Celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week 2019

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is an annual celebration of entrepreneurs and the partners who support them to reach their entrepreneurial potential. The week is an opportunity to highlight the many social, economic, and cultural benefits entrepreneurs bring to their local communities as well as society as a whole.

GEW is a key moment for the Youth Business International (YBI) network as members around the world take the opportunity to share their work and celebrate the inspiring young entrepreneurs they support. This year we were also delighted to announce a new partnership with the IKEA Foundation and the renewal of our existing partnership with the Citi Foundation.

From Canada to Kazakhstan, listed below are just a few of our GEW highlights from around the YBI network:

Futurpreneur Canada

For the 11th consecutive year, Futurpreneur Canada was Canada’s official host for GEW. Celebrations included announcing the winners of the 2019 Futurpreneur Canada Award. Five incredible entrepreneurs were recognised in categories such as Growing Strong, Disruption and Grit. 5,900 votes were cast and all involved were recognized for their efforts and achievements.

Enterprise Uganda

Enterprise Uganda hosted a range of events supporting young entrepreneurs, including engaging notable guest speakers tackling topics such as business expansion. Young entrepreneurs were able to access expertise and coaching from business experts throughout the week. Enterprise Uganda also shared the inspiring stories of several of the young entrepreneurs they support through social media.

Habitat, Turkey

Habitat has taken a leading role in coordinating GEW celebrations since 2008 as part of a network of NGOs and universities. This year, Habitat organised a series of events to provide practical training to young entrepreneurs and plenty of opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to hear about the experience of young entrepreneurs who successfully set up their businesses. They also visited six universities in four different cities where they met over 6,000 students to discuss the importance of keeping up to speed with innovations in our digital world.

MOST Business Incubator, Kazakhstan

MOST Business Incubator ran training on soft skills such as leadership and communication for young entrepreneurs in the technology sector. This was the first pilot of a new curriculum developed by YBI in partnership with Youth Business Spain, Youth Business Russia, Aliança Empreendedora, Fundación Paraguaya and MOST Business Incubator. It drew on insight from YBI’s recent research on soft skills.

FATE Foundation, Nigeria

FATE Foundation hosted a policy dialogue exploring the theme “From Startups to Scale Ups”. The dialogue was part of an ongoing series and a reflects FATE Foundation’s commitment to enabling the entrepreneurship ecosystem through research, dialogue and advocacy. During the dialogue, they shared highlights of their latest research on enablers and inhibitors to scaling businesses in Nigeria. They also discussed topic such as state level policy and programmes supporting businesses to grow and the role that business support services can play.

Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago

Youth Business Trinidad and Tobago (YBTT) hosted several discussions and events exploring topics such as social entrepreneurship, the challenges and opportunities of exporting products, and sales training. YBTT also worked with the National Entrepreneurship Development Company to offer free open house days at each branch during which entrepreneurs could present a business idea and discuss questions and concerns with experienced business advisers and loan officers.

It was a busy and engaging week for all involved. Congratulations to everyone who took part – from members to partners and young entrepreneurs. We are already looking forward to GEW 2020!