MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES IN LEBANON

of age compared to 19% of male entrepreneurs; 46% of male and 60% of female entrepreneurs arebelow the age of 40.Table 24: Value-added per Enterprise Comparison (current and previous year of survey)Value-added per enterprise Current year Last year Difference N current N previousSize (no. of employees)1 534 505 5.7% 271 2592-4 1,218 1,184 2.9% 300 2775-49 10,050 9,696 3.7% 40 40Total 1,493 1,470 1.6% 611 576SectorIndustry 1,721 1,577 9.2% 65 67Construction 551 551 0.0% 2 2Trade 1,403 1,376 2.0% 432 404Hotels & Restaurant 3,038 3,583 -15.2% 41 34Other 963 900 7.0% 71 69LocationBeirut 6,780 6,983 -2.9% 57 53Mt. Lebanon 1,224 1,194 2.6% 161 145Beqaa 709 660 7.3% 114 104North Lebanon 754 723 4.3% 161 157South Lebanon 1,070 1,035 3.4% 118 117GenderMale 1,541 1,519 1.4% 565 533Female 900 856 5.2% 46 43TechnologyUses latest technology 3,193 3,159 1.1% 144 138Doesn't use latest technology 992 974 1.8% 436 408Traditional technology 763 720 6.0% 215 204Modern technology 1,956 2,002 -2.3% 335 312Up-to-date technology 2,509 2,057 22.0% 29 30OrganizationDepartment 7,206 7,332 -1.7% 22 20No department 1,288 1,259 2.3% 589 556In addition, around 50% of enterprises with only one worker are run by entrepreneurs in the 30-49 agebracket, while a higher percentage of 2-4 employee enterprises are run by those below 30 years ofage. The highest percentage of MSEs with 10-49 employees is operated by older entrepreneurs in the50-59 years age group.As shown in the table 27, the majority of MSEs were established at an early age (72% of MSEs wereestablished when the entrepreneur was 15-24 years of age), while only 10.9% are established by thoseolder than 25 years of age. It is noted that a relatively high percentage of MSEs were established byyoung entrepreneurs (17% established by people younger than 15 years of age).This is, however, gender sensitive, where females tend to establish MSEs at an older age (only 4.4%of female-run enterprises, compared to 18% of male-run enterprises, were established when theentrepreneur was younger than 15 years). Females also tend to establish their enterprise at older agegroups (only 2.5% of male run enterprises, compared to 14.5% of female run enterprises, wereestablished when the entrepreneur was older than 30 years).Although the establishment of MSEs peaks when the entrepreneur is 15-19 years of age, oneemployeeenterprises continue to be established in all age categories especially in the age bracket 30years and above. It is noted that bigger enterprises are established at the 15-19 year age group.As observed in Table 28, 73% of entrepreneurs are married, whereas 26% are single, and less than 2%are divorced or widowed. Gender differences are noted in this categorization, with a higher number ofsingle (40%), divorced, and widowed female entrepreneurs. The percentage of widowed femaleentrepreneurs is more than 11 times that of widowed males – 4.7 and 0.4% respectively –, and the32