriers and other fees.
Asia famously lacks free trade
zones across the region. It has
nothing like the European Union.
There is an efort within ASEAN
(Association of South East Asian
Nations) to break down some of the
barriers that still exist between those
countries, but for now it is not as
fuid a trade environment as Europe
or North America. Ferguson sums
up, “Innovation would be fostered by breaking down
some of these tollgates.”
Tax-free zones are high up on the Asian entrepre-
neurs’ wish list. That is because taxes are very high in
a number of Asian countries. Japan still has the high-
est corporate tax rate in the world, being in a perverse
competition with the United States in that regard, notes
Ferguson. The tax regimes that exist in areas of Southeast
Asia carry vestiges of corruption, as the tax authorities
are not always evenhanded in how they enforce the tax
laws. That is another reason entrepreneurs would look
for those tax-free zones, according to Ferguson.
Middle Eastern entrepreneurs we spoke with had
long wish lists for their governments. They involved,
frst and foremost, education as well as diversifying the
sources of government revenues and creating equal
opportunities. Addressing the issue of lack of transpar-
ency, which is ranked as a high challenge to business
creation in the Middle East, Al Ghurair’s suggestion for
the UAE’s government is “to create a knowledge base,
a common repository that would be
centrally accessible, and have infor-
mation on businesses, such as their
credit information.”
SnapCar’s Ashton has a very
concrete suggestion for the French
government. He would like it to cre-
ate a €1 billion or €2 billion fund to
invest in startup French companies.
“That would make an enormous
diference in the development of inno-
vation, because it’s not enough to have a critical mass of
engineers and entrepreneurs and well-educated people.
You have to have the investment capital that’s interested
in investing in the country. Today’s France really lacks
that because great investors often feel they can get better
returns elsewhere. The innovation is there, but the gov-
ernment needs to kick-start investment in it.”
Interestingly, his French business partner,
Weisselberger, believes that private capital would be
much more efcient. Forbes Poland’s Pochlopien is
also skeptical about involving the government in inno-
vation. “Innovation cannot be programmed. The
further away the government keeps from programming
innovation, the better. This should be the domain of
entrepreneurs,” he says. This disagreement among
people who share the same goal only stresses the com-
plexity of the issue ahead.
Asia famously lacks free
trade zones across the
region. It has nothing
like the European Union.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 33
Figure 14. If you could ask your government or government agency for your top actions to help business,
what would they be? (Top three answers)
ALL RESPONDENTS
EUROPE
ASIA PACIFIC
NORTH AMERICA
MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA
Change tax policy
Foster innovation
Eliminate trade barriers
Change tax policy
Foster innovation
Ease credit
Foster innovation
Eliminate trade barriers
Create tax-free economic zones
Change tax policy
Eliminate trade barriers
Foster innovation
Install more trade barriers
Alter labor laws
Regulate compensation
34%
32%
29%
38%
26%
26%
40%
36%
35%
48%
39%
35%
54%
50%
43%
KEY
Change tax policy
Foster innovation
Eliminate trade barriers
Ease credit
Create economic free zones
Install more trade barriers
Alter labor laws
Regulate compensation
Reforming the tax system is at the top of the North
American wishlist. Entrepreneurs would like it simpli-
fed and taxes on employee salaries lowered. Another
recurring issue is encouraging immigration, and espe-
cially reforming the U.S. visa program for international
students so that they will be able to stay and work in
the U.S. “This will allow U.S. businesses to hire the
talent they need to become successful in the future,”
says PayScout’s Brown.
Brown would like to see investment in pub-
lic infrastructure aimed at generating better Internet
connectivity. “We know that the Internet is an essen-
tial part of running a business—on par with having
electricity—and we cannot be mired down in poor
connectivity and slow speeds,” he says. He would also
like the government to make it easier and more trans-
parent to bid on government contracts.
Improving universal education is at the top of the
list for American entrepreneur David Rose, which
shows the need to democratize what many see as the
basis for America’s competitive advantage.
34 | CREATING WEALTH
CONCLUSION
Entrepreneurship is key to future economic growth. Entrepreneurs worldwide face diferent
challenges. They have a wide array of views about the role that governments should play
in the economy, and their predictions about the globe’s future high-growth regions vary.
Some believe that formal education is key to entrepreneurial success, while others drop out
of school to start a business. Some feel stigmatized, others feel admired. But entrepreneurs
agree on what would make running a business easier. They would like to become part of a
critical mass, to be surrounded by more people like them. They would like more access to
networks of other entrepreneurs, ?nanciers and experts. They also would like more accep-
tance of business failure, American-style, without which few businessmen will take a risk.
They would like their countrymen to value their courage, and not expect everyone to hold a
9-to-5 job. Considering their vital role in overall economic growth, smart countries will create
an entrepreneur-friendly environment.
COPYRIGHT © 2015 FORBES INSIGHTS | 35
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Forbes Insights and Societe Generale Private Banking would like to thank the
following entrepreneurs and experts for sharing their time and expertise with us.
Entrepreneurs
Dave Ashton, co-founder, SnapCar, France
Cleveland Brown, CEO, PayScout, U.S.
Ryszard Florek, founder, FAKRO, Poland
Hugues Franc, founder, Beeleev, France
Scott Gerber, founder, the Young Entrepreneur Council, U.S.
Abdulaziz Al Ghurair, CEO, Mashreq Bank, UAE
Bader Al Khara?, Al Khara? & Sons Company, Kuwait
Christopher Longsworth, Chairman and CEO, Invesca, U.S.
Najib Mikati, telecommunications billionaire, former prime minister, Lebanon
Nirav Modi, founder, Firestar International, India
Guido Molinari, founder and CEO, Divino, U.S. and Italy
David S. Rose, entrepreneur and angel investor, U.S.
Sahar Mohamed Aly El Sallab, Chairman, HitekNOFAL Solutions, Egypt
Anna Sofat, founder, Addidi Ltd., UK
Asher Weinberger, founder and CEO, Twillory.com, U.S.
Yves Weisselberger, co-founder, SnapCar, France
Experts
Tim Ferguson, Editor, Forbes Asia
Luisa Kroll, Assistant Managing Editor, Forbes
Tatiana Sera?n, Forbes Wealth Analyst
Katya Soldak, Forbes International Editions
36 | CREATING WEALTH
METHODOLOGY
Demographics of survey respondents:
Forty-three percent have business assets between $25 million and $500 million, 20%
between $500 million and $5 billion, and 13% over $5 billion. Twenty-three percent have
business assets under $25 million. All respondents have investable assets starting at $5 mil-
lion. Sixty-two percent are self-made, 9% have inherited wealth, and 29% both inherited and
created their wealth. In addition to the survey, Forbes Insights conducted interviews with
entrepreneurs and Forbes wealth experts.
ABOUT
FORBES INSIGHTS
Forbes Insights is the strategic research and thought leadership practice of
Forbes Media, publisher of Forbes magazine and Forbes.com, whose combined
media properties reach nearly 75 million business decision makers worldwide
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executives in the Forbes community, Forbes Insights conducts research on a
host of topics of interest to C-level executives, senior marketing professionals,
small business owners and those who aspire to positions of leadership, as well
as providing deep insights into issues and trends surrounding wealth creation
and wealth management.
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