CIPE’s long time partner Samriddhi, the Prosperity Foundation in Nepal is seeking to better understand why so many of their independent and small businesses never grow. What is preventing these mom-and-pop shops in Nepal from engaging in the formal economy, accessing credit, and growing their operations? What barriers do these entrepreneurs face?

Samriddhi wants to document and help tell the stories about what challenges these entrepreneurs face every day. But Samriddhi needs your help first. Using crowd funding, Samriddhi partnered with the Atlas Network: for up to $7,500 that Samriddhi raises through its crowd funding campaign, the Atlas Network will match dollar-to-dollar.

There’s only 11 days left to help them out! So read about Samriddhi’s crowd funding campaign and watch their video to help understand how you can help empower Nepali entrepreneurs.

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 springs from the grass roots. That’s the beauty of the phenomenon. Entrepreneurs dream up solutions that no one else does and then take initiative to give them life. As SRAM founder F.K. Day remarked, entrepreneurs need an enabling infrastructure but also should be allowed to thrive. Give them some air. Build solutions from the ground up.

A market economy functions on the basis of clear rules. Aurelio Concheso explained how reasonable, predictable rules allow entrepreneurs to go about their business. We must watch that rules are not slanted toward those who are already in the system, or else small entrepreneurs will drift into informality. The fascinating thing is that today’s informal economies evolve into tomorrow’s formal systems, so it is necessary to find mechanisms that provide access to modern markets.

An ecosystem feeds on knowledge. Entrepreneurship isn’t really about business startups or new technologies. It’s about making the connections across disciplines. Economists point to the knowledge spillover effects of entrepreneurship (Zoltán Ács et al.). These spillovers and connections may flourish in a democracy, where, as Linda Darragh noted, people can interact and learn from others who are different from them. Entrepreneurs benefit from the wisdom of others who have gone before and can avoid repeating the same mistakes (Day).

Communities support entrepreneurship. Brad Feld has written about this in Startup Communities. We can look beyond entrepreneurs’ networks, though, to the cultivation of active citizenship. Dr. Jesus Estanislao, recipient of the Hernando de Soto Award, stressed the importance of tapping community spirit and aligning citizen initiatives to build entrepreneurial cities. As a start, Darragh recommended building communities one issue at a time, bringing like-minded people together.

Kim Bettcher
CIPE

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Ecuador – Approximately 50 university students from throughout Ecuador gathered in Guayaquil for the second session of the CIPE-supported Emprendedores Ecuatorianos youth leadership and entrepreneurship program organized by Instituto Ecuatoriano de Economia Politica (IEEP). Business consultant Oswaldo Toscano presented on marketing tools for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and was followed by SME consultant Felipe Rendón. In one activity, students were divided into groups for a mock business plan competition where they worked through each aspect of business plan development. Students also had the opportunity to work one on one with Toscano and Rendón to hone their individual business ideas.

Peru – Alumus of the CIPE-supported EmprendeAhora youth leadership and entrepreneurship program Gerson Cascas shared his experience of participating in EmprendeAhora as well as in the development of his business, “Chiki Maderas,” in one of the main Peruvian newspapers, El Comercio. Additional details on Cascas’ toy making business are available at the CIPE blog in an article written by Program Officer for Latin America and the Caribbean Brent Ruth.

Egypt – CIPE staff held a roundtable with young business leaders in the Gharbeya Governorate to begin working on a regional reform vision at the local level. The vision will represent a consensus among civil society, business, and government on the policy priorities for local development. The young leaders agreed on an initial vision for the agenda to promote regional development in Gharbeya by strengthening the business environment and enhancing its social and cultural heritage. Over the coming weeks, CIPE will hold a series of meetings with young entrepreneurs in Gharbeya to develop the agenda and to begin advocacy efforts.

Egypt – CIPE partner the Federation of Economic Development Associations (FEDA) organized a roundtable for FEDA board members and professional business and legal experts to discuss the findings of a FEDA survey on barriers to small business in Egypt. The survey polled 230 businesses in 10 governorates and was subsequently analyzed by FEDA. Participants discussed the findings and recommendations of the survey and grouped results by type of barrier. Participants also agreed on specific recommendations for each barrier and identified the government agencies that would be best placed to respond to each grievance.

Pakistan – The Peshawar Women’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized a focus group this week, bringing together 40 students, teachers and journalists, as part of a CIPE-supported project to identify barriers to entrepreneurship in the Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa region. The participants agreed that the Chamber and local universities should develop a business course for young students the region. Other recommendations included establishing a technology park to promote start-ups and activating business incubators in universities.

Does entrepreneurship and democracy go hand and hand in India? While India is touted as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies with “billions of entrepreneurs,” according to one author the ideals of entrepreneurship itself goes against the wheels of the country’s subjective democracy “where the caste system still rules the roost” of society.

In this week’s Economic Reform Feature Service Article from CIPE, Chandrima Padmanabhan, the grand prize winner of CIPE’s 2012 International Youth Essay Competition, talks about the relationship between democracy and entrepreneurship  in India in her provocatively titled essay “Entrepreneurship in India: The Evolution of the Pedestrian Pariah.”

Chandrima explains that the title of the essay is meant to reflect democratic and economic struggles that ordinary citizens, including aspiring entrepreneurs, face:

By pedestrian, I’m referring to every ‘undistinguished, ordinary’ person who walks our streets. And by pariah I meant ‘outcast’. About 60 per cent of India’s population is not so well to do. They walk the streets when they can, instead of using automobiles and they live in small houses, not high-rise apartments. But the India of today doesn’t cater to the masses. It caters to the rich and affluent.

By pedestrian pariah I highlight the common people of India who make the majority of the population but are still outcasts in every decision making/policy influencing scheme.

Read the entire article here.

As a grand prize winner, Chandrima Padmanabhan will be attending CIPE’s upcoming Democracy that Delivers for Entrepreneurs conference April 9-10 in Chicago.

Startup Communities is partly a study in good networking, packed with examples of interesting activities like meetups, coffee clubs, and Startup Weekend. The book, however, carries broader messages about leadership, including the need for inclusiveness, community engagement, experimentation, outreach to other communities, and cultivation of new leaders. Feld has discovered how much entrepreneurs can get done without relying on government initiatives.

Still, Feld despairs of policy leadership since officials have different agendas and time frames than entrepreneurs do: “Government is going to do whatever it is going to do…” While he’s right on the mark about the importance of bottom-up leadership, he could be underestimating the capacity of entrepreneurs to become policy entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs by nature are in a hurry, yet some do engage in policy affairs when they perceive a serious effect on their business. For example, a small group led by Sherwood Neiss, the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, et al made recommendations on crowdfunding for the JOBS Act. No way can entrepreneurs alone remake government, but if they are selective they can have a valuable voice. As Feld himself notes, leaders should have a vision and a 20-year commitment, so perhaps there is time for policy change too.

Kim Bettcher
CIPE

Register now! Democracy That Delivers for Entrepreneurs in Chicago, April 9-10.

What is the “rule of law” and why does it matter for entrepreneurs? In this video, Democracy that Delivers for Entrepreneurs keynote speaker Hernando de Soto explains how the legal and institutional structures that entrepreneurs and business people in the developed world take for granted are sorely lacking in many developing countries. As a result, those who want to start a business are often forced to operate in the shadows — lacking formal registrations, licenses, and any protection for their property.

De Soto’s organization, the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD), estimated that up to five billion people may be completely shut out of the legal system. The results can be catastrophic and even world-changing.

When Tunisian fruit peddler Mohamed Bouazazi had his cart, scale, and inventory confiscated by a police inspector in 2011, he was so despondent that he set himself on fire — igniting the Arab Spring that brought down several governments around the region.

Bouazizi’s name has now gone down in history, but he was not alone. ILD has found dozens of informal entrepreneurs around the Middle East and North Africa who immolated themselves for similar reasons. In a much less dramatic fashion, these kinds of institutional barriers to entrepreneurship stifle economic growth and opportunity around the world on a daily basis.

On April 9-10, CIPE will host a conference in Chicago, IL, to discuss solutions to these problems and many others faced by entrepreneurs around the world. Join us to learn from leading entrepreneurship and policy experts and to share your ideas and experiences! Single-day and student registration rates are now available, so please register today.

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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Entrepreneurship plays a key role in every economy on earth, whether they are sanctioned or not (even in North Korea!) By innovating, providing jobs and creating wealth, the businesses that these entrepreneurs build play a huge role in the development of the economy.

But what makes some places more successful than others in encouraging start-up and risk-takers? Well, it has everything to do with the “entrepreneurship ecosystem.”

Defined broadly, the entrepreneurship ecosystem is the combination of institutions, rules, and resources that impact entrepreneurs in their day to day operations. David Isenberg of Babson College breaks all of these characteristics into six domains: Policy, Finance, Culture, Supports, Human Capital and Markets. The domains are inclusive of dozens of smaller components, such as educational institutions, civil society, and tax policy.

Each of these domains play a key role in the ability of the entrepreneur to function, but in many places one or more of these domains hinder, rather than support, entrepreneurs. This could take the form of corruption in government, or uncertain property rights, or lack of qualified staff.

In these instances, the good news is that even highly dysfunctional entrepreneurship ecosystems can be revived. As CIPE Senior Program Officer Anna Nadgrodkiewicz points out in the latest Feature Service Article, policy reform is the key to such revitalization:

“The types of needed policies are broadly agreed upon by development experts and entrepreneurs alike, and they include protection of private property rights, enforceable contracts, and efficient government administration. Another key but often overlooked set of policies has to do with bankruptcy laws. It is hardly a surprise that in places where a business failure can land one in jail – like in Egypt and a number of countries in the Middle East and North Africa – entrepreneurship does not flourish.”

Nadgrodkiewicz highlights another characteristic of these ecosystems as well: that entrepreneurship ecosystems and democratic governance are mutually reinforcing. With representative government, entrepreneurs are able to make their demands heard in policy debates. And with a strong entrepreneurship ecosystem, there is diversity within the business community, adding to economic pluralism and created a more level playing field for businesses.

Like a real ecosystem, entrepreneurship ecosystems are complex, interdependent, and uniquely adapted to their specific circumstances. But their ability to function properly is a function of strong institutions, and may have a great impact on these same institutions in the long run.

Read the whole article here.