The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor's (GEM) 2018 Adult Population Survey shows that 24.1% of Lebanese adults are actively engaged in starting or running a new business, ranking the country in fourth place among 48 economies globally on the total early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) indicator. Lebanon also came in first place on the indicator among eight Middle East & North African (MENA) economies that are Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the UAE. 

The TEA is GEM's headline indicator that measures entrepreneurial activity, and takes into account nascent entrepreneurs that are actively engaged in starting a business, as well as business owners who are running a new business. The Adult Population Survey provides data and information on entrepreneurship and covers at least 2,000 randomly selected adults between the age of 18 and 64 years.  

In addition, the survey indicated that 68.1% Lebanese adults believed that they have the skills, knowledge and experience to run a new business, the second highest percentage in the MENA region behind only Saudi Arabia (83.4%), and the fifth highest percentage globally. In parallel, only 22.4% of adults in Lebanon refrained from starting a business due to the fear of failure, the lowest percentage regionally and the fourth lowest worldwide. Also, the survey showed that 15.3% of Lebanese adults indicated that they are actively engaged in starting or running a business in order to take advantage of a business opportunity, the highest share in the MENA region. Further, 8.8% of adults in Lebanon said they are starting a new business due to their need for an income, which also constitutes the highest share in the region.

In parallel, the survey indicated that 6% of Lebanese adults invested in someone else's start up in the last three years, the fifth highest such ratio in the region. Also, the average informal investment in start-ups in Lebanon was at around $19,406 in 2018, which is twice as high as the 2017 level. It was the third highest in the region, behind the UAE ($75,958) and Qatar ($66,735). Informal investments exclude funding from banks or other financial institutions, and only consist of investments sourced from relatives, friends and personal connections.