The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) project, which was first introduced in 1999, is an annual assessment of entrepreneurial activity, aspirations and attitudes of individuals across a wide range of countries. The unique quality of GEM stems from its approach to studying the grassroots level of the behaviour of individuals with respect to starting and managing a business, which provides a more detailed picture of entrepreneurial activity than what is found in official national registry data sets.

The program has three main objectives:

• To measure differences in the level of entrepreneurial activity between countries
• To uncover factors leading to appropriate levels of entrepreneurship
• To suggest policies that may enhance the national level of entrepreneurial activity.

The GEM 2012 National Report was launched this morning at The Cave Hill School of Business- UWI (CHSB-UWI). The presentation featured a keynote address from Donville Inniss, Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce & Small Business Development.

This discussion included Dr. Henderson Carter – Lecturer in History, University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus; Ms. Lynette Holder – CEO, Small Business Association; and Dr. Leroy McClean – CEO, Barbados Investment and Development Corporation. There will be a special GEM presentation by Dr. Rodrigo Varela of ICESI University Colombia and and Ms. Celeste Foster – Managing Director of ACR Business Solutions, delivered the closing remarks.