Global Entrepreneurship Week
In just a few weeks it will Global Entrepreneurship Week. Between 8-12 November, Global Entrepreneurship Network will celebrate 13 years of helping millions of people unleash their ideas to start and scale new businesses through Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW)
I have been responsible for leading GEW in two very different countries and the difference is interesting and puzzling to me. Granted the two countries are very different in terms of size and maturity of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The UK is very busy, crowded with initiatives and support from numerous ecosystem support organisations, but it is much harder to find examples of collaboration and support for joint initiatives. The country I lived and worked in the Middle East granted had all the advantages of starting afresh, yet there was a greater desire to collaborate during the week across of key stakeholders in the ecosystem, Govt, public and private sectors, academic institutions all came together to participate in this great opportunity to encourage entrepreneurship as the lever to bring about economic change driving the move away from a carbon based economy to a knowledge based one.
GEW was launched in London in 2008 with an emphasis on inspiring young people to make their mark and has quickly grown to become a comprehensive effort that engages entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, researchers, support organisations and others collaborating to advance economic growth and innovation in more than 180+ countries around the world. In the early days of GEW there was funding to be had from Government sources, sadly finding funding for supporting the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem is hard to come by.
Non Political ‘alternate embassies’ Network
One of the biggest advantages of connecting to the Global Entrepreneurship Network in whatever country you are in, is that the GEN is non-political and almost an ‘alternative embassy network’ across over 180 countries. Our programme for GEW UK has sort to bring together all those organisers of events together, to amplify our voice and represent the voice of entrepreneurs.
GEW UK offers government bodies, universities and corporates an opportunity to come together and support in very tangible ways the rebuilding of the UK’s economy post Covid. This year at GEN UK we are working hard to connect with a diverse range of organisations who are running their own events for GEW, we want to bring together all of those events in order to promote and support them, and to help us measure the impact of GEW in the UK and share our GEW UK stories across the whole GEN community. If you are interested in being a champion for GEW UK you can contact me here and I encourage you all to join our GEN UK HUB to let us know what you are doing and how you can participate in GEW UK 2021
