Abstract
This chapter treats countries of Middle East and of North Africa (MENA) as two similar but culturally distinct sub-regions of MENA. Using data collected by academics and international organisations (e.g. Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, OECD, UNDP), Qatar, U.A.E., Jordan in the Middle East, and Morocco in North Africa, emerge as the countries most likely to have the potential to develop a strong cadre of successful entrepreneurs. All four countries have very high youth population percentages, but MENA also has the world’s highest unemployment rates. E.g. in Morocco 49% of youths aged 15–24 are not employed or in school (NEET); in Jordan, more than half the entire population is >25 years of age and 25% of these youths are unemployed. In Qatar and U.A.E., population demographics are similar, but there’s greater likelihood their governments and/or foreign direct investment will provide needed resources. While economic development contributes to overall success, the ineffective and outmoded public education systems that currently exist throughout MENA not only prevent the spread of entrepreneurism, but also increase overhead for existing employers. Policies and initiatives that address these deficiencies can increase the size and/or accelerate entrepreneurial impact while improving existing businesses in Jordan and Morocco.
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- 1.
As of April 2017, the Jordanian Labour Ministry appealed to young Jordanians to apply for the mainly agricultural jobs (primarily done by immigrants) as there are very few other kinds of jobs available.
- 2.
Knowing involves recall of a variety of mathematical concepts from number convention to symbolic representation to solve entire classes of problems. Applying measures problem-solving skills and the student’s ability to apply mathematical concepts to equivalent representations in language. Reasoning is the most complex of the cognitive skills, and involves independent, systematic thinking and the ability to make rule-based logical deductions. Appendix 2 contains more detailed explanations of Knowing, Applying and Reasoning.
- 3.
Eighth graders are usually 13 to 14 years old.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
Full version of Table 1: GEI scores compared to IWCM scores
Appendix 2
Examples of TIMSS assessment of Mathematical Knowing, Applying and Reasoning Mathematics cognitive domains for Eighth grade students.
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Hill, V., Rezaei, S., Rocha, S.C.L. (2018). Increasing Entrepreneurial Impact in the MENA Region. In: Faghih, N., Zali, M. (eds) Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75913-5_5
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