MONTE CARLO, MONACO—Ernst & Young officially kicked off its global sponsorship of the 2008 Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 17-23, 2008), a first-ever worldwide series of entrepreneurship events, with the help of one of the Week’s founders, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

As a global sponsor, Ernst & Young will provide support and initiate activities designed to engage and encourage young people to pursue entrepreneurial ideas with the support of entrepreneurs, government officials, non-profit leaders and educators. To date, more than 70 organizations in some 60 countries are participating in the Week, which is expected to involve millions of young people around the world.

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In addition to thousands of activities being planned by partners, a few signature activities are designed to connect bright young minds across the globe.

• Unleash It!
  While there is no shortage of challenges facing the world today, countless ideas never come to the surface—leaving problems unsolved and opportunities missed—simply because no one stopped to consider them. Unleash It! uncovers these challenges—then links them to enterprising problem-solvers.
  
  Before we can unleash the ideas of the next generation of entrepreneurs on the challenges of today, we need your help in identifying those challenges – no matter how big or how small. Anyone can issue a challenge, e-mail your challenges to challenges[at]unleashingideas[dot]org
  
  
• Speed Network the Globe
  Networking is a skill that serves everyone—whether they ever consider starting an entrepreneurial venture or not. Organize a speed networking session in your community and enable local young people to sharpen their networking skills—talking to each other, local entrepreneurs, potential investors, community leaders, or anyone else interested in learning from--and sharing with--others. E-mail cspavin[at]unleashingideas[dot]org to learn more about what you can do to help network aspiring entrepreneurs.
  

• Watch the promo trailer
• Watch the full movie
• Sign up to receive a copy at no cost -- for universities, organizations, educators, students and parents around the world-- to inspire students of all ages.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown again voiced support for Global Entrepreneurship Week in an editorial promoting the need for greater UK/US relations in the Wall Street Journal. Brown stated, "I am proposing cooperation on enterprise, so that young business leaders in each country regularly conduct exchanges and learn from each other. 'Make Your Mark' – which champions entrepreneurship among young people in Britain – is linking up with the Kauffman Foundation in the U.S. to organize this November the first Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Read the full editorial in the Wall Street Journal

A first-ever worldwide entrepreneurship event that is expected to involve millions of young people is taking shape. Fifty-six countries have currently signed on to support and initiate activities for Global Entrepreneurship Week, Nov. 17-23, 2008. This inaugural Week will engage young people around the world to encourage them to pursue entrepreneurial ideas and opportunities through activities with the support of entrepreneurs, government officials, non-profit leaders and educators.

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We want you to be able to connect to everyone in our network and we have devised a bunch of ways for you to do so, using whichever platform you choose:

• Join our facebook group
• Become a fan on facebook
• Join our LinkedIn group
• Become our MySpace friend
• Join our Xing network
• Or friend us on Orkut

Finally, create a member profile page on our site to learn more about people who are actively running activities during the Week.

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What is a celebration of entrepreneurship and creativity without thousands of organizations bringing young people together through thousands of activities?

Sign up to become a Partner today and become part of a growing movement and get the young people in your community excited about entrepreneurship.