GEW campaigns in Asia are actively spreading the word about entrepreneurship throughout the year. “Get them while they’re young” is an integral part of sustainable GEW campaigns and host organizations in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Malaysia are targeting students with their campaigns to equip them with the right skill sets to be successful entrepreneurs. Training programs and competitions, as well as regional and global collaborations continue to play a big role in GEW activities across Asia, as we review planned GEW activities in Korea, India and Vietnam.
Pakistan
GEW Pakistan, run by host organization Alternate Solutions, is collaborating with HEC Higher Education Commission, the regulatory body in Pakistan, to run their GEW campaign this year in more than 150 universities.
GEW Pakistan has also partnered with the PAUN Pakistan US Alumni Network to organize a three-day conference and entrepreneurial workshop. During the current planning phase of the event, GEW Pakistan hopes to involve some regional GEW partners for this event. Interested GEW partners in the region can contact Kashif Khan, CEO of Alternate Solutions, for more details.
Korea
The GEW host organization in Korea, Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation, will be organizing three main events in 2014: an Asia Entrepreneurship Research Network roundtable, an entrepreneurship best practice competition for educators and an Entrepreneurship Index Project for outlining community-based activities.
Seoul is also set to be the host city for the Startup Nations Summit, a global pick for GEW 2014. More information on Startup Nations Summit can be found on our website.
Sri Lanka
Young Entrepreneurs Sri Lanka (YESL), the host organization running GEW in Sri Lanka, continues to work on its mandate to motivate universities, schools, startups and the private sector to engage in entrepreneurial activities. A recent example was the Student Entrepreneurship Program run by YESL and sponsored by Ceylon Biscuits Ltd (CBL) to educate 300 school children to develop entrepreneurial skills and gain hands-on business experience. The children formed their own companies and developed products that were then taken to the market. At the end of the program, students presented the results of their work to the evaluation committee comprised of senior management from CBL and independent evaluators from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Chartered Institute of Accountants and the Central Bank.
The GEW Sri Lanka campaign also includes competitions such as “Festival of Thinkers” to boost creativity and innovation, “Think Biz” a competition searching for outstanding entrepreneurial ideas and an event challenge searching for outstanding entrepreneurial events.
Bangladesh
The GEW Bangladesh campaign is going strong this year with a number of different activities planned with partner organizations including a rally, seminars, workshop, boot camp, startup competitions and a widespread offline awareness campaign with Street Demos and Human Chains. The focus is on high visibility and the target groups are young people and women. As in previous years, the national campaign includes a strong media presence with partner organizations such as with talk shows, broadcast news, print and electronic media.
Malaysia
Congratulations to Dash Dhakshinamoorthy, co-founder of Startup Malaysia who has just been appointed as an advisor to GEW Global. Startup Malaysia is the host organization that runs GEW Malaysia. Recent GEW activities in Malaysia include the launch of the national GEW Board, an Asian accelerator program as well as a university-level pitch competition.
India
GEW India will continue to target aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs this year – expanding the campaign beyond massive urban centers and into second tier cities across India and building global partnerships to have a stronger global presence of mentors and subject matter experts at GEW India 2014.
Nepal
GEW Nepal has finalized partnerships with 15 organizations so far for their national GEW campaign and GEW activities will take place in at least 10 different cities throughout Nepal. GEW Nepal will collaborate with the Private School Association to reach to a wide range of secondary schools and encourage their students to participate in various GEW activities and competitions. GEW Nepal will also partner with Startup Weekend to boost participation and target more entrepreneurs to take part in sector-specific competitions.
Vietnam
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), the host organization behind GEW Vietnam, enjoys strong support for their GEW campaign from the government, business associations, NGOs and the private sector. GEW Vietnam has a wide range of activities planned with seminars on global economic integration, business environment and government policies for enterprises, workshops and training courses to start and improve your own business as well as a startup contest.
Photo Credit: Stars Foundation