Last week in Doha, Qatar the World Chambers Congress (WCC) hosted a competition that showcased new and innovative projects from chambers of commerce around the world.  Among the 25 finalists in the World Chambers Competition 2013 was the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which put forth its Youth Entrepreneurship Program for consideration.

As the first chamber of commerce in Pakistan to support an initiative focused on youth development and entrepreneurship, ICCI has established an Entrepreneurship Development Center  as well as a Young Entrepreneurs Forum.  In addition, ICCI is in the process of establishing a business incubation center and has encouraged youth to be an active part of the chamber’s leadership committees.  These initiatives are exactly the type of innovative programs that WCC aims to highlight in order to satisfy the new need of business communities around the world.

Read more about ICCI’s time in Doha here.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP UPDATE

March 2013 – Special Edition

Entrepreneurship plays a vital role in the development of democracy. It expands opportunity, unleashes individual initiative, and cultivates independent citizens who have a stake in society. That is why CIPE is focusing on entrepreneurship in its upcoming conference, Democracy that Delivers for Entrepreneurs, on April 9-10, 2013 in Chicago. Looking ahead to this unique event, the Entrepreneurship Update serves to start a conversation about how entrepreneurship can help democracy deliver to citizens around the world. URGENT: Only Three Weeks Left to Register for Democracy that Delivers for Entrepreneurs! Special offer: On the evening of April 9th all attendees registered at a standard rate will be invited to an exclusive reception featuring the Hernando de Soto Award for Democracy. During CIPE’s two-day conference, joining Chicago notables such as Kevin Willer, President and CEO of Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, Glenn F. Tilton, Chairman of the Midwest at JPMorgan Chase, and Ambassador (ret) J.D. Bindenagel, Senior Advisor to the President for International and Global Chicago Affairs at DePaul University, will be keynote speaker Hernando de Soto, former Philippines Finance Minister Dr. Jesus Estanislao, and many other high-profile international experts and business leaders. Don’t miss out on the chance to hear experts such as: Linda Darragh, Executive Director, Kellogg Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Darragh’s professional and volunteer experience has focused on enhancing entrepreneurship in Chicago for three decades. Most recently, Ms. Darragh has focused her efforts on early stage financing in the realm of for-profit social ventures – impact investing. Michael Hershman, President and CEO, Fairfax Group USA and co-founder of Transparency International. Hershman is an internationally recognized expert on matters relating to transparency, accountability, governance, litigation and security. Since 2008, he has been named every consecutive year to the Ethisphere Institute’s list of the top 100 most influential people in business ethics worldwide. Randall Tavierne, Global Markets Leader for Strategic Growth Markets for Ernst & Young LLP. Tavierne has nearly 30 years of experience concentrating primarily on high-growth entrepreneurial and multinational companies which are public, private, private equity backed and venture capital backed. REGISTER HERE How do Institutions Facilitate Entrepreneurship? By Hernando de Soto, President, Institute for Liberty and Democracy To do all the things that entrepreneurs in developed countries take for granted – like dividing labor, using property as collateral, protecting personal assets, expanding markets, or creating economies of scale – entrepreneurs in developing nations need the standards that only legal institutions can provide. Read the rest of this article 20 Entrepreneurial Women You Should Be Following on Twitter By Anna Nadgrodkiewicz, CIPE Senior Program Officer, Global The power of social media, and in particular Twitter, has allowed these empowered women to share not just their big ideas, but the daily details and information sources they rely on to advance the issues they care about. Let’s harness the power of social media to connect with such women and share their work. Read the rest of this article The State of Entrepreneurship in Bolivia By Sergio Daga, CIPE-Atlas Corps Think Tank LINKS Fellow serving at the Heritage Foundation Although “attitudes and perceptions to become an entrepreneur are quite favorable within Bolivians” (GEM Report Bolivia, 2010), the truth is that the vast majority of Bolivian entrepreneurs have low aspiration to increase production and to create jobs. Entrepreneurs are not innovating nor advancing the use of technology into their products and services. As a result they face higher competition and lower prices for their products. Read the rest of this article Young Women Entrepreneurs Overcome Challenges in Peru By Claudia Hasbun, CIPE Program Assistant, Latin America and the Caribbean Entrepreneurship and business ownership is becoming an increasingly attractive career path for many young women in Latin America — with the help of programs like the CIPE-supported EmprendeAhora entrepreneurship and leadership courses in Peru. Read the rest of this article Chicago, IL | April 9-10, 2013 A conference on building strong, inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems that help democracies deliver for all segments of the population. REGISTER AGENDA LEARN MORE SAVE THE DATE BECOME A SPONSOR FORWARD THIS MESSAGE This conference is supported by the National Endowment for Democracy and J.P. Morgan. CIPE is a core institute of the National Endowment for Democracy, which provides funding for many of CIPE’s projects. CIPE is also an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.   ARE YOU A STUDENT? CIPE is pleased to offer a special discounted rate to Democracy that Delivers for Entrepreneurs for students with vaild IDs. Register here! CIPE’S APPROACH TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP CONNECT WITH CIPE’S COMMUNITIES OF ENTREPRENUERS Community of Young Entrepreneurs Community of Women Entrepreneurs

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Save the Date April 9-10, 2013 Chicago, IL In order to capture successful approaches to building strong, inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems that help democracies deliver for all segments of the population, the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) is organizing a two-day international conference in Chicago, IL on April 9-10, 2013. It will focus on the following key themes: Role of entrepreneurs in building democratic societies Institutions of an entrepreneurial ecosystem and policy solutions fostering entrepreneurship Profiles of various types of entrepreneurs, including youth and women Effective ways to support entrepreneurship from the perspective of successful entrepreneurs, business associations, governments, investors, and donors World famous democracy advocate Hernando de Soto will deliver the keynote address. De Soto is the president of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru and has received numerous awards for his groundbreaking work on the informal sector, property rights, and legal reform. Visit www.democracythatdelivers.org to save the date and receive updates about the conference.     Share This Event       Chicago, IL | April 9-10, 2013 A conference on building strong, inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems that help democracies deliver for all segments of the population. REGISTER LEARN MORE SAVE THE DATE BECOME A SPONSOR SIGN UP TO RECEIVE UPDATES CIPE is a core institute of the National Endowment for Democracy, which provides funding for many of CIPE’s projects. CIPE is also an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

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A delegation of young and aspiring entrepreneurs, led by the Young Entrepreneurs Forum (YEF) of the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has recently participated in CAAYE Summit in Mumbai. This was a cross representation of entrepreneurs from across Pakistan, with delegates from Punjab, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, and Sindh, who made their mark during the proceedings of the Summit.

CAAYE (Commonwealth Asia Alliance of Young Entrepreneurs) which is a Commonwealth Secretariat-supported initiative represents 8 countries from the Commonwealth Asia region, namely Malaysia, India, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brunei, Maldives. The focus of this year’s Summit was to share best practices and prepare recommendations for improving “access to finance” to young entrepreneurs.

Nearly 200 delegates from the 8 countries met for 3 days in Mumbai to network, build business linkages, conduct field studies, attend learning sessions and jointly prepare a set of recommendations to improve the ecosystem of youth entrepreneurship in the form of an official communiqué that will be submitted to member Governments through the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Continue reading ‘YEF Pakistan Youth Delegation Participates in Commonwealth CAAYE Summit’ »

The Development for People and Nature Association (DPNA) is a Lebanese secular, non-profit, non-governmental organization working through a wide range of civil society organizations to meet the needs of local communities, especially the disadvantaged.  Our vision is to achieve a civic society that motivates all citizens in Lebanon to participate in public life and to lead positive change.

One of our organization’s main projects is called “Fostering Free Enterprise in Youth – FFEY”, which we have been implementing in partnership with CIPE since 2007.  Since that time, we have established a curriculum called “Entrance to Enterprise” (E2E), which is a knowledge guide aimed at introducing the concept of entrepreneurship not only to university students, but also to high-school students.  E2E trainings have been held for more than 300 students and 90 teachers throughout the past years, which led to the formation of an Alumni Network.  Most importantly, our current focus is to integrate the concept of entrepreneurship in the high-school curriculum through interactive activities. Continue reading ‘Advancing Entrepreneurship in Lebanon Beyond Global Entrepreneurship Week’ »

Originally posted on the CIPE Development Blog

“Youth have inherent risk-taking ability but do not have the tools and techniques. Our labour force is expanding by 1.5 per cent per annum and there is a great need for job creators rather than job seekers.” Dr Ishrat Husain – IBA Dean and Director

One of the key factors in assessing a business friendly country is to notice the rate of entrepreneurship development. However, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Pakistan Report 2010  places Pakistan well below many of its peers in this respect.

According to the GEM report, “The established business ownership rate in Pakistan is 4.7%, which is less than the average rate for factor-driven economies (12.6%).” The report also highlights the fact that since Pakistan’s Independence in 1947 from British India, successive governments focused on the development of large-scale industries both in the public and private sector, and policies to promote entrepreneurship and small businesses were neglected. Continue reading ‘Supporting the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs in Pakistan’ »

Next week is Global Entrepreneurship Week, a worldwide celebration of the people whose big ideas drive innovation and create jobs. Join CIPE on Tuesday, November 13, from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM EST, on the hashtag #GEWChat for a global discussion of how entrepreneurship contributes to economic, social, and democratic development. (Find out what time the chat will be in your country.)

Joining us will be CIPE partners and entrepreneurs from around the world, including:

Sarfaz Rahman is the CEO of Dawood Foundation, part of Dawood Group, one of the top family-owned businesses in Pakistan. He is a Chartered Accountant who has worked at Unilever, Glaxo Smith Kline, Pepsico, and Engro Foods.

EmprendeAhora is a program run by CIPE partner Instituto Invertir that teaches entrepreneurship and leadership skills to students in Peru.

Camelia Bulat is a CIPE consultant and the director of the Regional Center for Organization Management in Romania.

Rami Shamma is Project Manager for the Development for People and Nature Association in Lebanon, which works on youth entrepreneurship issues.

…and more!

November 12th marks the beginning of Global Entrepreneurship Week, which is the world’s largest celebration of innovators and job creators who launch startups, bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare.  Participating in the activities, the Center for International Private Enterprise’s (CIPE) field office in Pakistan will host a number of group discussions across the country.  Targeting final year students and young entrepreneurs, the discussions will focus on determining the obstacles to entrepreneurship that exist and how to go about creating solutions. Sessions will be held in:

Karachi on November 12 at the CIPE Pakistan office.

Islamabad on November 13 & 14 in partnership with the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Peshawar on November 15 with a specific focus on gender in partnership with the Peshawar Women’s Chamber

Lahore on November 17 in partnership with Coffee Shop Gurus.

On October 16, CIPE organized a workshop on economic inclusion at the Lima Assembly of the World Movement for Democracy. Social and economic inclusion have become priority themes in ensuring that democracy delivers for all. We wanted to explore possible routes to inclusion and the implications for giving voice to excluded populations.

Our first presenter, Selima Ahmad, founder of the Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that in Bangladesh entrepreneurship has given women a voice. Women entrepreneurs have gained the ability to make decisions within the family, and men are even joining wives’ businesses. The women’s chamber advocated successfully for women entrepreneurs to get loans without collateral. Members of the chamber who have done well now create jobs and provide help to other micro entrepreneurs.

In Peru, entrepreneurship provides the only route to move up in life for many who lack formal education. Daniel Cordova, president of Instituto Invertir, described the EmprendeAhora program, which educates young Peruvians under 25 on democratic and market concepts. This program engages youth by addressing their personal and professional interests. The key to the success of the program is giving them a concrete, entrepreneurial activity, such as starting a business or a non-government organization.

Osama Mourad from Egypt, CEO of Arab Finance, Continue reading ‘How Does Inclusive Economic Growth Support Democratic Participation?’ »