Title: Developing the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Biography:

Ms. Noof Al-Rakeb A Senior Research Assistant at the Social & Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) at Qatar University. Her work includes activities related to survey research, including research design, instrument development, conducting interviews, data cleaning & analysis and reporting. She obtained Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Qatar University (2007) and Bachelor of Economics & Administration, major in Economics (2002). She started her career as Economics Researcher at Ministry of Economy and Commerce in 2004 for 4 years. After that she worked at Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC) for 7 years and hold supervisory positions as a Head of Quality Section then Head of Planning & Projects Section. Her experience in QOC included policies review, procedures development, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), strategic planning and Project Management. Her research interests include entrepreneurship, SMEs and quantitative methods.

Abstract

Owing to its importance in understanding the motives that lie behind the decisions individuals make to become entrepreneurs, scholarship in the field of Entrepreneurial Intention (EI) is increasingly gaining attention in academia, business industries, government institutions and among researchers around the world. Over the past 20 years, Qatar has launched number of initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in an attempt to promote individual initiatives and enhance human capacity building. However, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) reports for the last 3 years consistently indicate that EI in Qatar has been decreasing significantly. The literature shows that no published work is available regarding EI in the context of Qatari. In attempt to test the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) empirically, this paper seeks to explore the determinants of EI in Qatar. Drawing on GEM Adult Population Survey (APS) in Qatar for the year 2017, the paper aims to explain the determinants of EI in Qatar. The data for GEM APS was collected by Qatar Development Bank (QDB) from a representative sample of 2,742 adults aged 18 to 64. The sample was stratified by age, gender and place of residence. Different modes of data collection were utilized to gather the information needed for the study, including telephone