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Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is an international initiative that introduces entrepreneurship to young people in six continents. GEW emerged in 2008 as a result of Enterprise Week UK and Entrepreneurship Week USA 2007. Since its creation, more than 10 million people from roughly 170 countries have participated in entrepreneurship-related events, activities and competitions during GEW.
This annual event occurs over the span of one week and includes the participation of millions of entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, researchers, educators, entrepreneurship support organizations and interested individuals. Currently, 165 countries celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week running national campaigns that generate approximately 35,000 events, activities and competitions.
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a non-profit foundation based in Kansas City, Missouri, established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. The Kauffman Foundation’s mission is to create “a society of economically independent individuals who are engaged citizens, contributing to the improvement of their communities. [1] ” Their two main areas of focus are: advancing entrepreneurship and improving the education of children and youth.
Enterprise Week UK is Enterprise UK's campaign to connect youth, women, homeworkers, people from ethnic minorities to entrepreneurial opportunities. It was founded in 2004 by the British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, the Institute of Directors and the Federation of Small Businesses.
Each country that participates in Global Entrepreneurship Week designates a host organization to lead the campaign (in rare instances, two or more organizations share this responsibility). Host organizations are responsible for galvanizing the momentum of their national GEW campaign—building a network of partner organizations to run events and activities during GEW and supporters to help promote the national campaign. Below is a list of participating countries, along with some of their past respective host organization(s).
Country | Host Organization | No. of Participants | No. of Partners | No. of Activities | Country Population | GDP per Capita | Ease of Starting a Business** |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Albania | University of Tirana | 250 | 1 | 5 | 3.2 | 3,808 | 45 |
Angola | Acelera Angola | -- | -- | -- | 18.5 | 4,081 | 164 |
Argentina | Endeavor Argentina | 8,150 | 61 | 75 | 40.3 | 7,626 | 142 |
Australia | The Frank Team | 200 | 5 | 5 | 21.9 | 42,279 | 2 |
Austria | Initiative for Teaching Entrepreneurship Austria | 900 | 10 | 15 | 8.4 | 45,562 | 125 |
Bahrain | O2M Communications, Young Arab Leaders-Bahrain | 1,510 | 6 | 10 | 0.8 | 26,021 | 78 |
Bangladesh | Young Entrepreneur and Leaders League (YELL) | 5,018 | 6 | 14 | 162.2 | 551 | 79 |
Barbados | Barbados Youth Business Trust (BYBT) | 7,600 | 325 | 34 | 0.3 | 14,050 | N/A |
Belgium | Flanders District of Creativity vzw | -- | -- | -- | 108 | 43,671 | 31 |
Belize | Youth Business Trust Belize | 1,000 | 7 | 4 | 0.3 | 4,062 | 148 |
Bermuda | Youth Entrepreneurship Initiative of Bermuda | 2,960 | 6 | 8 | 0.06 | -- | -- |
Bolivia | Red Bolivia Emprendedora | 174,000 | 192 | 146 | 9.9 | 1,758 | 166 |
Bosnia & Herzegovina | Agency for the Development of Small & Medium Enterprises | 380 | 14 | 15 | 3.8 | 4,525 | 160 |
Brazil | Endeavor Brazil | 2,605,306 | 456 | 3,243 | 193.7 | 8,121 | 128 |
Bulgaria | Junior Achievement Bulgaria | 1,230 | 26 | 27 | 7.6 | 6,423 | 43 |
Burkina Faso | Association pour la Promotion, le Soutien et le Suivi de l’envestissement Privé (APSIP) | 700 | 12 | 14 | 15.8 | 517 | 119 |
Burundi | SAGE Burundi | 25 | 2 | 3 | 8.3 | 160 | 135 |
Cameroon | Youth Business Cameroon | 30,000 | 12 | 55 | 19.5 | 1,136 | 131 |
Canada | Futurpreneur Canada | 99,400 | 400 | 701 | 33.7 | 39,599 | 3 |
Cape Verde | The Young Entrepreneurs Association of Cape Verde(AJEC) | 963 | 8 | 14 | 0.5 | 3,064 | 120 |
Chile | Endeavor Chile and Foro Pro Innovación | 13,000 | 90 | 100 | 17 | 9,644 | 62 |
China | Shanghai Technology Entrepreneurship Foundation for Graduates | 311,380 | 312 | 105 | 1,331.50 | 3,744 | 151 |
Chinese Taipei | China Youth Career Development Association(EBST) | 4,540 | 14 | 17 | 21.5 | -- | -- |
Colombia | Endeavor Colombia | -- | -- | -- | 45.7 | 5,126 | 73 |
Congo, Democratic Republic of | YES Network DRC | 4,080 | 20 | 0 | 66 | 160 | 146 |
Croatia | UMIS-SMEA | 330 | 10 | 12 | 4.4 | 14,222 | 56 |
Denmark | Ministry for Economic and Business Affairs (EBST) | 52,200 | 30 | 141 | 5.5 | 55,992 | 27 |
Dominica | Dominica Youth Business Trust | 531 | 4 | 7 | 0.1 | 5,321 | 38 |
Dominican Republic | Dominicana Incuba/Emprende | 4,740 | 19 | 19 | 10.1 | 4,637 | 137 |
Ecuador | Fundacion Emprender | 18,520 | 41 | 97 | 13.6 | 4,202 | 158 |
Egypt | Middle East Council for Small Business and Entrepreneurship | -- | -- | -- | 83 | 2,270 | 18 |
El Salvador | RTI El Salvador | 4,891 | 21 | 31 | 6.2 | 3,424 | 129 |
Finland | Aalto University School of Economics Small Business Center | 900 | 50 | 35 | 5.3 | 44,581 | 32 |
France | Journee de l’Entrepreneur | 100,000 | 600 | 623 | 62.6 | 41,051 | 21 |
Georgia | Association of Young Economists of Georgia | -- | -- | -- | 4.3 | 2,449 | 8 |
Germany | Federal Ministry of Economics & Technology Unit | 30,000 | 680 | 1,053 | 81.9 | 40,670 | 88 |
Ghana | Youth Enhancement International (YEI) | 2,000 | 15 | 8 | 23.8 | 1,098 | 99 |
Greece | Hellenic Associations of Young Entrepreneurs | 2,400 | 5 | 5 | 11.3 | 29,240 | 149 |
Guyana | Youth Business Trust Guyana | 60 | 1 | 2 | 0.8 | -- | 90 |
Honduras | Junior Achievement Honduras | 12,150 | 5 | 12 | 7.5 | 1,918 | 145 |
Hungary | Young Entrepreneurs Association Hungary | 4,700 | 5 | 30 | 10 | 12,868 | 35 |
Iceland | Innovit Entrepreneurship Center | 5,900 | 50 | 150 | 0.3 | 38,029 | 29 |
India | Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) | 12,700 | 63 | 171 | 1,155.30 | 1,134 | 165 |
Indonesia | Ciputra Foundation | 59,000 | 24 | 72 | 230 | 2,349 | 155 |
Israel | MIT Enterprise Forum Israel; Asper Center for Entrepreneurship HUJ | 14,000 | 120 | 200 | 7.4 | 26,256 | 36 |
Italy | META Group | 12,500 | 75 | 63 | 60.2 | 35,084 | 68 |
Jamaica | Ajawo Wheel | 2,300 | 4 | 5 | 2.7 | 4,471 | 18 |
Japan | The Honda Foundation | 1,900 | 10 | 12 | 127.6 | 39,738 | 98 |
Jordan | Queen Rania Center for Entrepreneurship(QRCE); Endeavor Jordan | 7,000 | 22 | 44 | 6 | 4,216 | 127 |
Kazakhstan | Young entrepreneur's club | 5,000 | 18 | 27 | 18 | 5,575 | 28 |
Kenya | Junior Achievement Kenya | 7,030 | 70 | -- | 39.8 | 738 | 125 |
Korea | Korea SOHO and Small Business Association; YES Korea | 500 | 10 | 5 | 48.7 | 17,078 | 60 |
Kyrgyzstan | Central Asian Free Market Institute, Public Foundation | 2,180 | 18 | 27 | 5.3 | 860 | 14 |
Latvia | SSE Riga - Entrepreneurship Support Centre | 400 | 3 | 5 | 2.3 | 11,616 | 53 |
Lebanon | Berytech Technology and Health | 1,130 | 20 | 20 | 4.2 | 8,175 | 103 |
Lithuania | ISM University of Management and Economics | 124,844 | 11 | 1,198 | 3.3 | 11,141 | 87 |
Macedonia | YES Foundation; Capacity Building Towards Knowledge Based Economy; Agency for Promotion of the Entrepreneurship | 5,000 | 40 | 107 | 2 | 4,515 | 5 |
Madagascar | HABAKA Madagascar Innovation Hub | -- | 3 | 5 | 19.6 | 461 | 70 |
Malaysia | Warisan Global | 70,000 | 180 | 713 | 27.5 | 7,030 | 113 |
Mali | Junior Achievement Mali | 75,00 | 63 | 10 | 13 | 691 | 117 |
Malta | University of Malta | 80 | 0 | 3 | 0.4 | -- | -- |
Mauritius | Empretec Mauritius | 1,800 | 15 | 34 | 1.3 | 6,735 | 12 |
Mexico | Impulsa and Endeavor Mexico | 40,796 | 55 | 260 | 107.4 | 8,143 | 67 |
Monaco | Jeune Chambre Economique de Monaco(JCI Monaco) | 170 | 1 | 1 | 0.03 | -- | -- |
Montenegro | Centre for Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED) | -- | -- | -- | 0.6 | 6,635 | 51 |
Morocco | Centre des jeunes dirigeants d'Entreprise (CJD) | 8,000 | 45 | 32 | 32 | 2,811 | 82 |
Mozambique | Empressa Junior | 700 | 4 | 6 | 22.9 | 428 | 65 |
Nepal | Samriddhi Foundation [2] | 2,150 | 10 | 21 | 29.3 | 427 | 96 |
Netherlands | HOPE Entrepreneurship Center | 18,000 | 175 | 160 | 16.5 | 47,917 | 71 |
New Zealand | Wellington Innovation Network (WIN) | 5,006 | 53 | 123 | 4.3 | 29,352 | 1 |
Nicaragua | Agora Partnerships | 350 | 1 | 3 | 5.7 | 1,069 | 97 |
Nigeria | Entrepreneurship Developments Services | 511,366 | 23 | 26 | 154.7 | 1,118 | 110 |
Pakistan | Youth Engagement Services | -- | -- | -- | 169.7 | 955 | 85 |
Palestine | Growth Training and Development | 7,000 | 80 | 40 | 4.6 | 3,021 | -- |
Paraguay | Incubadora de Empresas - Junior Achievement | 126,758 | 182 | 1642 | 6.3 | 2,242 | 102 |
Peru | British Peruvian Chamber of Commerce | 1,500 | 3 | 25 | 29.2 | 4,469 | 54 |
Poland | Global Entrepreneurship Week Foundation | 13,346 | 38 | 128 | 38.1 | 11,273 | 113 |
Portugal | Portuguese Business Angels Association (APBA) | 5,000 | 50 | 100 | 10.6 | 21,903 | 59 |
Romania | Junior Achievement Romania and GEA Strategy and Consulting | 51,000 | 26 | 1,300 | 21.5 | 7,500 | 44 |
Russia | Junior Achievement Russia and US Russia Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE) | 1,592,386 | 16,005 | 16,005 | 141.9 | 8,684 | 108 |
Saudi Arabia | National Entrepreneurship Center | 50,000 | 69 | 50 | 25.4 | 14,540 | 13 |
Senegal | ADEPME | 2,500 | 36 | 100 | 12.5 | 1,023 | 101 |
Serbia | Be Your Own Boss / Budi Svoj ovek DOO | 38,000 | 30 | 70 | 7.3 | 5,872 | 83 |
Sierra Leone | AFFORD | 350 | 5 | 5 | 5.7 | 341 | 61 |
Singapore | National University of Singapore, NUS Entrepreneurship Centre | 18,000 | 40 | 30 | 5 | 36,537 | 4 |
Slovakia | Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava | 6,435 | 5 | 10 | 5.4 | 16,176 | 68 |
Slovenia | GEA College | 420 | 8 | 23 | 2 | 23,726 | 28 |
South Africa | Wits Business School, Univ. of Witswatersrand, Junior Achievement South Africa and Endeavor South America | 741 | 3 | 16 | 49.3 | 5,786 | 75 |
Spain | IESE Center for Entrepreneurship, IESE Business School | 19,880 | 56 | 284 | 46 | 31,774 | 147 |
Sri Lanka | Young Entrepreneurs Sri Lanka | 11,696 | 62 | 18 | 20.3 | 2,068 | 34 |
Suriname | Women's Business Group Foundation | 130 | 3 | 3 | 0.5 | -- | 171 |
Swaziland | Technoserve - Swaziland | 3,100 | 13 | 32 | 1.2 | 2,533 | 153 |
Sweden | ESBRI - Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research Institute | 15,500 | 75 | 105 | 9.3 | 43,654 | 39 |
Switzerland (Lausanne) | HEC Espace Entreprise | 1,000 | 20 | 35 | 8 | 93,259 | -- |
Trinidad & Tobago | Youth Business Trinidad & Tobago | 90 | 1 | 4 | 1.3 | 15,841 | 74 |
Tunisia | Institut Arabe des Chefs d'Enterprise | 55,700 | 92 | 99 | 10.4 | 3,792 | 48 |
Turkey | Endeavor Turkey TOBB(Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey) | 18,836 | 118 | 178 | 74.8 | 8,215 | 63 |
Uganda | Enterprise Uganda | 8,960 | 22 | 32 | 32.7 | 490 | 137 |
Ukraine | Association "Socio-Economic Strategies & Partnerships'(SESP) | 35,131 | 6 | 1,120 | 46 | 2,468 | 118 |
United Arab Emirates | Higher Colleges of Technology | -- | -- | -- | 4.6 | 50,070 | 46 |
United Kingdom | Enterprise UK | 207,269 | 983 | 2,577 | 61.8 | 35,165 | 17 |
United States | Public Forum Institute | 445,896 | 1,313 | 3,286 | 307 | 45,989 | 9 |
Uruguay | Endeavor Uruguay | 7,257 | 54 | 73 | 3.3 | 9,420 | 139 |
Uzbekistan | GEN Uzbekistan | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Venezuela | DBAccess/ACCEDE | 19,048 | 50 | 183 | 28.4 | 11,490 | 144 |
Vietnam | Idocean Co., Ltd. | -- | -- | -- | 87.3 | 1,032 | 100 |
Zambia | Zambia-Comesa SME Toolkit Project | 680 | 7 | 1 | 12.9 | 985 | 57 |
Zimbabwe | Empretec Zimbabwe | 100 | 3 | 4 | 12.5 | -- | 143 |
A global partner is any organization that agrees to host one or more activities during Global Entrepreneurship Week. These organizations include:
The GEW logo is multi-colored compass with rounded typeface of ‘Global Entrepreneurship Week’ coming from the top right section. The color spectrum, which includes 26 colors, represents GEW’s international span. The compass shape adheres to the notion of navigation and the direction of entrepreneurship in the future. Many of GEW’s partners fuse their own logo with the compass in order to demonstrate a joint collaboration towards a global initiative.
Tom Byers is a professor at Stanford University in the United States. He concentrates in the area of high-technology ventures and serves as the faculty director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.
The Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, also referred to as NFTE, is an international nonprofit organization providing entrepreneurship training and educational programs to middle and high school students, college students, and adults. Much of NFTE's work focuses specifically on young people in underserved communities.
The National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE) is a non-profit membership organization founded in 2002 on the campus of Springfield Technical Community College in Springfield, Massachusetts. It is an organization of educators, presidents, and entrepreneurs.
The Yale Entrepreneurial Society (YES) is a student-run nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to encouraging entrepreneurship and business development in the New Haven, Connecticut area. YES was founded in 1999 by Yale undergraduates Sean Glass and Miles Lasater. Its social entrepreneurship program—focused on not-for-profit and socially responsible organizations—was founded the same year, with efforts led by fellow student David Pozen. Today, YES members include Yale undergraduate, graduate, professional students, and faculty, as well as several hundred Yale alumni around the world.
Enterprize Canada is a student-run, not-for-profit organization with the focus on promoting entrepreneurship while providing opportunities to young entrepreneurs to grow and develop their ideas. Established in 2001 under the leadership of founder Michael Lee and other undergraduate business students from the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, Enterprize Canada hosts Canada's largest student-run business plan competition and entrepreneurship conference. Over 250 student-delegates, industry professionals, and young entrepreneurs from across Canada meet annually in Vancouver, BC in this two-part event. While the conference and the business plan competition are the highlight events of the organization, Enterprize Canada hosts and participates in a number of community-based activities through workshops, conferences and social events that connects students in universities across Canada. Since 2009, Enterprize has also hosted the annual miniEnterprize conference which connects young innovators in across twenty high schools throughout British Columbia.
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk, and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
Steve Mariotti is the founder and former president (1988-2005) of the nonprofit Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), and the author of books and textbooks related to entrepreneurship education. Mariotti was inspired to found NFTE by his early career as a special ed teacher in New York City, as chronicled in his 2019 memoir, Goodbye Homeboy: How My Students Drove Me Crazy and Inspired a Movement, BenBella Books. After retiring as NFTE president in 2015, Mariotti served as Senior Fellow for Entrepreneurship at Philadelphia University (2016-2018), and Senior Fellow at Rising Tide Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey (2018-2020). In 2020, Mariotti executive-produced the PBS docu-series Trauma to Triumph: The Rise of the Entrepreneur. In 2021, he founded the nonprofit Center for Financial Independence, which provides social entrepreneurs with mentorship and fundraising training.
Carl J. Schramm is an American economist, entrepreneur, author, former President of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and University Professor at Syracuse University. He is the author of the book Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do, published by Simon & Schuster. The Economist named Schramm the "evangelist of entrepreneurship".
The African Leadership Academy (ALA) is an educational institution located in the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, for students between the ages of 16 and 19 years old, with current alumni coming from 46 countries.
Impact Entrepreneurship Group is a Canadian non-profit youth-run organization. Founded in 2004, it aims to foster and develop entrepreneurship among university and high school students. It has offices in Vancouver, Calgary and Waterloo, Ontario.
ESBRI - Entrepreneurship and Small Business Research Institute - is a Swedish autonomous institution which disseminates research-based knowledge on entrepreneurship, innovation and small business. ESBRI was founded in 1996 through a donation by Leif Lundblad, a Swedish inventor and entrepreneur. The overall aim of ESBRI is to stimulate entrepreneurship in Sweden.
In his "A New Beginning" speech on June 4, 2009, at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt, President of the United States Barack Obama announced, "I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world". The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship, held in Washington, D.C., on Monday April 26, and Tuesday, April 27, 2010, at the Ronald Reagan Building, followed through on President Obama's commitment by highlighting the importance of social and economic entrepreneurship, and strengthening mutually-beneficial relationships with entrepreneurs in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim communities around the world. At the second summit in Istanbul, Turkey, Vice President Joe Biden announced that the Presidential Summit would become the marquee event that kicks off Global Entrepreneurship Week each year, with the 2013 host being the United Arab Emirates.
A Startup Weekend is a 54-hour entrepreneurship educational competitive event, in which groups of participants form teams around ideas the Friday evening, and work during the weekend to develop a working prototype, demo, and VC presentation by Sunday evening. Startup Weekend is a hackathon-like event with a global presence. As of December 2016, it has reached 135 countries, involving over 210,000 entrepreneurs. Upon its 2015 acquisition, Startup Weekend, alongside Startup Week and StartupDigest, became one of the Techstars family of startup programs.
Based in Wichita, Kansas, Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) is a 501(c)(3) official non-profit educational organization. They state that their goal is to provide entrepreneurship education to students in middle school and high school.
Sharakah is a closed-joint stock company incorporated by a Royal Decree in the Sultanate of Oman in 1998. Sharakah provides financial support and post0financial to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the Sultanate of Oman.
Harvard Innovation Labs (i-Lab) is an institution which aims to promote team-based and entrepreneurial activities among Harvard students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of the Allston and Greater Boston communities.
The Entrepreneurship Cell, IIT Bombay, also known as E-Cell, IIT Bombay, is the primary entrepreneurship promoting body of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, managed and run completely by the students of the institute. It organizes initiatives like the annual business plan competition Eureka! and the flagship event, The Entrepreneurship Summit (E-Summit) in January each year, which receives a footfall of over 30,000 people who include students, investors, corporates, mentors, celebrities and the most important; Entrepreneurs.
Ted Gonder is an American entrepreneur and the co-founding CEO of Moneythink, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building the financial capability of young adults through technology-enhanced peer mentorship. Until July 2015, he was also a member of the U.S. President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans.
Venture Café is a nonprofit organization that hosts community events and programs that support early-stage entrepreneurs.