76% · 2%
Selling happens outside formal channels
76% of entrepreneurial ventures sell through social media and only 2% through online marketplaces, a clear sign of informal activity that needs payment, shipping and platform infrastructure.
Entrepreneurship Observatory · Edition 1 · October 2026
What does our entrepreneurial community's data say?
A reading of data on 795 people from the Syrian entrepreneurial community who engaged with AoSEn and its partners between January 2025 and May 2026. Of them, 338 are entrepreneurs with a running business, a prototype, or an idea they are actively building. Figures below refer to them unless stated otherwise.
Last updated: 7 October 2026 · Data from January 2025 to May 2026 · Next edition: April 2027
Pick a segment and see how the picture changes
Pick a stage, region, age, gender and sector and watch the figures change. Every figure is a percentage of people who answered, in multiple-choice questions the total can exceed 100%, and any selection of 5 people or fewer is hidden.
Key findings
Five facts about the entrepreneurs in our data
80%
The bottleneck is growth, not ideas
80% put better marketing and sales first, and 78% reaching more customers. They need growth programmes, not ideation programmes.
71%
Ambition is regional
71% want visibility and regional expansion, and 66% are looking for partners or investors. General training comes after that.
99%
Relationships come first
99% ask for networking, and their open answers repeatedly ask for a directory linking them to service providers and investors.
36% → 23%
Women drop off between interest and launch
Women are 36% of the community in our data but only 23% of people running actual ventures, and 7% in tech. The gap opens between interest and launch.
Read through the ILO SIYB framework
Most are past the start-up stage. Real demand is for improving and expanding
We placed everyone with a project or idea on the stages of the ILO Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme, based on how they described themselves. The largest group sits at Improve Your Business, and most of it is looking to Expand.
GYBGenerate Your Business30%
Thinking of starting
IYBImprove Your Business66%
Running, struggling with marketing and sales
EYBExpand Your Business71%
of running businesses want to expand
Shares are approximate and include only people with a project or idea. Expand Your Business is measured as the intention to expand among running businesses.
In their words
What entrepreneurs tell us
Focus on hands-on activities like real case studies, and interactive sessions that link product and growth.An entrepreneur
Investors won't put their money in hands they don't know.An entrepreneur
There is no support for temporary registrations or simplified procedures in the first year after launch.An entrepreneur
FAQ
Quick answers from the observatory data
What is the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs in Syria?
According to data on 338 entrepreneurs with active ventures in the AoSEn observatory (October 2026), the biggest challenge is better marketing and sales (80%), followed by reaching more customers (78%) and building customer trust (39%).
How do Syrian entrepreneurs sell their products and services?
76% of ventures sell through social media, 23% from a shop or office, 14% through their own online store, and only 2% through online marketplaces.
What stage are Syrian ventures at?
Read through the ILO SIYB framework, 66% of people with a project or idea sit at Improve Your Business, and 71% of running businesses want to expand regionally.
What share of entrepreneurs in Syria are women?
Women are 36% of the entrepreneurial community in the observatory data, 23% of people running actual ventures, and 7% in tech.
What do Syrian entrepreneurs need from support organisations?
Networking first (99%), then visibility and regional expansion (71%), partners or investors (66%), and training workshops (66%).
Method
How these figures were built, and their limits
- Sources: 16 registration forms and surveys from January 2025 to May 2026, collected by AoSEn and its partners: dialogue sessions, training programmes, events, a membership form and company surveys.
- Merging: one record per person by phone or email, with a name check. Result: 795 people.
- Active ventures: 338 people (43%) with a running business, a prototype, or an idea in progress. People only thinking of starting are excluded.
- Percentages: each is based on people who answered that question, since forms did not all ask the same questions.
- Sales and challenge questions: asked in sales and marketing programme forms, answered mostly by small ventures selling products or services to consumers. They may not fully reflect tech companies selling to other businesses.
- Estimated fields: gender is estimated from first name where not stated; tested on 154 people who stated it, it matched in 99.4% of cases. Sector is partly estimated from company name, job title and project type. Estimates are used for aggregate statistics only.
- Analytical framework: findings are read through the ILO Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) programme, ILO Recommendation 204 on the transition to the formal economy, and the domains of Isenberg's entrepreneurship ecosystem model: markets, finance, supports and human capital.
- Privacy: this page holds no individual records; all figures are aggregated.
- Limits: this is data on people who engaged with AoSEn and its partners, not a national survey. It leans towards Damascus and towards tech and trade ventures, and answers are self-reported.
How to cite the observatory
Association of Syrian Entrepreneurs (AoSEn). Entrepreneurship Observatory, Edition 1, October 2026. https://aosen.org/en/observatory
Build on this evidence with us
Donors and partners: we welcome co-designing programmes for the improve and expand stages. Entrepreneurs: every completed profile makes the next edition sharper.