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As the Defense Department’s public review last Thursday of its war strategy in Afghanistan points to a slow troop withdrawal in 2011, efforts to better understand how to spur growth after such conflicts are speeding into top gear. A new cadre of economists, military leaders and other specialists are writing a long-needed canon to guide how to re-build economies during their transition from war to peace using indigenous entrepreneurship. Expeditionary Economics (ExpECON), as the field is now known, is informing large questions of national security strategy, positioning economic growth as a more important component of the formula for strategic success. While I defer to these experts in assessing the entrepreneurial health of current war-torn economies, I thought it timely to take a look at some of the neighbors engaged in their conflicts.
Today and tomorrow the Senate will vote on President Obama’s announced deal to extend for two years all of the tax cuts, both those from the Bush years and those for low-income workers from last year’s stimulus package. Under this proposal, recently expired benefits for the long-term unemployed would also be extended for another 13 months. In addition, the agreement would cut payroll taxes for one-year. What does all this mean for entrepreneurs?
I have just returned from a brief last minute visit to Algiers where I spoke at a conference focused on the Maghreb countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania. The objectives of the Maghreb Entrepreneurship Conference, a follow-on to President Obama’s Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship held in April 2010 in Washington, DC was to discuss strategies to promote job creation through entrepreneurship.
On my recent trip to South America during Global Entrepreneurship Week, I cast a mournful eye over Uruguay where, were it not for problems with flight schedules I had hoped to visit. Uruguay, the South American nation nestled between Brazil and Argentina, is trying to take the fast track toward becoming a startup economy.
I am happy to report that in its third year, Global Entrepreneurship Week grew by leaps and bounds. As more countries take advantage of this global movement, more minds are pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. GEW has not just inspired students looking for a way to reach their goals, but the leaders of nations who were inspired in their efforts to boost growth by the sheer energy of the millions of participants in GEW activities during the past two weeks. In case you haven’t been following, here are a couple of anecdotes from this year’s Week, and the reaction it produced among some of the world’s leaders.
Throughout this week, when another 80 countries launch Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), there will be a significant number of events organized by GEW partners at universities, schools, companies, professional associations, technological centers and municipalities. Like last week’s events in Muslim countries, the activities will be diversified, ranging from thematic conferences to networking with investors and entrepreneurs, presentation of business plans, recreational events, sport events, cultural events, etc. There will be something for everyone and I encourage all to take advantage of these opportunities.
“In business, the only certain thing is failure. Especially when you operate in a place like Indonesia,” Sandiaga Uno said earlier this year during his visit to the U.S. for President Obama’s Summit on Entrepreneurship. After being laid off during the financial crisis in Asia in the late 90s, Uno decided to try entrepreneurship to pay off credit card debt and put food on his family’s table. He is now the renowned co-founder of Saratoga Capital, the first private equity firm in Indonesia focusing on natural resources that grew from four workers to about 15,000 employees.
Since it was launched in 2008 by the Kauffman Foundation and Enterprise UK, more than 18,000 partner organizations joined the global movement to shape the next generation of entrepreneurs. In its still short life, GEW has established a solid and ongoing presence in more than 100 countries -- and counting. During the same time period, over 10 million people around the world have participated in GEW activities and 2010 promises to boost that total to tap even more human capital and breathe life into new startups.
While the majority of nations this year will start Global Entrepreneurship Week on November 15th, some countries are conducting their celebrations a week or more in advance due to an important Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, falling on November 16th.
The following is a collaborative post by Jonathan Ortmans, president of the Public Forum Institute and a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, and Anders Hoffman, Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy for Erhvervs- og Byggestyrelsen
Denmark is in many ways a paradoxical country. It has the world’s highest taxes and yet Danes are among the happiest people in the world according to the U.S. National Science Foundation. Denmark has generous social benefits, a large public sector and yet is quite innovative and entrepreneurial. The Global Competitiveness Report and the Index of Economic Freedom both rank Denmark 9th on their world lists, and the Legatum Prosperity Index ranks the country 6th in entrepreneurship and innovation. Denmark did not end in the top ten of these world lists by chance. What steps and policy initiatives made this possible?
I have just returned today from a short visit to South Korea where I addressed an international conference and met with various universities both in Seoul and Daejeon Valley – described to me by locals as Korea’s Silicon Valley.
Visitors arriving at Seoul’s acclaimed airport can only be impressed by its sophisticated application of technology into everyday lives. The train I rode from Seoul to Daejoen cruised at 300 Kilometers per hour, every taxi in Seoul was clean and paid for with a back seat touchpad card reader and the urban planning seemed super smart with local government being placed in beautiful floating structures on the river and national government being moved altogether out of Seoul.
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