Empretec Annual Report 2011 - Unctad XI

Empretec Global InitiativesEMPRETEC celebrates the GlobalEntrepreneurship Week 2011Founded in 2008 by the Kauffman Foundation for entrepreneurship in the United States, the Global Entrepreneurship Week is aninternational campaign that aims to give young people the confidence, skills and ambition to create sustainable enterprises that havea positive impact on their lives and communities. In 2008, its inaugural year, the Week involved more than 3 million participants in80 countries, and 25,000 activities with 8,800 local partner organizations. In 2011, as many as 120 countries from all continentsparticipated in the week with nearly 24,000 partner organizations.SwitzerlandUNCTAD hosted the opening sessionof the Global Entrepreneurship Week,which for the first time took place inSwitzerland as a joint effort. To mark theoccasion, UNCTAD, WIPO and ILO inviteda wide audience to address and promotethe topic of sustainable entrepreneurship.The keynote speech was delivered byUS Ambassador Betty E. King followedby an interactive discussion with some ofthe most innovative Swiss entrepreneurs(e.g. PlanetSolar, an innovative project thataims at circumnavigating the globe in aboat entirely driven by solar energy) andstudents from the University of Geneva.BrazilEmpretec’s Brazilian host institutionSEBRAE has organized a whole rangeof activities to support the GlobalEntrepreneurship Week. SEBRAEorganized more than 240 activities,including lectures, courses and trainings,at several venues in Brazil.The city of Recife in North-easternBrazil has, for example, become part of theGlobal Entrepreneurship Week as SEBRAEhas offered free courses, lectures andworkshops for 21 days to stimulateentrepreneurial spirit. As a result ofSEBRAE’s commitment, these eventswere hosted until 7 December. InRecife, SEBRAE aimed at reachingaround 500 people per day during thisyear’s Global Entrepreneurship Week.In Rio Grande do Sul in Southern BrazilSEBRAE organized an EntrepreneurshipEducation Workshop in order to supportyoung entrepreneurs. Among the 800participants were students, teachers,and entrepreneurs. In addition, SEBRAEorganized the SEBRAE KnowledgeForum and the semifinal and final stagesof Desafio SEBRAE (Challenge SEBRAE),a virtual game that seeks to promoteentrepreneurship among Universitystudents.14EMPRETEC ANNUAL REPORT 2011