The fifth annual Enterprise Week, part of the first ever Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) November, will be launched today by the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Secretary of State for Business, Peter Mandelson.
Peter Mandelson will join politicians, World Business leaders and high profile entrepreneurs from seventy-seven different countries in London to launch Global Entrepreneurship Week at the week’s flagship debate, ‘Can Entrepreneurs Change the World?’
GEW aims to encourage people to explore their entrepreneurial talent either by starting up a new business, creating a social enterprise, or cultivating innovative business ideas within their own workplaces.
The week will see thousands of organisations running competitions, awards ceremonies and networking events in a record 77 countries under the single banner of Global Entrepreneurship Week.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said:
“Speaking at the first ever Enterprise Week I said ‘that an idea that started with only a few people and such little financial support should become in just a small time such a big campaign involving thousands across the country is itself a tribute to the spirit of enterprise.’
“That this same idea and people should now, just four years later, have inspired and driven a global campaign involving millions of people in 77 countries is even more remarkable. Global Entrepreneurship Week is a shining example of Britain leading the world in enterprise and innovation. At this time of unprecedented global change, I congratulate everyone involved in Global Entrepreneurship Week for encouraging people and countries to work together to find new ways to succeed.”
Peter Mandelson added:
“The current global economic crisis has demonstrated once again the interconnectedness of the world in which we live.
Enterprise and innovation are the key to the UK’s future economic growth and success in today’s unsettled global market.
“Through initiatives such as Global Entrepreneurship Week we can inspire the next wave of entrepreneurs to create a “can do” culture”.
The week is a combination and expansion of two successful
initiatives: the UK’s Enterprise Week which was unveiled in 2004 by Gordon Brown and Entrepreneurship Week 2007 in the USA which was inspired by Enterprise Week.
Enterprise Week and Global Entrepreneurship Week are coordinated by Make Your Mark the business-led, government backed national campaign to unlock the UK’s enterprise potential.
