What GEM data from the 2008 financial crisis should entrepreneurs and policymakers keep in mind as we grapple with today’s challenging times?  

On episode 3 of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Podcast, researchers Mark Hart and Niels Bosma explore this question from the perspectives of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.  This podcast is based on the insights that Professors Hart and Bosma originally provided during a GEM Online Learning Session Webinar that took place on Monday, April 19th, moderated by GEM Executive Director Aileen Ionescu-Somers. The original session has been edited to be suitable for an audio format. You can access the full video recording and the accompany slides at the following link.

Sign up for our May 4th Online Learning Session in which we delve into the situation in Mexico and Guatemala. 

About the researchers

Mark Hart is Professor of Small Business and Entrepreneurship at Aston Business School, Associate Director of the Aston Centre for Growth, and is one of the Programme Directors and Academic Lead of the national Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme. A 2014 recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, he has played a national role in promoting enterprise skills and supporting entrepreneurs as well as advising government on small business and entrepreneurship matters. He is Deputy Director of the national Enterprise Research Centre (www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk) which is jointly hosted by Aston University and the University of Warwick and has as its mission to understand the drivers of small business growth.  Mark leads on business growth and productivity research to understand the dynamics of the private sector over time and the role of SMEs as well as contributing to the work on growth ambition and access to finance. He also manages the GEM UK national team for GEM Global which is the only international source of annual evidence on entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspiration.

Niels Bosma is an Associate Professor at the Utrecht University School of Economics, Chair of the GERA Board of Directors and co-founder of the Utrecht University Social Entrepreneurship Initiative. His main research interests are individual entrepreneurial and innovative behaviour in regional and social contexts. Niels has been published in several leading academic journals and has been involved with GEM since 2005. He received his PhD from Utrecht University – his dissertation focused on the geography of entrepreneurial activity and regional economic development.

About the moderator

As GEM’s Executive Director since February 2019, Aileen Ionescu-Somers' main objective is to ensure that GEM is increasingly perceived as the world-class reference for data-driven entrepreneurship knowledge and expertise worldwide. Aileen is a highly experienced academic researcher/teacher and an author of books, case studies and journal/newspaper articles.