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Representative of Brunei Enterprise Attends Global Entrepreneurship Congress
March 28th, 2016 | 05:41 AM | 2391 views
MEDELLIN COLOMBIA
A representative from Brunei Enterprise was sponsored to attend the Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC) in Medellin Colombia recently to represent the country.
The GEC is a conference which centres on promoting entrepreneurship and one which gathers together thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and other startup champions from more than 160 countries to identify new ways of helping founders start and scale new ventures around the world.
Jonathan Ortmans, the President of the organisation remarked in his speech how entrepreneurship can be a force that "unite others into creating more value in the world we are living in today".
He said that, "At the weeklong GEC, delegates make connections, gain insights, learn about new research, and leave ready to renew their programs, policy ideas or firm founder skills."
Special guests for the conference included Federico Gutierre the Mayor of Medellin, Pablo Aquistapace of Eventbrite, Larry Adler of Google, Anwar Aridi of the World Bank, Ambar Amleh of Palestine for a New Beginning, and Marcelo Cabrol of Inter American Development Bank.
Federico Gutierre, Mayor of Medellin stated how entrepreneurship and innovation has been two key forces in turning the city - once known to be the most violent place on earth - into one of the most safest and innovative economies in Latin America. "In 2013, the Urban Land Institute chose Medellin as the most innovative city in the world due to its recent advances in education, governance and social development. All these can be attributed to the ability of our people's ability and willingness to take risks and to innovative - both characteristics of entrepreneurship."
Representing Brunei was Awang Abdul Malik Omar, a Masters candidate for MSc in Local Economic Development in the London School of Economics, who is also the President of Brunei Enterprise.
In conjunction of the post-GEC event he is also set to publish a policy paper in April with ideas to identify the micro- and macro-issues young entrepreneurs are facing today in Brunei Darussalam.
"The policy paper is based on discussions our organisation Brunei Enterprise has with other partners, such as Kuhan Pathy of Young Professionals Bureau, which revolves around identifying the solvable issues our young entrepreneurs facing today.
"It is from this paper we can hopefully pinpoint to the government on what is it they need to solve to help entrepreneurs in their efforts intensify SME-building and job creation in the nation," he said.
In an online interview, a representative of Brunei Enterprise, Awang Nadzuan Narawi stated how the policy paper hopes to inspire youth readers to focus on "entrepreneurship and innovative skill at a young age, as these traits are useful for them not just to seek employment but also to be more self-reliant."
Awang Fadli M Zaini, Associate Executive of Brunei Enterprise in an interview when asked how entrepreneurship relates to the macroeconomic and job impact for the nation, said that, "It provides a self-sustaining grass-root source of individual creativity, provision of optional goods and services as well as potential innovation of ideas.
GEC is an offshoot of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), an international initiative backed by the US Government that introduces entrepreneurship to young people in six continents.
GEC and GEW emerged in 2008 as a result of Enterprise Week United Kingdom (UK) and Entrepreneurship Week United State of America (USA) 2007.
Since its creation, more than 10 million people from 160 countries worldwide have participated in entrepreneurial-related activities during the week.
Brunei had its GEW last year in November with participants from British High Commission in Brunei Darussalam, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), United States Embassy in Brunei Darussalam, Young Professionals Bureau, Autoriti Monetari Brunei Darussalam (AMBD), and Brunei Economic Development Board (BEDB) involved in the activity.
Awang Abdul Malik Omar also said the Brunei Enterprise's GEW is opening up doors for others to get onboard to contribute in the cause of building up entrepreneurship in Brunei and beyond. "The Global Entrepreneurship platform also serves as an opportunity to those who wish to foster their leadership and communications capacity.
"With the call by the Sultanate to have youths to be more pro-active in nation-building, I see this initiative as a way forward to heed to that call. Furthermore it opens up doors to strengthen relations with the UK and USA, both countries which launched the initiative forward.
"In addition, we hope we can secure further support and involvement from the government and its officers next time given the manifold advantages the conference has in advancing the name of the nation in this globally recognised platform," he said.
Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM
by BruDirect.com
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