This year Hull is the UK's launch city for GEWUK. Hull will host seven major events to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs, starting on the morning of Monday the 13th, Hull’s first event of the week will be the official launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2017 in the UK.
For many years Hull has led the way in GEW engagement. With its own dedicated organisation coordinating GEW activity across the city, residents of Hull have benefitted from a wide range of GEW events with direct links to ongoing support. The ultimate aim of Global Entrepreneurship Week is to encourage more people to become active entrepreneurs, and the set-up in Hull is incredibly effective in making that happen.
Just one example of Hull’s coordinated approach is ‘The City Plan for Hull’ programme, which works on a range of fronts, from supporting innovative pilot projects to driving multi-million-pound investments into the city from partners across the private, public, voluntary and community sectors.
Since 2013, the City Plan for Hull has resulted in 6,800 more people in employment compared to 2011, with a focus on securing jobs for economically excluded groups.
So it was no surprise to the GEW team when the City of Hull was named the most Enterprising Place in Britain earlier this year by Small Business Minister Margot James. The Minister announced the winner at the fourteenth Enterprising Britain Awards. Judges were impressed by Hull’s wide-ranging approach to incentivising and supporting entrepreneurs and businesses, acknowledging that Hull had "5,000 more jobs and 6,800 more people in employment now compared to 2011".
“I want to congratulate Hull on being named the most enterprising place in the UK. Small businesses are vital to our economy, and Hull is a great example of how the right support can have a huge effect on helping them to start and grow.”
"[Hull is] a fantastic example of what can be achieved by applying an innovative approach to supporting businesses, and I wish them continued success."
In recognition of the great contribution to the local ecosystem made by GEW Hull, the city has been chosen to hold the official welcoming event for this year’s campaign, officially kicking off Global Entrepreneurship week 2017 on Monday morning.
Speaking on behalf Global Entrepreneurship Network UK, Managing Director Ewan Gaffney said: We’re delighted to see the official kick-off of GEW come to Hull – the team in Hull have led the way in developing a local GEW platform and using GEW to coordinate a range of activities to support local growth. Over the past decade, Hull has played a significant part in our national celebrations and that is why this year, as the UK’s Most Enterprising Place 2017, we’re delighted to kick off our campaign in the City."
Charles Cracknell Youth Enterprise Manager Hull City Council: "Hull has been fully committed to Global Entrepreneurship Week since it started 10 years ago -we see it as a way of not only showing how Enterprising our young people are but also to be part of a worldwide movement that supports and encourages entrepreneurship- we are proud that our first event of the week will be launching GEW UK and that by the end of the week 1000's of people throughout the UK will also be taking part in events and activities to celebrate this world wide festival of enterprise"