ABOUT THE WEEK
NUS Enterprise and ACE have come together to co-host The Week in Singapore for the second consecutive year.
This year, The Week will focus on the youth. Activities will be organised to inspire a new generation of young entrepreneurs. NUS Enterprise and ACE are bringing together more than 20 local partners, to organise a variety of activities.
“Besides reaching out to students, we are also leveraging on the alumni groups of the various Institutes of Higher Learning, to reach out to newly employable youths, and professionals already in the workforce. Through the range of activities and intiatiives happening during The Week, we hope to open up the youths’ minds to consider entrepreneurship as a possible career option,” said Dr Lily Chan, CEO NUS Enterprise.
“Entrepreneurship is a key driver of long-term economic growth and employment. ACE, together with our public and private sector partners, has introduced many initiatives to promote entrepreneurship among the youth and help raise a new generation of entrepreneurs in Singapore. Global Entrepreneurship Week is part of this effort to further increase awareness of entrepreneurship among the youth, said Ms Elim Chew, Co-Chairperson, Culture & Education Action Crucible, Action Community for Entrepreneurship.
What is Global Entrepreneurship Week?
Countries all around the world are joining together to carry the banner of Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative aimed at young people everywhere. During the week of November 16 - 22, 2009, partner organizations will conduct a range of activities - from simple speeches to comprehensive competitions - designed to inspire, connect, inform, mentor and engage the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The Week is a worldwide initiative that is linking all those willing to embrace it. Host organizations in each participating country are recruiting partners and coordinating related activities. The exact type of these activities, whether online or face-to-face, is limited only by the imaginations of the partners and the participants. And while a list of suggested activities such as invention competitions, entrepreneurship film festivals, networking events, school-based activities, and local entrepreneurship summits - will be available on the website, the actual activities conducted by partners will vary greatly.
And while it may be global in scope, at its heart, the Week is a local initiative that reflects the customs and entrepreneurial culture of each community. After all, what works in Boise, Idaho might be quite different from what works in Bangalore, India.
Background
Like many great movements, Global Entrepreneurship Week started with an idea. The notion to inspire innovation in youth began with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
The Week quickly grew into a worldwide movement to unleash the ideas of tomorrow’s entrepreneurs. In 2008, its inaugural year, the Week involved more than 3 million participants, 100 countries, 25,000 activities, and 8,800 partners.
2009 promises to be even bigger. A growing coalition of organizations is actively planning the Week in more than 75 countries. The Week will bring ideas to light and link them with enterprising, eager young minds.
Vision
For one week, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement of entrepreneurial people, to generate new ideas and to seek better ways of doing things. Countries across six continents are coming together to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, an initiative to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity. To think big. To turn their ideas into reality. To make their mark.
From 16 - 22 November 2009, Global Entrepreneurship Week will connect young people everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials and many others will participate in a range of activities, from online to face-to-face, and from large-scale competitions and events to intimate networking gatherings.
Through this initiative, the next generation of entrepreneurs will be inspired and can emerge. In doing so, they will begin to acquire the knowledge, skills and networks needed to grow innovative, sustainable enterprises that have a positive impact on their lives, their families and communities.
Global Entrepreneurship Week 2008 was a great success and a brilliant example of what can be achieved by bringing together different ideas and cultures around the theme of enterprise. In 2009, we aim to unleash young people's ideas around the issues that matter most to society, from poverty reduction through to climate change, and to foster a global culture which recognises entrepreneurs as drivers of economic and social prosperity.
Objectives
- Inspire. We introduce entrepreneurship to young people under the age of thirty who otherwise might not have considered it as a career path.
- Connect. We network young people and organisations across national boundaries to discover new ideas at the intersection of cultures and disciplines.
- Mentor. We enlist active and inspiring entrepreneurs around the world to coach and mentor the next generation of enterprise talent as they pursue their dreams.
- Engage. We demonstrate to opinion leaders and policymakers how entrepreneurship is central to a nation's economic health and culture, and give them the opportunity to learn about each other's entrepreneurial policies and practices.
