More than 2,400 people from 171 different countries attended the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Istanbul on April 17th, 2018. The event included in-depth sessions, workshops and relevant discussions on the latest developments in entrepreneurship from around the world. The focus was on the intersection of mindset, culture and barriers that exist within all entrepreneurship ecosystems.
The Congress began with the Startup Nations Ministerial which covered topics including governing with dynamic, growth-oriented businesses in mind, the role of government in entrepreneurship ecosystems and how countries can better harness the potential of digital technologies in their ecosystems. Ministers and government representatives from 18 economies, as well as the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs joined in a commitment to encourage new firm formation in their communities by reducing barriers and providing incentives to help entrepreneurs start and scale.
GEN and Startup Genome released the newest edition of the Global Startup Ecosystem Report, which provides a comprehensive look at how regions foster and sustain vibrant startup ecosystems.
The Global Entrepreneurship Network also gained new partners at the GEC, including the Misk Global Forum and Alice. GEN and the Misk Global Forum joined forces to support aspiring innovators to start and grow new businesses around the world. By identifying key components of healthy startup ecosystems, the partnership will offer programs that test and validate entrepreneurs’ ideas, while enabling them to reach their potential through access to a global network of collaborators, mentors and investors.
Two GEC sessions that MY-GATEWAY was particularly involved in were the GirVak Youth Leadership Community and GEN UK. The GirVak Youth Leadership Community was the young entrepreneurs session, which encouraged risk-taking, learning from others and activating the building of communities through research, policy makers and educational programmes.
“Biggest strengths of being a student entrepreneurare having the energy to peruse.
The value of being in a like minded community – when you fail, the community picks you up, the community believes in you and encourages you to continue. We’re now a team of 80 fellows – we’re young, we have to fail – ultimately it’s more important than results!”
The GEN UK session originated in January of 2017 in order to replicate the national ecosystem model worldwide. It is consistent through 30 organisations providing support to entrepreneurs, predominately in the UK, however, some organisations further reaching to EU. At GEN UK, MY-GATEWAY was presented as an exceptional example of collaboration amongst multiple countries, innovative exploration model of successful and emerging ecosystems, topical focus on Central Eastern Europe and support model development to support Western Balkans in the GEN UK network.