Youth Venture

September 21, 2008 - 6:30pm — CONNELLWISE

Global Entrepreneurship Week

For one week, millions of young people around the world will join a growing
movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Dozens
of countries are coming together for the first time to host Global Entrepreneurship
Week, a global initiative to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination,
and creativity. To think big. To turn their ideas into reality. To make their mark.
The Week builds off of the phenomenal success of Entrepreneurship Week USA
in 2007. More than 1,300 organizations planned 3,700 activities celebrating innovation
and entrepreneurship throughout all 50 states. The idea inspired dozens
of countries to pledge their support for a global initiative, and in November 2007,
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Carl Schramm, the president and CEO
of the Kauffman Foundation, formally announced Global Entrepreneurship Week.
While it may be global in scope, at its heart the Week remains a local initiative
driven by community-based activities. Sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation,
Global Entrepreneurship Week/USA will inspire and inform young people through
these activities—online and face-to-face—helping them explore their potential
as self-starters and innovators. The Week will harness the energy of social
networking and connect people—students, educators, entrepreneurs, business
leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials, and others—
taking action to catalyze an entrepreneurial society.
Global Entrepreneurship Week/USA will weave into the fabric of everyday life,
engaging young people in school, at home, on the web, and at work. Through
this initiative, the next generation of entrepreneurs will
emerge—acquiring the knowledge, skills, networks,
and values needed to grow innovative, sustainable
enterprises with a positive impact on their lives and
the lives of those around them.