As November approaches, hosts and partners in Germany are preparing to celebrate entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial spirit through Global Entrepreneurship Week, marking the 10th year for the global movement.
GEW Germany is made up of thousands of events in different cities around the country, and the celebration is led by host oraganizations RKW Competence Center, and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Sonja Alt, project manager for the RKW Competence Center, said when GEW Germany started, it was a regional initiative with 120 events. With the support of the Federal Ministry, and led by Birgitta Ratazzi-Förster, project leader for RKW, the celebration has grown to now include more than 1,350 partners and approximately 80,000 potential entrepreneurs who attend various events across the country.
“Now, GEW Germany is an established brand widely known in the entrepreneurial scene in Germany,” said Alt. “We get requests year-round from people who want to participate and the events are no longer only limited to the core week in November.”
In 2015, Germany was recognized at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Medellín, Colombia, with the GEN Compass Award for GEW Country of the Year, for their outstanding campaign and support and encouragement of women in entrepreneurship. Youth in entrepreneurship is another major topic for GEW Germany. Alt said there have been many events over the years, and that she and her team could not pick one individual GEW activity to call their favorite.
“It’s always very inspiring to see young people learning about entrepreneurship and starting to recognize this as a future career option. [This] is why we had several different activities and initiatives for schools over the past years and a focus on this target group in this year’s campaign,” said Alt. “Also, senior entrepreneurship is of great importance in our country, and we are lucky to have a network of supporters who work together with us on this topic during GEW Germany and beyond.”
For the country, access to information and the ability to engage in the rapid evolution of ideas within the national ecosystem have been key factors in how the entrepreneurship ecosystem has changed in the past 10 years from a “rather exclusive approach, to a wide band of collaborative activities and attitude.”
“The evolution has also taken place in the entrepreneurial mindset. Startups turn out to be the creative motor for the economy,” Alt and her team said. “They identify problems and [raise] questions, besides the beaten path of larger companies and develop feasible business models. The entrepreneurial [startup] ecosystem has grown up and plays a pivotal role in the economy.”
Over the past decade, GEW Germany has established a network of 35 supporters—corporate businesses, financial and startup associations, administrative organizations, regional ministries and national chambers—that advertise GEW Germany, have helped it flourish and continue to do so.
Alt said people should participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week because many of the activities are free and also easily accessible.
“People can connect, learn, get helpful information and make the first steps toward their own business in a great variety of events,” she said. “In this way, GEW Germany helps to inspire, encourage and support the next generation of entrepreneurs in Germany.”