GEN proudly launched the 19th annual Global Entrepreneurship Week campaign this morning from GEC+Africa in Cape Town, with voices from across the continent and the world.
The venue provided a fitting backdrop for the launch, given that Africa is home to some of the world's most impressive campaigns.
Last November, Algeria registered more than 30,000 events in a single week.
20,000 events were registered in Ethiopia. Compare that to 3 years ago, when Ethiopia registered just 28 events.
Nigeria, Uganda, Tunisia, Senegal, Botswana, Niger, and CĂ´te d'Ivoire all joined them among the global top 40 national campaigns.
What's significant about this data is not the number of events, but what each event represents: a door, held open, in a place where others may argue nothing is happening in terms of entrepreneurship and innovation. It is symbolic of countries deciding all at once to open their doors to new ideas, talent, and ambition.
As GEN President Jonathan Ortmans said in his opening speech,
"In most communities on earth, [the queue of founders] is a fraction of what it should be.
Not because the talent is missing. Because most people have never seen entrepreneurship as something available to them.
Concentration is not only geographic. It is demographic.
Across Africa's startup ecosystems, the share of female founders is higher than Europe's. But it still sits at 14 percent.
Enormous potential is left unrealized. Economies suffer when people are left out of opportunity.
Every person with a good idea who never gets to test it is economic activity we never see, and a solution the world does not get.
So, the most dangerous shortage on earth is not capital...it is having enough people who believe they can build something.
And that is where you come in."
Join us this November as an event organizer, or bring a friend to an event near you.
Learn more at
gew.co.