France's Early Start on Global Entrepreneurship Week

Posted by: Mark Marich on November 15, 2009 Source: Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship

Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow Karen Wilson attended "Les Journees de l'Entrepreneur", a Global Entrepreneurship Week event in France hosted by Ernst & Young. Karen's report of the event follows:

France got an early and elegant start on Global Entrepreneurship Week last night with the hosting of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year ceremony at the Theatre Mogador in Paris. The event marked the opening of the French "Les Journees de l'Entrepreneur". Hundreds of people crowded the theatre to see which of the impressive group of entrepreneurs would win the various prizes, including the ones for the "green" and "international" entrepreneurs of the year. The overall winner for France will compete in the global event in Monaco next June.
 
Herve Novelli, Secretary of State for Commerce, Crafts, Small and Medium Enterprises and Tourism, handed the prize to the winning French entrepreneur of the year and also gave a speech about recent French policies to promote entrepreneurship, including the new statute, "L'auto Entrepreneur" which facilitates the process for setting up a business. Since the l'auto-entrepreneur was launched in January, around 200,000 new businesses have registered. The l'auto-entrepreneur system has reduced the amount of paperwork required, but more importantly, lower the income tax and social charges for start-ups.  
 
Next Monday, November 16, the official kick off event, "La Fete de l'Entrepreneur" will take place at ESCP Europe. Valerie Pecresse, French Minister of Higher Education and Research will be present along with Herve Novelli. The event run from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. and will include a jazz concert, cocktail reception, networking and much more. For further information, see http://www.journees-entrepreneur.com/

[Reported by Karen Wilson]

Tags:  global entrepreneurship week