Qatar now has the best-rated school entrepreneurship education in the world. That is the verdict of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2025/2026 Global Report, which surveyed more than 160,000 adults and national expert panels across 53 economies. The same data also shows something less comfortable: the share of Qatar's adults actually starting businesses fell sharply in 2025. Read together, the two findings say a lot about where the country's founder pipeline is strong, where it leaks, and what founders, universities and investors can do about it.

What GEM measures, and where Qatar landed

GEM rates each economy in two ways. A National Expert Survey scores 13 "Entrepreneurial Framework Conditions", such as finance, policy, education, infrastructure and culture, on a 0–10 scale, where 5.0 is the line between insufficient and sufficient. These scores roll up into the National Entrepreneurial Context Index (NECI). A separate Adult Population Survey measures what people actually do: whether they intend to start a business, are starting one, or own an established one.

On the environment side, Qatar's results are among the strongest in the world. According to GEM's Qatar economy profile (2025 data):

  • Qatar's NECI score rose to 6.0 from 5.6 in 2024, placing it 6th of 53 economies.
  • Experts rated 12 of the 13 framework conditions as sufficient or better, up from ten in 2024.
  • Qatar ranks in the global top ten for seven conditions, and first for Entrepreneurial Education at School.
  • The highest scores were Physical Infrastructure (7.9), Social and Cultural Norms (7.2), and Government Policy: Taxes and Bureaucracy (6.5).
  • Several conditions improved sharply: Commercial and Professional Infrastructure rose to 6.4 from 5.5, Government Policy: Support and Relevance to 5.9 from 5.2, and Research and Development Transfers to 5.5 from 4.8.

The Gulf Times reported Qatar's school-level score as 5.9 out of 10, with post-school entrepreneurial education also at 5.9. The paper also reported a top-ten placing in nine conditions, while GEM's own profile says seven; this article uses GEM's figure.

Why the school ranking matters

The school result stands out because it is where most countries struggle. GEM's global report finds that entrepreneurship education at school is the lowest-rated of all 13 framework conditions in 33 of the 53 economies, and calls it "the weakest pillar globally". Only four economies, India, Lithuania, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, met the sufficiency bar on all 13 conditions; the UAE topped the NECI for a fifth consecutive year.

For Qatar, an expert panel rating school-level education as world-leading means young people are more likely to meet ideas like opportunity spotting, risk and pitching before university. It is a long-term asset: the founders who benefit most from it will be starting companies in the late 2020s and 2030s.

The paradox: strong conditions, fewer starters

The Adult Population Survey tells a different story for 2025. GEM's Qatar profile reports that:

  • Total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) fell to a little over 2% of adults in 2025, from 8% in 2024 and 14% in 2023. The global report lists Qatar among four economies where fewer than one in 25 adults are in early-stage activity.
  • About one in four adults intend to start a business within three years, down from three in five a year earlier. (The GEM Qatar National Report 2024/2025 put intentions at 60.8%, as cited in the IFC–USQBC ecosystem study.)
  • Established business ownership fell from 4% in 2023 to not much more than 1% in 2025.
  • Among people who see good opportunities, nearly one in two say fear of failure would stop them starting.
  • Qatar is one of four economies, with Oman, Egypt and Poland, where business exit rates exceed startup rates.

Survey data at this level moves with sample, population mix and economic mood, so one year's drop should be read with care. But the gap between a top-six environment and very low activity is the clearest signal in the data. GEM's own global finding points in the same direction: activity is strong worldwide, yet "too few startups transition into established firms", held back particularly by education and access to finance.

The one condition still below the line: access to finance

Qatar's only framework condition rated insufficient is Ease of Access to Entrepreneurial Finance, at 4.8 (up from 4.6). Its lowest-ranked condition globally is Ease of Entry: Market Dynamics, at 20th. This matters because experts can see capital and still find it hard to reach. Globally, GEM finds both provision of and access to entrepreneurial finance insufficient in 36 of 53 economies.

The supply side is growing. Dealroom reports that Qatar's venture capital reached QR214 million across 33 deals in 2025, up 81% year on year, and that Startup Qatar, launched in February 2024, has facilitated more than 850 startups in the country and won the 2026 UN Investment Promotion Award. The Invest Qatar Gateway connects founders with 16 VC funds set up in Qatar through QIA's Fund of Funds programme. The task now is converting that supply into easier access for first-time founders.

How this connects to Qatar National Vision 2030

Qatar National Vision 2030 rests on four pillars, with Human Development "focusing on education and health" and Economic Development "fostering a diverse and competitive economy", towards knowledge-based prosperity. The GEM results show the first pillar delivering: education is producing a world-class base for entrepreneurship. The challenge for the Third National Development Strategy period (2024–2030) is the second pillar: turning that base into more people starting, surviving and scaling businesses. Startup Qatar's programmes, and the growing local VC base, are the main levers on that side.

What to do next

The steps below are general guidance drawn from the GEM findings, not official programme requirements.

  • Founders: treat fear of failure as a design problem. Run small, cheap tests before quitting a job, and use structured programmes, incubators and Startup Qatar resources to lower the cost of trying.
  • Universities and schools: build on the lead. Link entrepreneurship classes to real ventures, alumni founders and pilot customers, so learning turns into starts rather than stopping at the certificate.
  • Investors: the data says the bottleneck is access, not only volume. Clear criteria, faster first meetings and small pre-seed tickets help more first-time founders get to a cheque.
  • Corporates and government buyers: early contracts and pilots are a form of finance. Opening procurement to young firms helps more startups become established businesses.
  • Everyone: track the 2026 GEM data. If activity recovers towards earlier levels while conditions stay strong, the pipeline is working; if not, the access-to-finance and fear-of-failure gaps need direct attention.

Sources

Photo: Quilia / Unsplash

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