Global Entrepreneurship Week has expanded its reach into new ecosystems, welcoming a number of new host organizations responsible for guiding their national GEW campaigns going into 2014. The group brings the current total of participating countries to 142.
Representatives from the new host organizations attended the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Moscow in order to learn from their peers and start planning for GEW 2014—taking place from November 17-23. Several hosts inherited existing campaigns and are positioned to bring them to scale while others are bringing GEW to their countries for the first time.
Each of these organizations has a strong background as catalyzers and innovators within their communities and will be great additions to the Global Entrepreneurship Network.
AZERBAIJAN
Seymur Huseynov, Executive Director
Debate in Civil Society is a non-profit that aims to educate the society through youth initiatives including education & entrepreneurship. The Organization functions in seven cities throughout the country, including Sumgayit, Sheki, Mingechevir, Ganja, Lankaran, Nakhchevan and Baku.
Having organized already a number of activities for GEW in Azerbaijan as a partner, Huseynov aims to scale GEW through his extensive network as a host in 2014.
BOTSWANA
Mooketsi Bennedict Tekere, CEO
Ngwana Enterprises is a premier information technology services provider specializing in intelligently customized client-specific software solutions and entrepreneurship. Ngwana Enterprises has been operating since late 2009 and is the first IT services education provider in Botswana with an operating digital computer lab.
Realizing that Botswana needed entrepreneurs, Tekere initiated a Global Entrepreneurship Week campaign in 2013. In his vision, GEW would not only inspire potential entrepreneurs but also facilitate information sharing and expert guidance on a range of entrepreneurship-related topics in order to enhance tangible outcomes.
GABON
Young Entrepreneurs Gabonese Association (APJA)
Willy Aseko Allogo
Young Entrepreneurs Gabonese Association aims to contribute to the development of Gabon by promoting a strong economic private sector through the empowerment of Gabonese entrepreneurs. For this purpose the organization’s first step was to establish an incubator dedicated to the youth of Gabon to support young entrepreneurs.
Allogo and his fellow association members envisioned activities to foster entrepreneurial spirit among the youth and thus independently organized Global Entrepreneurship Week in Gabon in 2013. Their vision this year is to organize one activity simultaneously in every African country during GEW 2014.
GREENLAND
Lars Møller
Startup Greenland’s mission is to create jobs and growth, in both the short and long term. Startup Greenland is a 54-hour intense pragmatic event where people full of energy, skills and ideas come together to share and develop their ideas. The pragmatic approach of Startup Greenland is based on ensuring a high quality of learning and maximizing the impact of participants' efforts.
Møller organized four activities during GEW 2013 in Greenland, an island with a population of almost 57,000 people. Last year, he received the support of the Minister of Industry and Mineral resources. This year the stakes will be higher.
IRAQ
The American University of Iraq
Chase Winter, Institutional Development Officer
The Board of Trustees of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani set out to establish an institution dedicated to offering a truly comprehensive American-style education in Iraq. They sought to create a university where talented students in Iraq and the region would come together to learn, regardless of origin or affiliation. The university, determined to provide an alternative to the “lecture-memorize-repeat” model of education so prevalent elsewhere in Iraq and the Middle East, opened its doors in 2007.
Winter initiated a number of events in Iraq for GEW 2013 including the founding of an entrepreneurship community/club and an online activity with prominent entrepreneurs from the USA. This year he has already established various partnerships with organizations across Iraq from local women-focused entrepreneurship NGO’s to global brands and media organizations such as the Kurdistan Review.
TAJIKISTAN
Daniel Zaretsky, Member, Board of Directors
The American Chamber of Commerce in Tajikistan (AmCham Tajikistan) is a leading national business association providing access to opportunities for networking, business development and advocacy.
Zaretsky was the key person behind the first-ever Global Entrepreneurship Week in Tajikistan in 2013. AmCham Tajikistan organized the week with the support of the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan, the government of Tajikistan, the National Bank of Tajikistan and the State Committee on Investments and Property Management of Tajikistan. Zaretsky is currently working on forming an Advisory Board for this year’s GEW.
COTE D’IVOIRE
Patrick Mbengue
JokkoLabs is a private, not-for-profit international initiative launched in Dakar, Senegal. It is an independent “action tank” that aims to identify and support the innovative ideas from entrepreneurs of the digital economy, cultural industries and media in order to accelerate the competiveness of nations and prosperity for all.
Cote D’Ivoire is the third country for which Jokkolabs is coordinating GEW, after Senegal and Mali.
NEPAL
Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation
Deepandra Chamlagain
The Prosperity Foundation is a not-for-profit with the vision “to have a free and prosperous Nepal where individuals can live a dignified life in a vibrant and democratic society with equal access to opportunities and respect for rule of law.” Samriddhi works with policy makers, opinion leaders, entrepreneurs and the general public with the aim of bridging the existing gap.
Chamlagain has been building Global Entrepreneurship Week in Nepal since 2010 by bringing together people and organizations to help create an environment that allows entrepreneurial behavior to flourish.
SERBIA
Center for Entrepreneurship Support and Financial Education Novi Sad
Goran Secujski
Novi Sad is the administrative, economic, cultural, scientific and touristic center of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina and the second largest city in Serbia. The Center for Entrepreneurship Support and Financial Education supports organizations in Novi Sad that are dedicated to entrepreneurship, youth education and various related fields.
Secujski is a member of the Novi Sad City Council and responsible for guiding economic growth in the country’s second largest city. Having experience with GEW and a network in Novi Sad and Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, Secujski and his colleagues are focused on scaling GEW Serbia this year.
SINGAPORE
Ryan Soh, Co-Founder & Chief Executive
MoneyTree provides financial and entrepreneurship skills and knowledge to youths aged 6 to 26 to help them build careers and businesses as well as plan for their financial freedom. The organization also explores the opportunities available worldwide to further the dissemination and propagation of high-quality e-learning programs utilizing state of the art technology, and to groom the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Having been a GEW Partner in Singapore from the very beginning, Soh is ready to inject more new ideas to the entrepreneurship environment in Singapore.