Welcome to ‘The Startup State’ - a weekly bulletin from the GEN Policy and Research team highlighting key entrepreneurship news, reports, commentary and features from around the world.
News
- Pakistan is to launch its first National Women Entrepreneurship Policy, aimed at improving women's financial inclusion through dedicated financing, tailored banking products, and expanded support programs at federal and provincial levels. The policy targets a 5% rise in women's employment, 15% SME Fund allocation for women, a 50% increase in women exporters, and a 20% growth in co-working spaces (Pakistan Today)
- New Zealand has introduced an IP management policy that will cap the amount of equity that universities can take in academic research spun out into companies at between 5% and 10%. The new policy, to take effect from July 2026, is designed to boost the commercialization of spinouts (Global Venturing)
- Djibouti has presented a draft Startup Act to the National Assembly. The legislation, designed to support entrepreneurship and youth employment, will establish a formal 'Djibouti Startup' label, as well as a fund of funds and a startup visa (TechAfrica News)
- Egypt's General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) is to launch startup offices in free zones within six months. The move is designed to widen access for startups to the advantages offered by operating in free zones, including simplified procedures along with full customs and tax exemptions (Daily News Egypt)
- Nigeria has launched a Student Venture Capital Grant, supporting student innovators with up to 50 million Naira ($34,000) in equity-free funding. Known as the "Next Moonshot" initiative, the program forms part of the Renewed Hope Agenda, designed to turn campus-born ideas into commercially viable, high-impact ventures (TechAfrica News)
- Sri Lanka has launched the 'Sarvajana Trust', a non-profit, public trust, dedicated to advancing national development through entrepreneurship. The Trust aims to support and implement entrepreneurship development, especially for youth and women demonstrating entrepreneurial potential (Adaderana)
Research and publications
- The State of European Tech
This 11th annual Atomico report describes Europe as "at a crossroads" and identifies four "key ambitions" that will define Europe's success. Tech.eu summary - Women's Entrepreneurship Report: Navigating Challenges, Driving Change
This Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report - drawing on insights from 161,528 adults across 51 countries - shows that while women continue to demonstrate resilience and innovation, they still face persistent barriers that limit their full participation in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Comment and analysis
- What happened to entrepreneurship in the UK? (John Mullins, associate professor, London Business School)
- New Zealand's IP shake-up: A bold experiment in trusting inventors (Rod McNaughton, professor of entrepreneurship, University of Auckland)
- Disability Awareness Week: Entrepreneurship begins with learning to live with one's limitations (Valentin Tonti-Bernard and Clement Bernard, founders, Liberall Conseil - in French)
- 'Big in Japan' is not enough - where are Japan's global startups? (Maija Palmer, editor, Global Venturing)
- Europe needs to deliver tech promise for more years like 2025 (Mike Dolan, Reuters)
- Europe tech regulation: Yes to simplification, no to deregulation (William Echikson, editor, Bandwidth, Center for European Policy Analysis)
- No more paper work: How reducing red tape can boost businesses in regions (Alexandra Rusu, economist and policy analyst, OECD)
Features
- Inside Egypt's 80-point plan to win back its startups (Launch Base Africa)
- The EU promised to lead on regulating artificial intelligence. Now it's hitting pause (Politico)
- South Africa has a new plan to stop its startup founders fleeing (Launch Base Africa)
- He fled Assad. Now he's leading Syria's tech transformation (Rest of World)
- Four years, three launches: Senegal reboots its struggling startup act - again (Launch Base Africa)
- Entrepreneurship with a purpose: The revolving fund that supports families affected by prison (Contexto)
GEN Community Updates
- Global policymakers have rallied behind entrepreneurship during Global Entrepreneurship Week. Read their statements
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The opinions expressed in the articles above are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Global Entrepreneurship Network.