Finding entrepreneurial opportunities abroad is at the top of the list for nearly one-third of Americans considering or planning a move abroad as surveyed by My International Adventure. New business opportunity is a primary motivation for moving to another country. It is not surprising that many Americans, particularly younger Americans, are eyeing business opportunities in other lands. With high unemployment at home and in many developed countries, many young entrepreneurs are turning their attention to other countries, especially emerging market countries where growth rates often are three to five times the rate of U.S. growth.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) reports annually on Total Entrepreneurial Activity in 69 countries, which represent 87 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). The TEA measures the percentage of adults 18 – 64 who are new entrepreneurs. The highest average TEA rates were found in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Latin America/Caribbean region. The Asia Pacific/South Asia region showed a mix of TEA levels. Highest entrepreneurship rates were found in the 25-34-age bracket, followed by 35-44 year-olds. These two age groups represent close to 50 percent of all entrepreneurs.

To gain more insight on entrepreneurial opportunities abroad, we turned to emerging market expert Steven Koltai, head of Washington D.C.-based Koltai & Company. “Our main charge at our company is to work with developed and developing countries to help bolster their entrepreneur ecosystems,” Koltai said. “We are working in Turkey, South Africa, Chile, Costa Rica, Kenya and Ghana. Of those countries we work with, certainly Turkey is at the top of the list for entrepreneurs because it is so welcoming and has a lot going on in terms of growth and opportunity. For overall American entrepreneur opportunity, my top 10 would be Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Turkey, Jordan, Malaysia and Viet Nam.”

Listen to a portion of our interview with Steven Koltai
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Koltai believes that Americans who have business experience have a big opportunity in emerging countries because there is much less competition, a fast-growing economy, costs associated with starting a business are generally lower, potential returns are higher and in most cases, an American with specific business experience has an advantage over a local entrepreneur.

“Remember though, chances of new business success in the U.S. is about one in 20, so starting a business in a new country will be hard because you will be adding difficulty and complexity to what is already a hard thing to do,” Koltai cautioned. “To increase your odds of success, I always urge people to partner with someone local because regardless of how familiar you are with the country and the language, you will never be as familiar as someone who has lived there all of their life and who has well-developed social and professional networks.”