This my final post from the road marks the beginning of planning for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009.  For those that did not follow my reports, I have traveled this week to New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Germany, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Switzerland before touching down on Day 7 of the Week later this evening in the US. As we look to take our inaugural effort to the next level, let us know your thoughts and ideas. 

I end my trip with a short and fitting layover in Zurich. Switzerland did not participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week and serves as a good transition from my final blog post during the Week to my first in a series of posts that will be directed at specific non-participating countries in the months ahead as we issue a call to all nations to join our global movement in 2009.

Switzerland faces similar challenges to other European countries in creating an optimal entrepreneurial ecosphere.  The Swiss schooling system has traditionally has been better suited to develop students for careers in large companies, rather than small ventures; a fear of start up failure is evident with failure in business following entrepreneurs for their entire career and not being viewed as an accumulation of experience.

Yet new businesses face a very friendly environment here. The country offers excellent infrastructure and a highly educated workforce to build a platform for new ideas. In “Ease of Doing Business,” this country ranks 21 out of 181 economies studied by the World Bank.

This story is one that can be found throughout the world - great assets but remaining road blocks to unleashing the entrepreneursial spirit. In a world of diminishing national boundaries, we can improve human welfare faster with fewer barriers and more encouragement for entrepreneurship and what better way to advance it than through the faces and voices of the future generations of national leaders.

To Switzerland and the half of the world that did not hear about Global Entrepreneurship Week this year, we invite you to join us in 2009 and to let your younger citizens make their mark and show all of us the way to a more prosperous future.  To all the other nations who did participate, thank you and stay with us at unleashingideas.org as we look to building the “unleashing ideas” movement across the globe.

One of the highlights of a very active and successful week of entrepreneurship activities in France was a conference held in the historic and magnificent auditorium of the Sorbonne in Paris. The title of the conference was “Entrepreneurs: A Cultural Revolution?”.

The event kicked off with a keynote speech from Hervé Novelli, French Secretary of State for Trade, Craft Industries, SMEs, Tourism and Services (Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment) followed by a series of high-level panel discussions which included discussions of the results of two recent entrepreneurship polls taken in France. A statement was read from French President Nicolas Sarkozy supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week and the work of the French hosts, Journées de L’Entrepreneur. In the statement, he reminded us that “entrepreneurship” was once a French word but noted that it now has become universal. Several key French Ministers also leant their support to the event through video taped statements. Perhaps most importantly though, several impressive entrepreneurs, including a famous sports hero, shared their experiences and served as inspiring role models.

After a week of traveling throughout cities in Europe, it was a fitting finale to the activities for the week! Congratulations to the Journées de l’Entrepreneur for their terrific work in mobilizing such an impressive number and range of activities throughout France.

The Race to BE, a nationwide competition that encourages young creative artists to become entrepreneurs, hit Austin on Wednesday. The signature U.S. activity during Global Entrepreneurship Week, the competition is focusing on the genres of film, music and fashion. Each competition takes place in its respective artistic center: Los Angeles (film), Austin (music) and New York (fashion).

Russell Simmons, the host of the Race, joined five finalists with entrepreneurial aspirations in the film industry who met with a team of mentors and presented their ideas to a panel of judges.

Take a look at the following video to get an idea of what happened…

Stay tuned for the announcement of winners from BE. The Style in New York! In the meantime, meet the Austin finalists and learn more about the Race to BE.

The Race to BE, a nationwide competition that encourages young creative artists to become entrepreneurs, hit its final destination — New York — Friday. The signature U.S. activity during Global Entrepreneurship Week, the competition is focusing on the genres of film, music and fashion. Each competition takes place in its respective artistic center: Los Angeles (film), Austin (music) and New York (fashion).

Russell Simmons, the host of the Race, joined five finalists with entrepreneurial aspirations in the film industry who met with a team of mentors and presented their ideas to a panel of judges.

Take a look at the following video to get an idea of what happened… and who won.

Congratulations to the three winners of the Race to BE:

• Ben Sinclair
  BE. The Story (film): Los Angeles
• Tripp Gobble
  BE. The Sound (music): Austin
• Vaughn Jereaux
  BE. The Style (fashion): New York

When I was a young boy growing up in England, Bill Shankly was a living legend coaching Liverpool F.C. in the English Premier League. Shankly once said:

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.”

Today I was reminded of that saying while watching the Enterprise Cup in Kenya. Sakoma just concluded a series of football matches, soccer for those in America, which featured teams from impoverished areas of the country. These players used their entrepreneurial spirit to turn sport into a way to better themselves and their communities - with the winner earning about $4,000 to start a business.

 Earlier today I met with Dr. Cyrus Njiru, Permanent Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade who reminded me the entrepreneurial spirit is soaring in Kenya.  Kenyans he told me just need more help in guiding it and connecting it.  Google monitors search activity by region, by country, and by year.  In 2007, Kenya ranked #1 in the world for searches on the word “entrepreneurship.” No wonder there is a lot of excitement this week here. Kenya’s entrepreneurship education might be contributing to this interest. In Kenya, the teacher colleges offer Masters programs in Entrepreneurship Development.

In 2006, a Kenyan was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Youth Business International (YBI): Zablon Karingi Muthaka. Zablon runs his own waste management business here in Nairobi, Kenya. He saw the opportunity for a waste collection business in his local community, Kangemi, a slum on the outskirts of Nairobi. Zablon’s company, Beta Bins Waste Management, operates throughout the slum, getting paid to pick up people’s domestic waste and recycling much of the waste. In an interview after receiving the award, he said: “I want to be the Bill Gates of the waste management and environmental conservation industry.”  Kenya has been experiencing an annual growth rate in Kenya is 6.1% (2006). Will entrepreneurs like Zablon be able to sustain it? 

It is now the end of Global Entrepreneurship Week / Kenya.  Many thanks to Sacoma who invested so much time, sweat and money in making it a success - a true example to us all of start-up mentality.  It is not, however, the end of the Week throughout the world. There is still one more day and a handful of activities in some of our host countries. My trip is winding down and the finish line is in sight — back home to Washington, DC after a stop in Zurich, Switzerland.

I had the pleasure of joining about 60 enthusiastic Junior Achievement-Young Enterprise alumni from across Europe at the start of their annual conference which took place in Milan during Global Entrepreneurship Week. The theme focused on leadership and in true entrepreneurial form, the event was structured as an interactive and experiential workshop rather than a conference. The participants were divided into three groups and sent to creative workspaces to experience their leadership capabilities through word, sound and pictures. While I wasn’t able to stay for full event, it was clear they were set to have a productive as well as fun time!

Junior Achievement is one of the global partners of Global Entrepreneurship Week and a number of the participants at the conference were involved in activities for the Week in their home countries. We greatly appreciate Junior Achievment’s active role in reaching out to their students and alumni throughout the world!

A group of about 100 university students at the Polytechnical University of St. Petersburg, designated as the most innovation-intensive university within the Russian Federation, attended an all day workshop organized by the Russia Center for Entrepreneurship Technology. Speakers were drawn from the Kauffman Foundation, Microsoft, a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm, and Russian institutions spanning university, corporate, and foundation sectors.

Several students were in the launch phase of their enterprise and about half the audience was actively working on a business idea. Dr. Georgy Laptev from Moscow State University described activities at his university and across the Russian Federation. All speakers spoke about the importance of an entire ecosystem supportive of entrepreneurs and the immense value of social networks. The scientific and technical prowess of Russian universities and its importance to the launch of high growth companies in the future was underscored by Clare Fairfield of Concerto Venture Partners in Silicon Valley.

The importance of teaching and supporting entrepreneurship across the university rather than isolating it within the business school found concurrence across speakers. Igor Molokoyedov from Streamer presented a very interesting case study to students of a recent and successful Russian start-up, coupled with a caution from multiple speakers that we learn even more from those start-ups that fail rather than focusing just on those that succeed.

Entrepreneurship, like many things these days, is a global issue. There are entrepreneurs in every country, in every corner of the world. Yet to each, entrepreneurship means something different. Unique cultures, traditions, languages and economics give each entrepreneur a different idea of the meaning of entrepreneurship.

Today, university students from Ghana teleconferenced with students at California Polytechnic State University to discuss their differing ideas of entrepreneurship. The discussion ranged from cultural influences on entrepreneurship to economic influences. The students also discussed how entrepreneurship can aid in accomplishing the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. The University Debate I participated in at the University of Ghana was worth the visit.  Organizers had technology that worked and Bud in California and I both set out some opening remarks to drive discussion.  I should note there were more young Ghanians than Americans.  As Bud said, “I love Ghana.”

Youth are most assuredly the focus of Global Entrepreneurship Week / Ghana. There will be awards given to young entrepreneurs, a youth enterprise rally, documentaries on youth entrepreneurship and a young talent explosion concert. That’s not to mention the various other activities happening across the country.

Ghana is a well-administered country by regional standards, and is often seen as a model for political and economic reform in Africa. Yet Ghana faces many challenges in its entrepreneurial culture. Ghana’s “Ease of Doing Business” rank is 87 (out of 181 economies). Ghanaians generally do not face problems in starting micro-businesses. The difficulty is in growing their businesses beyond that level because they lack credit and because of the cumbersome procedures to going formal. The registration centers are mainly in the major towns and hence many potential registrants face costs of registration. For example, although the normal cost of registration is ¢220,000 ($22) and an additional yearly renewal of ¢100,000 ($10), it usually costs many times more to register a business due to the cumbersome procedures involved.

The barriers to entrepreneurship are higher for women. Women make up about 50.1 percent of the labor force and most of them are involved in microenterprises and retail trade. Even though the legal framework for businesses in Ghana does not contain explicit provisions that constrain women’s economic potential, there are a number of cultural practices regarding land and property ownership as well as regulatory and institutional factors such as access to finance that constrain small entrepreneurs and women in particular. Check out an International Finance Corporation report on these issues.

We hope the young Ghanian voices participating in Global Entrepreneurship Week/Ghana will set an example to the Ghanaian government in encourgaing deliberate policies to improve participation in entrepreneurial activities among all sectors of the population.
I, must move on to Kenya to close out this amazing week and this amazing initiative.  Watch for an amazing story from Nairobi this weekend which I am expecting to be our largest event and a fine finale.

Nigeria does not seem like an ideal place to be an entrepreneur. Here, entrepreneurs have to face many obstacles. For example, one of these challenges is infrastructure. The World Bank has estimated that if Nigeria is able to remove electric power constrains, Nigeria will at least gain 30% competitiveness in production. I stayed at a top end Sheraton and the power still went out.  Other challenges include lack of information about markets, access to finance, and government corruption. Not surprisingly, Nigeria ranks 118 out 181 economies in the ease of doing business in the latest World Bank’s Doing Business Report.

Yet despite the low odds for successful entrepreneurship, there is a relatively high interest in entrepreneurship in Nigeria. A 2007 Gallup Poll conducted in Nigeria shows that 67% of Nigerians have thought of starting a business. This is one of the highest rates in West Africa where the median percentage of respondents who say that they have thought of starting a business is 44%. Furthermore, a significant percentage of respondents have firm plans: almost one-half (45%) of Nigerians say they plan to start a business in the next 12 months. Additionally, most Nigerians (80%) are very confident that a newly created business will do well in their country.

And these respondents are not being naïve. They recognize the challenges they will face. For example, almost three-quarters of Nigerians (73%) say it is not easy to obtain a loan. Additionally, majority of Nigerians (59%) also say that the government does not make the filing process easy enough for anyone who wants to start a business.

Perhaps an interesting example of this entrepreneurial drive is “Nollywood.” In the last six years, this is an industry that has been growing significantly in Nigeria. It is named after Hollywood and Bollywood. Nigeria’s Nollywood is now the third-fastest growing entertainment industry in the world. Demand for Nollywood extends outside this country.

The day I spent here in Lagos allowed me to be a first hand witness to this. I was joined at the Future Face of Enterprise event organized by our able host, Chidi Anekwe by Nnebedum Chukwuma the current President of JCI and the inspirational Chimaobi Agwu who is Director of JSME lending at Integrated Microfinance Bank(leading Microfinance bank in Nigeria).  Chimaobi clearly demonstrated an accurate understanding of the ever changing dynamic and fast current marketplace and how entrepreneurs can capitalize on it.  Captivating - even if I suspect he is not representative of the average Nigerian.

The Nigerian economy, historically, has depended significantly on oil revenues. As the country tries to diversify away from dependence on oil, entrepreneurs such as those I met today and those in the Nollywood industry will be crucial to the future of the Nigerian economy.

My suggestion.  Start with the roads.  We made good use of the time in the car, but thank goodness for cell phones or Nigerians would get nothing done but driving from A to B and back.

Thank you for having me folks.

The launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week in Seoul, South Korea was hosted by the Korea Institute for Future Strategies (KIFS). KIFS president Dr. Jin Park welcomed two keynote speeches at the kickoff event, “Strategies for Future Entrepreneurs,”one by John Foarasi, the U.S. embassy’s Minister-Counselor for Commerical Affairs, and another by Dr. Tim Kane of the Kauffman Foundation.

Kane’s speech emphasized the need for entrepreneurial capitalism as Korea transforms into an economic superpower, and also called on both Korea and the U.S. to move quickly to expand a free trade agreement:

“Is it not odd that our troops have fought together as allies, and mixed blood on the battlefield, yet our politicians are so hesitant to let our goods mix freely in the market?”

Three discussion panels included remarks from leading Korean economists and policymakers, notably Professor Byeong-Rak Song of Seoul National University. Many panelists urged Korea to address the barriers to growth in the real economy, with particular emphasis on infelxible labor regulations that hinder entrepreneurial hiring. Panelists agreed that Korea’s high degree of human capital and entrepreneurial culture were reasons for optimism, but warned against the long-time strategy of favortism for Chaebol and centrally-guided investments, which may not be as effective at this stage of development.