What does it mean?
Opportunity entrepreneurship describes someone who starts a business by choice, because they noticed an unsolved problem or unmet demand, while other work options were open to them. Its counterpart is necessity entrepreneurship, where someone starts because they have no better way to earn a living.
How is it measured?
For years the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) asked whether people started because they saw an opportunity or because they had no better choice. Since its 2019/2020 report it asks about four motives that can be combined, because many people hold both at once.
Why does it matter?
An opportunity founder usually needs finance, a network and a wider market, which differ from what a necessity founder needs first. Knowing the motive helps support organisations offer the right programme to each group. An opportunity motive does not guarantee success: the idea still has to be tested with real customers like any other.
In the Syrian context
In the union's first membership form (April and May 2026), most people who described their motive used the language of opportunity: filling a market gap (30%), passion (28%) and making an impact (26%), according to the article "Opportunity or necessity?" on the site.
The same article notes that practice points to a bigger role for necessity, such as selling through social media and running a business alongside a job, and concludes that entrepreneurship in Syria is most likely a mix of both.
Example
A software engineer with a good salary in Damascus notices that pharmacies lose sales because they run out of stock. He builds a simple inventory tool and sells it to pharmacies, while he could have stayed in his job. That is opportunity entrepreneurship.
Common questions
What is the difference between opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship?
Opportunity entrepreneurship starts when someone sees a market need they can meet and has other options. Necessity entrepreneurship starts when someone has no better way to earn a living. Many ventures combine both.
Is opportunity entrepreneurship better than necessity entrepreneurship?
Not necessarily. The research reviewed in "Opportunity or necessity?" suggests that finance, networks and an environment that allows growth turn a venture into a productive business, not how noble the motive was.