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Budget Thoughts

March is Spring Budget time and much has been written about the changes and their impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

One of the areas that drew our attention was the announcement of 12 new Investment Zones, clustered around universities and modelled on Canary Wharf in London. The government said it is also 'working closely' with the devolved administrations to establish how Investment Zones in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be delivered. We have long thought that The Global Entrepreneurship Network UK needs ensure that we avoid being 'London centric' and have appointed National Directors for Wales, NI, England, Scotland plus a director for the Channel Islands. The focus of each National Director is to engage in their regional ecosystem and help to promote best practice across our UK network and across our global network of 200 countries.

Keeping on the topic of government and budgets, we are privileged to be a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Entrepreneurship which was set up to support, encourage and support entrepreneurship. Administered by The Entrepreneurs Network, the APPG takes every opportunity to comment on the state of entrepreneurship based on research and input from members and their networks. Philip Salter from TEN recently commented on the Chancellors announcement in his blog :

"The Chancellor’s ambition to build 12 potential Canary Wharfs across the UK is a weighty challenge. I was quoted in ConservativeHome on this: “Tax breaks and subsidies are all well and good, but critical to Canary Wharf’s success was bold planning policy – building quickly at density. In 1990 the first tower built was the 244m Canary Wharf skyscraper at One Canada Square – then Britain’s tallest building for two decades. This is the sort of ambition we need to see if this policy is going to be a success, but one that recent governments have failed to realise at scale.” As we have argued, it’s time to build."
We look forward to seeing how these new investment zones support entrepreneurs and startups in each of the 12 locations, and we are happy to help!

Our New National Director for Scotland:

We are delighted to announce that our new National Director for Scotland is Kendra Byers. Kendra is a dedicated and driven individual committed to supporting entrepreneurial activity in Scotland. As Business Engagement & Communications Manager at Bright Red Triangle, Edinburgh Napier University’s enterprise hub, she works with aspiring entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life. She also acts as Ambassador for the Scottish Business Network, connecting dynamic organisations with the Scottish diaspora to support their growth.

Kendra's achievements include being shortlisted by the US Consulate as 1 of 6 UK-based entrepreneurs to attend GES 2017 and being listed in the 40UNDER40: Scotland 2016/17. As the director of StartEDIN, she was part of the project team to win Edinburgh Entrepreneurial City of the Year 2016 and created links between Edinburgh and global tech hubs in Asia, Europe, and North America.

In 2017, Kendra devised and delivered Scottish International Week which has since become one of Scotland's premier global annual events, attracting over 10,000 unique attendees to over 60 events. She was also part of the project team working on the largest stu

dy of the Scottish business diaspora, which was published in 2020 with over 1000 respondents from 74 countries during her tenure as Head of Community and Strategic Partnerships with SBN.

Kendra's goal is to offer support and experience to alleviate the challenges entrepreneurs face and ensure they are aware and have access to the resources they need to succeed.

GEN UK HUB

Our online community now has over 2,500 members and is part of a larger community of over 60,000 innovators and entrepreneurs. When talking to startups and entrepreneurs thinking of starting or scaling a business, we often hear that their main problem is knowing where to to go for advice, there are so many organisations out there offering help, support and advice that it can be overwhelming.

- News of competitions and opportunities to promote your business

🤝🏼 - Global connections across different communities, search over 60,000 members to find the right person or organisation to connect with

🏻‍ - Resources, reports, webinars, subject or sector specific groups to interact with and share ideas

- Access to one to one support from members of the GEN UK Team and partners

🤝🏻 - Join the GEN UK HUB and share in the benefits of being a member of a leading community of innovators and entrepreneurs. Network, find advice, collaborate, connect with experts and funders - Access the HUB for Free here

Join GEN UK Hub

GEN UK Opportunities

Cambridge Ignite - 2-7 July 2023

Join the international one-week Ignite programme at Cambridge Judge Business School. Learn about value proposition, route to market, business model, financing strategy and team building and plan for your next steps!

Value for you:
Learn from the academics and practitioners
Get support from a dedicated mentor
An opportunity to pitch to investors
Access to a high value network

We are pleased to support The Judge Business School. The members of our GEN UK Network are encouraged to apply Ignite2023!

Apply Now

GEC 2023 | 19-22 September 2023

Vibrant, scalable, and high-performing startup ecosystems have the power to transform global ecosystems, infrastructure and communities. It’s time to build sustainable, resilient connections between entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and community leaders from across the world.

Join thousands of voices from 200+ countries in September for GEC 2023: Transform Your World. Together, we’re kick-starting a new era of vision-casting, collaboration and collective action to solve global challenges, create long-lasting growth and make people’s daily lives better.

⛱️ - Join us in Melbourne in for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress - Plans are well underway for the next annual congress and we'd love you to join us. Please register online and also inform us if you would like to be part of the UK's delegation for #GEC2023, we will have a separate programme of activities for GEN UK Delegates. Email us at hello@genuk.org for discount code.

Register Now

Global Entrepreneurship Week | November 13 - 19?

Global Entrepreneurship Week is now in its 16th year and each year creates opportunities for thousands of entrepreneurs and supporters to engage in a week of celebrations, information, networking and education.  There are opportunities to share successes, learn from others, teach, network and find new opportunities and talent for your business. There are many ways you can become involved:

- Organise an event.  You can do your own thing, let us know what you are planning and we can provide the branding collateral and help to promote your event

🥇 - Sponsor an event.  Being an Ofﬁcial Partner of GEW UK 2022 provides a unique opportunity for your organisation and brand to be at the heart of the entrepreneurial ecosystem across the UK and around the world. You can sponsor an array of events and activities hosted through our community platform, the GEN UK HUB. Choose from our ready made packages, or we can create a bespoke solution for you.

- Volunteer to be part of our planning team for Global Entrepreneurship Week UK - our National Directors are putting together a team in each region to identify and support local initiatives.  This is a great internship opportunity which will give volunteers opportunities to work with global innovators and entrepreneurs as well as their local ecosystem.  We are looking for interns who want to engage in communications, social media, event management and networking with our corporate partners and global colleagues.  For more information contact: kmatthews@genukorg

Join GEN UK Hub

Startup Planet is back this year at COP28

Our 2023 conference will bring together green and blue entrepreneurs, policymakers and investors to help fast track and scale net zero solutions to meet the Paris goals. Startup Planet was first held in Glasgow coinciding with COP26 and Global Entrepreneurship Week. Last year 30 speakers from 10 countries took part in two days of discussions during COP27. In the lead up to GEW22 our intrepid driver, Clara Stone, drove an EV from Glasgow to Sharm El Sheikh across 11 countries finishing at the Innovation Zone. This year we are going big and bold. Starting during GEW23, we are planning Le Zero, the first annual zero carbon rally from Paris to Venice. Le Zero is open to any EV who would like to share the adventure. We hope to run a local Le Zero EV event in Dubai to launch the Startup Planet conference. The theme for Startup Planet 23 is mobility innovation. If you would like to know more or take part in Startup Planet 23 and Le Zero please email Marc Ortmans: mortmans@genuk.org

Happy to help.

Marc Ortmans, Chair: mortmans@genuk.org
Elaine Gold, Executive Director & MD: egold@genuk.org
Katie Matthews, National Director NI & Director GEW UK: kmatthews@genuk.org
Beauty Akter, Insights Director: bakter@genuk.org
Md Asif Iqbal, Director Special Projects: asif@genuk.org

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GEN UK - Comment, Updates and Opportunities | March 2023