Global Entrepreneurship Week

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.

Supporters

Founders

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.” 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.

Hosts

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	2,150	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

Global partners

A global partner is any organization that agrees to host one or more activities during Global Entrepreneurship Week. These organizations include:

• Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU)
• Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK
• DECA
• Endeavor
• Junior Achievement
• Entrepreneurs' Organization
• National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE)
• TechnoServe
• European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs (YES for Europe)
• Youth Entrepreneurship and Sustainability (YES, Inc.)
• The Prince's Youth Business International

Activities

• 4th annual Race to Entrepreneurship: This event is held by the St. Louis Regional Entrepreneurship Educators (STLREE). Teams must “think like an entrepreneur” as they follow a packet of clues and use public transportation to locate and photograph entrepreneurial landmarks in St. Louis.
• NFTE students at Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio compete in the GoVenture Lemonade Stand business simulation after-school. They record their scores after select "open days" and the top earners win a prize.
• University of Virginia Cup Entrepreneurial Concept Competition: Students submit a 3 page "business concept" and compete in the first round against students within their school or department. In the second round, the winners from each school or department compete against one another until a winning team receives the UVA Cup. Heads of schools can participate in a bet, the one who loses gets his/her head shaved on The Lawn. Additional competitions at UVA include YouTube video submissions, designs for the UVA Cup Trophy, and ideas for “game-changing”.
• Youth Lunch'N Learn: This event is hosted by the Asset Building Center. Local entrepreneurs share success stories and business-starting fundamentals to an audience of students.
• Youthpreneur: KooDooZ holds this program for 5th through 10th graders challenges them to make a social impact through tried methodologies. The students’ progress will be documented and interactive online webinars will be posted on KooDooZ's YouTube channel.

Official events

• The Global Cleantech Open Ideas Competition: A challenge created for green innovators. The goal of the competition is to produce clean technology ideas and collaborate with investors and CEO’s. The winning idea receives $100,000 in legal, marketing, and public relations support.
• 551 Speednetwork the Globe: A networking event hosted by YES for Europe in which entrepreneurs meet and speak with others in timed intervals to brainstorm and share ideas.
• Mentoring Madness: An event sponsored by NYSE Euronext. Students posed their entrepreneurial questions to a panel headed by Snoop Dogg. Winners were awarded $25,000 in startup funds.
• The Global Innovation Tournament: An event targeted towards saving money. Teams were asked to create innovated ideas to make saving money fun. Ideas were judged on innovation and novelty of the idea, how fun it was, and whether the idea created a positive impact.

Logo

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.

See also

• Global Startup Battle