Republic of Moldova Celebrates 10th Edition of Global Entrepreneurship Week

Photo Credit: GEW2022 in Moldova
2022 marked the 15-year anniversary of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), a global movement celebrated for the 10th time in the Republic of Moldova, that inspires and empowers millions of people to unleash their ideas and start and scale new businesses.
Olesea
Fortuna

 

Young people were invited to join the campaign in 2008 to inspire them to make their mark in the world. The program, which was first introduced in Moldova in 2013, has quickly expanded to include a wide range of stakeholders working together to promote local and international economic growth, including entrepreneurs, financial institutions, decision-makers, researchers, support groups, and others. “Start locally, build globally” is the mantra for GEW in Moldova.

For GEW2022 Moldova, we concentrated on four unique topics that emphasized influential voices and organizations—along with inspiring activities—that promote partnership activities to foster entrepreneurial cohesion at the local level and connection to international levels.

EDUCATION

Together with ASEM, the International Economic Relations Faculty, and the Faculty of Design at UTM, GEW Education reset the way we educate and train entrepreneurs by examining internationalization, sustainability and the role of the circular economy in entrepreneurial innovation.

ECOSYSTEMS

In collaboration with stakeholders from the LOCAL BOND program, the Ecosystems track of Global Entrepreneurship Week aimed to assist communities across the country in collaborating and sharing their networks and markets to help startups thrive. Together, they overcame challenges and celebrate victories.

INCLUSION

The Inclusion theme showcased the commitment of startup champions across the country to minimize barriers to entrepreneurship, regardless of ability, gender, geography, age, or any other constraints that may hinder participation. Young people from eight regions of Moldova (Cimislia, Stefan Voda, Causeni, Leova, Ungheni, Straseni, and Chisinau) claimed their right to innovate and restructure the local economy of the cities they come from through entrepreneurship with high social impact via the CODE NEXT project. supported by the Ministry of Education and Research. 

POLICY

With the success of decentralization and a new generation of local administrations, it is hoped that local entrepreneurs will be motivated to start and expand on their own and collaboratively with cities. Thus within GEW, the invited city representatives discussed the possibilities and limitless opportunities for Creative Cities.

Our country's localities have addressed challenges individually based on the following rationales. Observing themes addressed, visions, and local solutions to community problems allowed us to record specific actions and mechanisms for multilateral collaborations in specific regions.

  1. Actor identification in local communities.
  2. An invitation to take part in developing and advancing the entrepreneurial infrastructures and building ecosystems in these communities.
  3. Engaging young people in the development of entrepreneurship through educational and alternative institutions.
  4. Participating in the partner organization's campaign to attract potential speakers from other localities.
  5. Entrepreneur identification and promotion in the region, as well as at the national and global levels.
  6. Diversifying entrepreneurial opportunities through coordination between local entrepreneurial ecosystem actors and local authorities.
  7. Promotion of key industries of the region through organized activities.
  8. Communication about the activities and specifics of the locality, as well as the promotion of the region through the economic-cultural specifics.
  9. Placement of the locality on the GEW global map.
  10. Exploring opportunities for attracting investment at the regional level.
Therefore, we would like to recognize the following partners from these ten years of GEW (in 2022 and beyond that) in the Republic of Moldova: ASEM the International Economic Relations Faculty, the General Directorate of Youth from the municipality of Chisinau, the Ungheni District Council, the Stefan Voda City Hall, the Communities of Youth and Social Activism from Cimislia and Cimislians everywhere, Creative Estonia, the YEP community, the Center of Excellence ZIPhouse, and many others who consistently support entrepreneurship education and help celebrate entrepreneurial efforts everywhere in Moldova.