Methodology

The best countries to be a social entrepreneur 2019

Scope

The Thomson Reuters Foundation, the corporate charity of Thomson Reuters, the world’s largest news and information provider, conducted a survey in 45 of the world’s biggest economies as ranked by the World Bank to find out which countries are creating the best environment for social entrepreneurs and how these conditions have changed since the inaugural global poll in 2016. The World Bank’s list of the world’s biggest economies from 2014 was again used to have a direct comparison.

In 43 countries, we contacted at least 20 experts focused on social entrepreneurship: academics, social entrepreneurs, investors, policy-makers and support network staff. This sample size was deemed to be sufficient to provide statistically reliable data with a low margin of error. In two countries, Iran and Saudi Arabia, the Thomson Reuters Foundation was unable to guarantee the necessary sample of experts so both countries were dropped from the list.

The survey was carried out in collaboration with Thomson Reuters Labs, a Thomson Reuters company specialised in models and analytics, with sponsorship from Deutsche Bank.

Questions we asked

Click a question below to explore a summary of the key findings and see the polling results. 1 is best.

Conditions are favourable for social entrepreneurs to start and grow their businesses

Government policy supports social entrepreneurs

It is easy for social entrepreneurs to get grant funding

It is easy for social entrepreneurs to access investment (debt and/or equity)

Social entrepreneurs can access the non-financial support they need (e.g. financial, legal and technical advice; access to markets and networks; coaching, mentoring and training)

It is easy for social entrepreneurs to sell to government

It is easy for social entrepreneurs to sell to business

It is easy for social entrepreneurs to sell to the public

It is easy for social entrepreneurs to attract staff with the required skills

The general public understands what social entrepreneurs do

Social entrepreneurs can make a living from their work in my country

Social entrepreneurship is gaining momentum

The Polling

The questionnaire was drafted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in collaboration with Deutsche Bank and the 12 questions on which the overall ranking was based were the same as used in 2016.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation survey results were based on a minimum of 12 experts in each country.

Our list of experts was compiled using the 2016 poll database, updated in consultation with the major international social enterprise organisations as well as the key groups in each country in the survey. The list also reflected Google searches of the most prominent social entrepreneurs in each country and those most active on Twitter and other social media. We were unable to poll all previous respondents as many of them have since left their organisation or moved to other roles.

In total, around 900 experts were surveyed with 664 responses, which corresponds to a response rate of 74 percent. Of the respondents, 44 percent were women while 55 percent were men. Three of them identified as gender fluid, one as nonbinary and two as other/prefer not to say.

Download full methodology as PDF

Polling Data

Download the full poll data. *(Zipped Excel documents).

Results have been rounded to one decimal place. When two or more countries scored equal, they were assigned the same ranking number. A gap, corresponding to the number of countries that tied for a position minus one, was then left in the ranking. For example, in the main ranking Brazil and Japan tied for the 40th position and received the same ranking number (40). One position was left out, and the next country, Venezuela, ranked 42nd.

Download the data

Women's Poll

The rank of countries where women fare best as social entrepreneurs takes into account two questions: representation in leadership roles in social enterprises and the gender pay gap. Data from the two questions were combined to draw up the final rank.

See the result of the women poll

Youth Poll

The rank of countries where young people aged under 25 are most involved as social entrepreneurs takes into account two questions: amount of interest shown in working in social enterprises and the impact of their involvement. Data from the two questions were combined to draw up the final rank.

See the result of the youth poll

The Sampling

The Thomson Reuters Foundation conducted this survey online and by phone between May 7 and July 30, 2019. Those interviewed included academics, social entrepreneurs, investors, policy-makers and support network staff with a focus on social entrepreneurship.

The Foundation attempted to interview a broadly representative sample based on gender and area of expertise, whilst acknowledging the difficulties arising from researching a relatively new and developing field. In certain countries polled, the number of experts in the social entrepreneurship field was only just sufficient to provide a satisfactory pool of respondents. Access and quality of telecommunication systems, as well as language barriers, made some countries more accessible than others. For these reasons, no weighting has been applied to the figures.

About 57 percent of the respondents identified themselves as social entrepreneurs. The remainder of survey respondents comprised of experts as defined above. This breakdown of respondents is an approximate estimate since respondents were allowed to select more than one option for their area of expertise.

Researchers

Led by: Elena Berton

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani

Arnel Murga

Burcu Cura

Eve Warlow

İpek Yezdani

Junhyung Choi

Karolin Schaps

Machel Reid

Maddie Drury

Menatallah Elagamy

Steven Grattan

Tatiana Tuzhilkina

Yannis Bakaloudis

Zofeen Ebrahim

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