200 Global Facts about the State of Small Businesses in 2015

200+ GLOBAL FACTS
ABOUT STATE OF
SMALL BUSINESSES
IN 2015
#SmallBiz
#GlobalSmallBizFacts @marcosluis2186

Disclaimer: This reports highlights some facts about
Small Businesses around the world, and covers some
countries with the major potential for this particular
type of business.
This report represents my own views and it’s not
sponsored by any employer
.

Disclaimer: The definition of a Small
Business is different in many countries, so
feel free to use the provided sources to get
the correct definition for a particular
country.

If you have a favorite fact here, send
me a Tweet (@marcosluis2186) with
#GlobalSmallBizFacts
hashtag .

“To grow a business, you need
to spot a gap within a given
market, fill it and establish
ownership of the space.”
.
Source: AllieWebb, Disrupt & Growth: How Drybar Became a $50M
Business, American Express OPEN Forum

Globally, more
than 80% of the economies covered by
Doing Business had an improvement in
their distance to frontier score—it is
now easier to do business in most parts
of the world.
.
Source: Doing Business Report 2015,
World Bank Group

Source: MSME Country indicators

The Top 10 Countries in the Ease of doing business ranking
are:
1- Singapore, 2- New Zealand, 3- Hong Kong SAR, China, 4-
Denmark, 5- Korea, Rep, 6- Norway, 7- United States, 8-
United Kingdom, 9- Finland and 10- Australia.
.Source: Doing Business Report 2015,
World Bank Group

Doing Business data
show that among the 189 economies
covered, 144 have introduced online
platforms for
business incorporation.
Source: Doing Business Report 2015,World Bank Group

Company registries in 95 economies
around the world reported extensive
use of online services in the World Bank
Group Entrepreneurship Survey in
2013.

Small and medium-size enterprises
account for the largest share of
employment in the developing
world.

A 2007 study
found that in developing economies
access to credit grew twice as fast for small firms
as for large ones after
new credit reporting systems were
introduced.

Research based
on World Bank Enterprise Survey data
from 123 countries found that in those
with better credit reporting systems,
younger firms have better access to
bank finance than older firms do.

48 percent of employers report that
hiring activity has increased in the last
year and 35 percent report turnover is
rising
Source:The 2014 Global Workforce Study,TowersWatson

91 percent of employees believe it’s
important to work in a mentally healthy
workplace and 75 percent of employees
believe employers need to provide the
support to achieve this.
Source:TNS

Canada is the 16th country in
the Ease of doing business
ranking.

As of 2012, there were just over 1.08
million SMBs in Canada that had
employees (excludes self-employed
entrepreneurs and indeterminate
businesses).
Source: Key Small Business Statistics Report

of businesses in
Canada have 1 to 99
employees
98%

Taking into account entries and exits, the
net increase in the number of small
businesses
was almost 22,000 over the 2008–2009
period

As of 2012, small businesses employed
over 7.7 million individuals in Canada,
or
69.7 % of the total private labor force.

The number of business
bankruptcies in Canada fell by 56
% between 2000 and 2010
to about 3,200 in 2012

In 2009, SMBs accounted for 31 %
of total R & D
expenditures, spending $4.8 billion.

As of 2008, depending on various
estimates, small businesses contributed
between 25 and
41 percent to Canada’s GDP.

In 2011, 15.5 percent of SMEs were majority owned by
females. In comparison, 66.4 percent of
SMEs were majority owned by males. Those owned
equally by males and females represented
18.1 percent of SMEs in Canada.
.
Source: Majority Female-Owned Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises—Special Edition: Key Small
Business Statistics, May 2015

In 2011, 59.2 percent of majority female-
owned SMEs and 51.4 percent of majority
male-owned
SMEs were micro firms (1 to 4 employees).

Over 62 percent of majority female-owned SMEs were
concentrated within three industrial
sectors: health care and social assistance, information and
cultural industries, and arts,
entertainment and recreation; retail trade; and
accommodation and food services.

Obstacles to growth most commonly reported by
SME owners in 2011 were rising business
costs, fluctuations in consumer demand for
products or services, and increasing competition

USA is the 7th country in the
Ease of doing business ranking.

“I want to have more conversations with people on the
frontlines — people like Brad in Iowa, who have seen
firsthand what’s working and what isn’t. Then, we need to
build their experiences into our policies —because small
businesses are the backbone of our economy, and they have
as much to teach us as ever”
Source: Hillary Clinton, U.S 2016 Presidential Candidate

“The smallest businesses, with one to
five employees, spend 150 hours and $1,100 per
employee on federal tax compliance. That’s more
than 20 times higher than the average for far
larger firms. We’ve got to fix that.”
.Source: Hillary Clinton, U.S 2016 Presidential Candidate

“About half of all new establishments survive five
years or more and about one-third survive 10
years or more. As one would expect, the
probability of survival increases with a firm’s age.
Survival rates have changed little over time.”
.Source: Small Business Administration

“Small businesses (firms with 1-499
employees) continue to add more net
new jobs than large businesses (500+
employees). Through the fist three
quarters of 2014, small businesses
added 1.4 million net new jobs”
Source: Small Business Administration

“Q1 2015 VC investments totaled $13.4 billion making
it the fifth straight quarter to see over
$10 billion in VC investments. This trend is part of a
post-recessionary rebound in VC”
.Source: Small Business Market Update June 2015, Small Business
Administration

24.6% of businesses started in
1994 where still around in 2011
.Source: Bureau Of Labor Statistics

America’s 3.7 million microbusinesses
made up 75.3 percent of all private-sector
employers in 2013, and they provided 10.8
percent of the private-sector jobs.
.
Source: Bureau Of Labor Statistics

“Thomas West estimates that for general
business brokerage operations - those dealing
with businesses that have less than $2.5 million
in sales and usually fewer than 20 employees -
about 1 out every 5.5 listings sells.”
.Source: Pat Jennings,TheBizSeller

“I believe technology will have the most impact on small
businesses. 2015 will be the year of EMV chip and PIN cards
and Apple Pay. Small business owners will be faced with the
decision of whether to upgrade their payments equipment
or wait until it's more widely adopted”.
.
Source: Jim Salmon, Navy Federal Credit Union

“2015 will see a dramatic shift in how SMBs select,
adopt and integrate technologies into a unified
platform, with a laser focus on optimal efficiency.
2014 was the year of apps, ranging from chat to
email, all promising to make business[es] run better.”.
.Source: Pat Sullivan, Contatta

Only 51% of small
businesses have a website.
Source: SCORE.org

93.3% of small business
websites are not mobile
compatible.
Source: SCORE.org

The Top Three, Biggest challenges for U.S SMBs are:
1- Growing revenue
2- Hiring new employees
3- Increasing profit
Source: 2015 State of Small Business Report,
Wasp BarcodeTechnologies

Small businesses
also continue to view overseas’ markets as
foreign territory. Fewer than 8% said global
market expansion is part of their
2015 growth plans

Nearly 59% of SMBs view their website as an
integral part of their business, yet over half of
the business leaders surveyed said less than 11%
of their annual revenue was generated online.

If you’re the owner of a business without a website, maybe
you’re putting it off because you think most people don’t
check the web for local businesses. If you believe this, I’d
like to gently point out the following: 97% of customers
search online for products and services.
.
Source: Brian Sutter,Wasp BarcodeTechnologies

This is the most basic piece of information a website
can have. And yet, according to the SCORE study
27% of small businesses do not have a contact phone
number on their website.
.
Source: Brian Sutter,Wasp BarcodeTechnologies

70% of consumers aged 45 to 60 think a brand
should be on Facebook. 95% of millennials
expect a Facebook page.
.
Source: HubSpot

71% of business leaders surveyed don’t
use a customer relationship
management (CRM) software.

In fact, it’s estimated that more than 500,000 new
businesses are started every month in the U.S. alone — half
a million! But any small
business owner or employee knows that turning a good idea
into a billion-dollar
company requires hard work.
Source:The Quest for Growth: How Small Businesses AreTaking it to the Next Level,
Salesforce Small Business

Brazil is the 120th country in
ranking.

To start a business requires 11
procedures, 83 days and costs 4.3%
of income per capita
.Source: Doing Business Report 2015,World Bank Group

Brazil’s
6.3 million small and micro enterprises
contribute about 20% of Brazil’s GDP and
employ 60 million people
or 56% of the urban workforce in the formal
sector.
Source: AS COA

Between 2002 and 2012, the number of women
starting SMEs in Brazil grew by 18 percent. In
the last three years, 52 percent of SMEs were
headed by women.
Source: AS COA

According to a 2013 Deloitte report, 29
percent of the 250 fastest-growing Brazilian
SMEs focus on information technology and
the internet.
Source: AS COA

A 2013 Boston Consulting Group study found
that Brazilian SMEs that adopt new technologies
grew their revenue 16 percent more than their
counterparts and generated 11 percent more jobs
Source: AS COA

Brazil's small business secretariat last month
reported that tax collected under Simples -
which offers certain small and micro firms a
reduced tax rate - were up 6.7% in the first half
of 2015 over the same period last year.
Source: Small Business Insight

In addition small and micro firms added a
further 116,500 jobs between January and
May, despite the economy having shrunk
during this time.

Colombia is the 34th country in the Ease
of doing business ranking, making it the
most business-friendly country in
LATAM.

is the estimated
number of SMEs
in Colombia1,600,000
Source: MinTIC

SMEs in Colombia, which contribute 38
percent of GDP, are losing opportunities
because they aren’t investing in technology
like they should.
Source: Dinero.com (Link in Spanish)

21 percent of SMEs had presence in Internet
in 2014 according to MinTIC. The goal is to
reach 50 percent in 2018.

Just 2 percent of SMEs has e-commerce
enabled sites. The Colombian government
wants to reach 30 percent in the next 3
years.

Just 7 percent of SMEs have
requested credits to invest in tech.

46 percent of that portion invested between 1 and 10 USD
Million, 12 percent between 11 and 20 USD Million, and the
6 percent invested 100 USD Million. The resources of these
SMEs are invested mainly in office materials (34 percent),
web pages (22 percent), applications (18 percent) and
servers (14 percent), among others.

Main barriers for SMEs tech adoption & growth:
- Lack of resources (43%)
- Unexperienced personal (19%)
- No knowledge of tech field
- No trust in suppliers (9%)

“MiPyme Vive Digital” is the main
program launched by MinTIC to
connect 70 percent of SMEs for the
2018

Denmark is the 4th country in
ranking.

Total of SMEs in Denmark: 212,867 (99,7%)
Number of employees:
1,045,071 (65,5%)
Value added: 79 Billion € (63,5%)
Source: 2014 SBA Fact Sheet,
European Commision

The contribution of SMEs to the Danish business
economy is slightly greater than the EU average in
terms of value added (63.5 % versus 58.1 %), and
slightly lower in terms of employment (65.5 %
compared with 66.9 %).
European Commision

Medium-high tech fields
such as machinery and equipment manufacturing,
motor vehicles, transport and electrical equipment,
and chemical products provide 47% of the value added of the
entire SME sector.
European Commision

From
36 000 (in 2012), the number of new business grew
by 2.2 % to 2013, according to the figures published
by the Central Business Register of the Danish
Business Authority.
European Commision

It is expected
that 60 % of SMEs will invest domestically
in 2014
and 15 % are expected to invest abroad.
European Commision

In general, Denmark has set a good example for
reducing administrative burdens, supporting eco-innovation and
energy efficient projects, and setting
up innovation funding schemes. It has demonstrated a
strong commitment to supporting SMEs.
European Commision

In fact, an
entrepreneurship company only requires a minimum
paid-in capital of DKK 1 (EUR 0.13). The aim of this
measure is to promote entrepreneurship and create
more new companies in Denmark.
European Commision

France is the 31th country in
ranking.

Total of SMEs in France: 2,598,023 (99,8%)
9,586,503 (63,0%)
European Commision

Like other EU countries, France’s business economy
includes a significant number of SMEs, which account
for 59 % of value added and 63 % of employment.
European Commision

Microenterprises are more prevalent than in the EU as
a whole and make up 94 % of all French businesses.
Most SMEs are active in services (45 %), the
wholesale and retail trade (26 %) and construction
(19 %)
Source: 2014 SBA Fact Sheet,European
Commision

Between 2008 and 2013, value added
generated by
SMEs grew by 29 % and growth in
employment was
even stronger at 34 %.
Commision

Another fast-growing sector is accommodation and
food services, which recorded growth of 21 % in value
added and 7 % in employment between 2008 and
2013.
Commision

Since
the launch of the auto-entrepreneur regime the
businesses registered as auto-entrepreneurs
generated a total turnover of EUR 15 billion.
Source: Le Figaro

French SMEs continue to benefit from good
framework conditions for trade, an administration
that
is becoming more responsive to the needs of small
businesses.
Commision

The widespread success of the auto-entrepreneur
regime, with nearly 500 000 new companies
registered per year, has highlighted France’s potential
for entrepreneurship
Commision

61 % of French
entrepreneurs claim they were motivated to start
their
company by a market opportunity they identified and
by a desire to be self-employed and increase their
income.
Commision

It is currently possible to start a business in France in
four days, at a cost of EUR 84, with no capital
requirements. Since 2012, entrepreneurs have been
able to start their business online.
Commision

SMEs in France have
fewer cash-flow difficulties resulting from loss of
payments from bankrupt customers (2 % of total
turnover, against almost 4 % in the EU as a whole).
Commision

By
sharing the risk, Bpifrance facilitates SMEs’ access
to the financing offered by banking partners and
equity capital investors. The budget is EUR 42 billion
for the period 2012-16.
Commision

The intention is to offer SMEs a ‘one-stop’ local financing service
comprising a broad portfolio of funding
instruments and advice.
Bpifrance supports businesses as they develop, from start-up to
growth and
business transfer or buy out.
Commision

Germany is the 14th country in
ranking.

Between 2009 and 2013 alone more
than 160 000 additional
SMEs were set up.
European Commision

During the same period, the number of jobs
created in SMEs increased by more than 1 .5
million to more than 16.7 million in 2013.
European Commision

Total of SMEs in Germany: 2,201,144 (99,5%)
16,720,674 (62,7%)
European Commision

Most German SMEs operate in the
wholesale and retail
trade sectors (27 %).
European Commision

In 2013, Germany continued to improve the policy
environment for SMEs by implementing 20 measures
addressing nine out of the 10 policy areas under the
Small Business Act.
European Commision

As the very high proportion of
opportunity-driven entrepreneurs (almost 57 %
versus 47 % for the EU) suggests, would-be
entrepreneurs take longer to plan their
business before starting up.
European Commision

German SMEs participate more
in public tenders (46 % versus 37 % for the rest of the
EU), obtain more of the contracts awarded (46 %
versus 37 %) and receive payment from public
authorities for these contracts much faster than their
EU counterparts (11 days versus 28 days).
European Commision

Almost one in five
German SMEs in the manufacturing sector directly
exports to other Member States (compared to less
than 14 % on average in the EU as a whole).
Commision

Netherlands is the 13th country
in the Ease of doing business
ranking.

Total of SMEs in Netherlands: 802,087
(99,8%)
3,561,857 (63,5%)
European Commision

Almost all firms in the Netherlands are SMEs. They
have a higher share of employment and value added
than large businesses, with more than 60 % in each.
.
European Commision

Most Dutch SMEs are found in the professional
activities sector, where about 27 % of all SMEs are to
be found. This share is 50 % higher than in the EU-
28.
European Commision

Since
then, the total number of SMEs
fluctuated around
800 000 between 2010 and 2013.
European Commision

The gross number of people starting a
company in
2013 was 150 263, an increase of 16 998
or 13 %
compared with 2012.
European Commision

Ireland is the 13th country in
ranking.

Total of SMEs in Ireland: 144,374 (99,7%)
762,058 (70,1%)
European Commision

In 2008
and 2009, SMEs’ value added dropped by 12 %
and
13 % respectively; this was followed by a modest
recovery of 10 % from 2010 to 2013.
European Commision

SMEs’ vulnerability lies in their
high dependence on domestic demand which
declined
significantly during the crisis.
European Commision

Data also show that company start-ups in 2013 rose
by 10 % on the previous year, with 15 617 new Irish
companies being formed, the highest figure since
2007.
European Commision

The latest seasonally adjusted Live Register
figures confirm that 343,100 people are still
signing on the dole. Long-term claimants account
for increased 45.5% of the total.
Source:The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises
Association

“Compared to our key competitors, Ireland remains an expensive business
location. The upward cost pressure has already commenced, with the
Government backing wage increases, adding to property and business
services cost increases. The danger is that any externally generated temporary
gains being experienced through currency, interest and oil variations could
be quickly eroded, as global growth intensifies”.
Association

Putting Crime out of Business
Crime Costing SMEs €1.62 Billion
Annually
Association

91% of Irish SME websites
cannot process sales
Source: IEDR

IEDR launched its OPTIMISE Fund 2015, which
supports Irish SMEs and Micro-Enterprises in
enhancing their existing online presence and in
becoming e-commerce enabled.
Source: IEDR

“What stands out most is the mismatch between business owners’
acknowledgement of what’s important and their actions. Business
owners know it’s important, but they haven’t (yet) acted to sell
online, with 73% saying their website is “important/very important”
as a driver of generating sales, yet 62% cannot take sales orders via
that website”.
Source: David Curtin, Chief Executive of IEDR,
IEDR

Sweden is the 11th country in
ranking.

Sweden made registering
property easier through a new online
system that became fully operational
in the past year. The system provides
comprehensive coverage, allowing users to conduct searches
and file registrations from anywhere in the country.
.
World Bank Group

Total of SMEs in Sweden:
665,819 (99,9%)
2,016,909 (65,8%)
European Commision

Swedish SMEs are comparatively
less common in the manufacturing sector: 17 % of the
SME workforce and value added is supplied by this
sector, while the EU average is 4 percentage points
higher.
Commision

About 69 216 new enterprises
were established in 2012, a
reduction of 6 % on 2011.
Commision

It is noteworthy that the number of new companies has
increased by 20 % since 2010 when
the required minimum paid in capital was halved to
SEK 50 000. These companies amount to 35 % of all
new businesses.
Commision

On one hand, the indicators in which
Sweden remains strong relate to opportunity-driven
entrepreneurship (a significant 58 %), the importance
of school education in developing an entrepreneurial
attitude (54 %), the high social status of successful
entrepreneurs and media promotion of a culture of
entrepreneurship (58 % in Sweden compared to just
49 % EU).
Commision

Currently, it is possible to set up a business
in Sweden with € 215 (against an EU average of
€ 318) but doing so takes approximately 16 days,
which is very long compared to the EU average of 4.2
days or the SBA target of 3 days.
Commision

While some countries continue to
grapple with credit constraints, in Sweden the
rejection of loan applications is lower than the average
(12 % of applications by SMEs in comparison with an
EU average of 14.5 %)
Commision

Swedish SMEs performed
exceedingly well in introducing product or process
innovations (47 % of SMEs compared with an EU
average of 38 %), in-house innovation (about 38 % of
Swedish SMEs) and using e-commerce (selling and
purchasing online).
Commision

SMEs can
apply for SEK 50 000-500 000 for
developing products
or services and SEK 50 000-250 000 for
internationalization.
Commision

Switzerland is the 20th country
ranking.

Switzerland made starting a business
easier by introducing online procedures
and strengthened minority investor
protections by increasing the level of
transparency required from listed companies.
.
World Bank Group

United Kingdom is the 8th
country in the Ease of doing
business ranking.

There were a record 5.2 million private
sector businesses at the start of 2014, the
first time the business population has
exceeded 5 million.
.
Source: Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions 2014, Department for Business
Innovation & Skills

This is a record annual increase
of 330,000 businesses (up 6.7%
since the start of 2013).
.Source: Business Population Estimates for the UK and Regions 2014, Department for Business
Innovation & Skills

As in previous years, growth was mainly
driven by non-employing businesses,
which increased by 263,000 (up 7.1 %)
since the start of 2013.
.
Innovation & Skills

But there has also been an increase of
66,000 (up 5.5%) in the number of
employing businesses – only the second
individual year of growth since 2008.
.
Innovation & Skills

Three main categories of business make up the overall
population: at the start of 2014 there were 1.5 million
companies (29% of the total), 460,000 self-employed
partnerships (9%) and 3.3 million sole proprietorships
(62%).
Innovation & Skills

At the start of 2014 5.2 million
small businesses accounted for 48%
(12.1 million) of UK private sector
employment.
Innovation & Skills

The combined annual turnover of small
businesses is £1.2 trillion, 33% of
private sector turnover.
Innovation & Skills

There were 31,000 medium-sized businesses
at the start of 2014. These businesses had an
annual turnover of £480 billion and
employed 3.1 million people.
.
Innovation & Skills

The population of small businesses given by
IDBR 2013 indicates that there are 83,025
such enterprises across England (62,990
with 10-19 employees, 20,035 with 20-49).
Source: Understanding Growth in Small Businesses, Department for Business Innovation & Skills

Over the longer time horizon of 2009-14, small
businesses were a little more dynamic, creating a net
gain of 1½ additional jobs per business. Fifteen per
cent of the stock of 2014 small business began in
2009 as microbusinesses. 56 per cent of small
businesses had increased employment over this
period.

Growth performance of businesses was strongest
where they had made some form of business
improvement compared with those not making
improvements (financial investment, exporting,
innovation, collaboration and introducing a
management team.

Small businesses appeared to be rather less
constrained in terms of their capacity, but
relatively more constrained in terms of their
vision and market.

Fewer than half of these businesses making an
investment had applied for external finance. For
investments below £25,000 only 38 per cent had
applied for finance, but this only increased to 52 per
cent for investments over £500,000.

According to the 2013 Growth Accelerator
Annual report, the two most commonly cited
concerns of SME owner-managers are business
strategy (cited by 40%) and people and skills
(cited 39%).
Source: Leadership and Management Skills in SMEs: Measuring Associations with Management
Practices and Performance, Department for Business Innovation & Skills

Qatar is the 50th country in
ranking.

In general, the creation of a business in Qatar for
foreign people is hard: a lot of paperwork, you need
to find a Qatari partner to give her/him 51% of
ownership and a proved business location (your home
doesn’t qualify for it)
Source: QatarLiving

If your business is IT based, a good tip is to
located at the Qatar Science and Technology
Park. It allows 100% foreign ownership.
Source: QatarLiving

UAE is the 22th country in the
Ease of doing business ranking.

SMEs account for 95% of the enterprise
population in
Dubai and are responsible for 43% of the
total workforce and 40% of the
total value added in the emirate.
Source:The State of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Dubai, Dubai SME

Micro firms account for 72% of the overall
business count in Dubai, followed by Small
and Medium Firms (SMBs) accounting for
18% and 5% of the business count.

SMEs contribute around 40% to
the total value-add generated in
Dubai’s economy.

Approximately ¾ of the SME exporters in
Dubai are currently exporting to other
countries without having a physical presence
in these markets.

An estimated 50% of the SMEs across Dubai
indicated having a website and around 6% of
the total respondents indicated that they have
online ordering capabilities or e-commerce
features built into their websites.

70% of the SMEs expect medium to
high growth in demand for their goods
and services over the medium term.

Business licenses issued in Dubai reached 15,203 in
2008, however the number fell significantly to 11, 743
in 2009, at the peak of the global financial crisis. As
recovery set in 2010, the number of licenses issued
increased to 14,406 and reached 16,688 in 2012.

Dubai SME is the key government
entity with the mandate to promote
and enable growth of
the SME sector in Dubai.

Over the last 10 years, Dubai SME has provided
business development and advisory services to
around 12,500 entrepreneurs and has assisted
launch of more than 1,200 local businesses.

In line with the strategy to groom promising
SMEs, the Dubai SME 100 was launched to act as
a
platform and catalyst to identify high potential
SMEs based in Dubai.
Source:The State of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in
Dubai, Dubai SME

Dubai SME fund offers Dh600m
loan boost to Emirati entrepreneurs
Source:The National.ae

Australia is the 10th country in
ranking.

In Australia, small businesses (turning over less than
$2million) represent 96 percent of all business and
employ 63 percent – almost two thirds – of the
working population, making us Australia’s largest
employer a self service
Source: State of Small Business: It’s All About theTeam,
Naomi Simson,

99,7% of actively trading
businesses in Australia are
SMEs
Source: SME Association of Australia

That’s about
2,045,000 SMEs

SMEs employ 70% of the
Australian Workforce

In 2008/2009 Large
Enterprises spent $12 Bn in
R&D.
SMEs spent $5Bn

31.5 % of Small Business
Operators are Women.

At a corporate level, M&A activity in Australia
grew by 20% in
2014 reaching US$120B. Divestment and M&A
activity within
the SME sector was also solid.
Source: Scancorp’s Outlook For Australian SMEs Divestment, Mergers
And Acquisitions in 2015

While the agreements with
Japan, China and Korea may not directly impact SMEs,
these agreements have generated a greater awareness
of Australia as a business destination. This may
ultimately make Australian SMEs more attractive
investments to Asian buyers.

Competition amongst business owners to sell their
business is increasing significantly with over 40,000
SMEs for sale in October 2014. That represented an
increase of 23% in the volume of business advertised
for sale over the previous quarter.

It is estimated that around 80% of Australian
SMEs are owned by baby boomers. PwC estimates
that
over the next decade some 1.4 million business
owners
will retire.

Hong Kong is the 3th country
ranking.

As at March 2015, there
were about 320 000 SMEs in
Hong Kong
Source: Support and Consultation Centre for SMEs

They accounted for over 98% of
the total business units

They accounted for over 98% of the total
business units and provide job opportunities
to over 1.3 Million persons, about 47% of
total employment

Most of the SMEs were in the import/export trade
and wholesale industries, followed by the retail
industry. They accounted for 50% of the SMEs in
Hong Kong and represented about half of the SME
employment.

China is the 90th country in
ranking.

Malaysia is the 18th country in
ranking.

According to Census Report on SMEs 2011,
there was a total of 645,136 SMEs operating
their businesses in Malaysia, representing
97.3% of total business establishments.

If we refer to number of registered companies and business
published by SSM (Companies Commission of Malaysia),
there were slightly more than 1 million companies and close
to 5 million businesses (Sole Proprietorship & Partnership)
registered by the end of 2012.

90.1% of the SMEs are
classified in Services sector.
Source: Ecommerce Milo

As expected, most of the SME
establishments are based in Selangor (19.5%)
and Kuala Lumpur (13.1%), followed by Johor
(10.7%), Perak (9.3%) and Sarawak (6.8%).
Source: Ecommerce Milo

“SME businesses form a very large part of
Malaysia's economy. But their contribution to
GDP is still slightly lacking compared with (their
counterparts) in developed countries”
Source:Wayne Lim, Group CEO of Malaysia SME,The EdgeMalaysia

New Zealand is the 2th country
ranking.

97% of New Zealand businesses have
fewer than 20 employees
Source: 10 key stats on small businesses,
Business.Govt.Nz

27% of GDP (gross domestic product)
is generated by these small businesses.
Business.Govt.Nz

42% of all jobs created in the year
ending September 2013 were in firms
with 1-19 employees.
Business.Govt.Nz

89% of businesses with 6-19
employees who asked for debt finance
in 2014 could get it on acceptable
terms.
Business.Govt.Nz

92% of small businesses are now
connected by broadband and 66% of
small businesses have a website.
Business.Govt.Nz

53% of firms with 6-19 employees had hard-to-
fill vacancies in 2014, up from 44% in 2013. For
businesses with 20+ employees, these figures
were 56% and 49% respectively.
Business.Govt.Nz

If you want to read more about SMEs
in New Zealand, check the MBIE’s
factsheet on small businesses

India is the 142th country in
ranking.

Total of
SMB
in
India
Source:The EconomicTimes
51
Million

According to a study by advisory firm Zinnov, only
20 percent of India SMBs (about 10 million) are
considered technology-ready – just 500,000 have a
website and a meagre two million have access to the
Internet.
Source: Small Enterprise India

Small, medium Indian businesses
likely to spend $11.6 billion on IT
products like mobility, analytics, social
media and cloud in 2015

SMB present a lucrative
opportunity of $11.6 billion
(about Rs 71,300 crore) in 2015
and $25.8 billion in 2020

"With growing mobile adoption, mobile app
development is becoming increasingly viable for
SMBs. There are over 9,000 mobile app
development companies in India already"

Mobile app downloads in India will
grow from 100 million in 2014 to
400 million by 2020

Sequoia Capital is looking to
raise $800 million for an India-
focused fund, which will make
it India’s biggestVC.
Source:Times of India

Twitter has good news for Small and Medium
Businesses (SMBs). The 140-character social network
which has 316 million active users, has opened up its
self-service ads platform from 33 countries to
over 200 countries and territories.
Source: Prasant Naidu, Lighthouse Insights

SMBs can’t ask for more – pay for
campaigns that drive ROI for your
business objectives on a self service ad
platform
Source: Prasant Naidu, Lighthouse Insights

Singapore continues to be the economy
with the most business-friendly
regulations (1st in the ranking)

There were about 189,000 enterprises
in Singapore in 2014, of which 99%
were Small and Medium Enterprises
(SMEs)
Source: Profiles of Enterprises in Singapore,
Department of Statistics Singapore

As announced at the 2014 budget speech, the S$500 million ICT
for Productivity and Growth (IPG) programme is a significant
boost to Singapore's efforts to encourage this, with the new
emphasis on solutions to transform SME sectors and on the use of
high-speed connectivity for new business growth.
Source: IDA Singapore

ICT vendors and SMEs are encouraged to take the
lead in piloting new or emerging solutions that can
help to transform the SME sectors. There are many
such successful transformations in the larger
corporations or in SMEs' sectors in other countries.
Source: IDA Singapore

South Africa is the 43th
country in the Ease of doing
business ranking.

Contrary to global trends where small and medium
enterprises (SMEs) constitute the largest
employer in either developed or developing economies,
smaller firms in South Africa are showing
stagnation in both turnover and employment growth.
Source: Business Environment Specialists

Just over 1 in 5 firms of the panel reported a
decline in turnover between 2014/2015 and a
further 20% reported no growth in turnover
in the same period.

Year on year changes in the sub-indices of the SME Growth Index
are showing downward trends.
78% of the panel report that the business climate is becoming
increasingly hostile to their firm
growth, representing the highest number of firms reporting this
since the survey’s base year in 2011.

The latest findings of the SME Growth Index
signal a crisis in confidence on the part of South
Africa’s
SME community, driven in part by an excessive
focus on regulation combined with policy
uncertainty.

The In a country where, according to the latest findings from Statistics
SA, fewer than half of all adult South
Africans actually work and the rest – an astonishing 8.7 million – are
unemployed, the sustainability
and growth of our SMEs should be an obsession if South Africa is ever
to attain the socio-economic
goals of the National Development Plan.

The Ministry of Small Business
Development launched the National
Gazelles initiative to support high-
growth businesses

A 2013 report by Endeavor (using 2010 data from the
World Bank’s Enterprise Survey) reveals that firms growing
at 20% or more per year represented only 13% of South
African firms, but created a quarter of the country’s net
new jobs during the previous three years.

This makes these firms indispensable if South
Africa is to meet its National Development Plan’s
target of having small firms create 90% of the 11
million jobs by 2030.

Endeavor's jobs calculator estimates that 44,000
small firms growing at a rate of 20% per year would
be enough to create these 9.9 million jobs. It would
take 7.4 million micro firms to create the same
number of jobs. So high-growth firms are pretty
valuable

In general, Small and Medium
Enterprises are becoming in a key
point for economic growth around
the globe

But there is a need for global and local
initiatives like Conferences, Funds,
Meetups and forums dedicated to help
SMEs owners.

Good examples? There are a lot: my
favorite are Singapore, Germany and
Dubai, UAE.

More governments should embrace Open
Data initiatives to walk to the 21th
Century Government and make SMEs
data more available

If you need help, just ask to
Socrata

Again, if you have a favorite fact
here, send me a Tweet
(@marcosluis2186) with
#GlobalSmallBizFacts
hashtag .

Thanks for reading
Marcos Ortiz
http://about.me/marcosortiz
/in/mlortiz

200 Global Facts about the State of Small Businesses in 2015

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