Business

COVID-19 Won’t Stop USA Celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020

COVID-19 Won't Stop USA Celebration of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020Ten new countries join Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Celebrations despite COVID-19.

[NEW YORK] – COVID-19 may have dealt a brutal blow to many US businesses but that will not stop them from celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) USA 2020 – November  16-22.

Just under 500 events have been posted by more than fifty (50) organizations as the USA gets ready to “connect and celebrate ”  the contributions of entrepreneurs to economic growth and job creation.

Across the river, Canada has over 20 events posted by eleven (11) organizations—but it is early days yet for Canada. While in the United Kingdom forty (40) plus events have been posted mainly by universities.

“This year the coronavirus pandemic forced business leaders to be more deliberate and sharp in bringing economic recovery and solving some of the world’s most “wicked problems to their daily plans and actions”, said Meegan Scott of Magate Wildhorse Inc, a New York-based management consultancy.

Official sponsors of GEW USA 2020 along with several GEW partners and organizations will host events in cities across the USA for building resilience and entrepreneur capacity in the face of COVID-19 or for helping them to generate sales during the week.

Several organizations from the Caribbean and its diaspora will join business leaders and their supporters in the celebrations during GEW 2020.

The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) will lead approximately 180 countries including the USA in hosting more than 40,000 events for celebrating GEW.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic ten countries have been added to the numbers participating in the annual GEW celebrations.

The four official themes for this year’s celebration are ecosystems, policy, education, and inclusion.

The GEW focus on ecosystems is intended to drive collaboration and partnerships among entrepreneurs in different communities “beyond Silicon Valley”.

For Policy, the focus is on recognizing the role of government in enabling the growth of entrepreneurs and their businesses.

The organizers of the GEW noted that education seeks to open minds to the “what is” and “hows” of entrepreneurship for various age groups and life stages.

They also  emphasize that the theme “Inclusion” recognizes that entrepreneurship does not come on a level playing field, but that there are barriers related to “race, age, gender, or where one lives”, GEW will highlight startup champions around the world that are helping to remove those obstacles.

“We will be celebrating GEW under the banner BIDEM 2020 GEW Brawta. Our partners and audiences can expect extras (brawta) from the BIDEM Conference and Trade Show  held virtually in Toronto recently.

For the “Brawta”  edition there will be greater focus on the virtual trade show and virtual bazaar component.”, said Meegan Scott of  The Community of Practice for Caribbean Immigrant Entrepreneurs—home of BIDEM and Magate Wildhorse co-conveners and sponsors of BIDEM.

BIDEM means “bridged, high impact diaspora entrepreneurs to efficient diasporic markets”.

“ Our GEW celebrations will serve to accelerate the kickoff of BIDEM, the entrepreneur and market systems development process which commenced on October 13, 2020.”, she continued.  In addition, to the four official GEW theme, we will also carry forward the theme “Connecting the Roots, Building Networks Together for Profit and Purpose.”, said Scott.

Partnering organizations such as Magate Wildhorse Inc.,  The Community of Practice for Caribbean Immigrant Entrepreneurs (The CoP), Small Business Administration (SBA), Washington State Department of Commerce, Penn State University, Rural Community Alliance and RebelBase as well as academic institutions and Government departments will host official GEW USA events.

This year Magate Wildhorse Inc, New York, Magate Wildhorse Ltd—Canada, The CoP and our partners will heighten our focus on policy.  The discussions and action for “accelerating Caribbean entrepreneurship at home and in the diaspora” will be a major agenda item.

Currently there is an online discussion forum  open to interested organizational leaders with Caribbean roots worldwide; and there will be virtual discussions during GEW.

The discussions will follow on the Minister’s Panel discussion of the same name in which Canada’s Minister of Small business the Hon. Mary Ng and the Hon. Audley Shaw,  Jamaica’s Minister of Industry, Investment & Commerce were panelists last month at BIDEM.

Facilitating collaboration among diaspora and domestic Caribbean entrepreneurs and their peers of African descent, mainstream North America and the UK, indigenous, other immigrant groups and entrepreneurs from other geographical areas will also be a feature of this year’s celebrations”, said Scott.

Global Entrepreneurship Network is the home and  county host for GEW USA.

South Florida Caribbean News

The SFLCN.com Team provides news and information for the Caribbean-American community in South Florida and beyond.

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