Study confirms growing up with a silver spoon increases entrepreneurial tendencies
Children of wealthy and educated parents have better chances of becoming tech founders, even if they’re not great at maths
"There is a strong connection between your parent's income and your chances of becoming a startup entrepreneur, with those from a strong financial background having a higher chance of becoming entrepreneurs," Shira Greenberg, chief economist at the Ministry of Finance, established in a new report analyzing the reasons people become entrepreneurs. The report is based on research that examined the importance of educational abilities and the income and education of parents as variables that impact the probability of becoming a startup entrepreneur.
Most startup entrepreneurs set up their first company between the ages of 25 and 35. The research found having wealthy parents was even more important than getting good grades in mathematics.
Programming. Photo: Shutterstock "Having strong financial support can help someone who is interested in setting up a startup, providing a financial safety net in the case of failure," the report read.
The research also found a strong correlation between parents' education levels and the chance of their children becoming startup entrepreneurs, particularly if the parents come from a technological or scientific educational background.
"Technological innovation is one of the most important factors for long-term economic growth," the chief economist's department said. "The existence of such companies depends a lot on individuals having the ability and motivation to set them up. Therefore, it is important to identify the reasons affecting an individual's chance of becoming an entrepreneur. This is even more important during the Covid-19 crisis which may lead to structural changes in the economy and greater dependence on highly productive sectors like tech.
According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, tech employees made up 12.9% of the workforce in 2008 compared to 12.1% in 2018. The current crisis could result in the growth of its share of employees."
