How a Week in Entrepreneurship Became Global

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In two weeks, Global Entrepreneurship Week kicks off with more than 40,000 events spread out over a seven day period in 123 countries with nearly 10 million fans across the planet.

As reported by Jonathan Ortmans for The Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship which brings to light various policies and initiatives to advance innovation and drive economic growth:

Above all, what excites me (from Jonathan Ortmans) about Global Entrepreneurship Week is how it has become truly global. While we know innovation itself is blind to national borders, Global Entrepreneurship Week is showing us that the innovators too seem to have more in common with each other than their own elders. They now form a gloriously messy cacophony of informal startup networks fueled by the challenges of a less predictable and more decentralized world. 

Are you involved?  Get going global here.

Monocle Columns That Take You Global

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Take a look at highlights of the weekend from Monocle (love the magazine) - from music (global/thevinylfactory.com) to design (Tokyo/designtide.jp) to film (U.S.A./The Rum Diary), a little bit of everything to open your mind.

What is Monocle?

Monocle is premium media brand with magazine, web, broadcast and retail divisions. Focusing on global affairs, business, culture and design, Monocle's mission is to keep an eye on the world.

Go here to expand.

Quietly Building New Structures In Our World

 

©Laurel Delaney 2011, "Loyola University Chicago North Shore Campus"

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures." ~ John F. Kennedy 

7 Billionth Person In Our World: Sorry, No Vacancy?

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In the coming days marks the celebration of 7 billion people on our planet.

The milestone, to be declared on October 31, 2011, is a huge spike from less than a century ago. In 1927, the global population was only 2 billion. Only 13 years ago, the population was at 6 billion, the U.N. says.

Have a look at people, possibilities and the challenges that come with dramatic population growth here.

Time to do some planning and invest in people power!

Creative Ways to Partner With Your Overseas Customer

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Export this.  Import that.  But how do you partner with your overseas customer (or supplier) in such a way that they feel totally committed to you?

Have I got the ideas!

Read:

Become Your Customer's Partner

5 Inspiring Ways to Partner with Your Overseas Customer to Grow the Relationship

Internet Start-Ups in Brazil

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A look at Brazilian investment firms and the role they play with Internet start-ups in Brazil.

According to the New York-based Latin America Venture Capital Association, five of 32 venture capital and private equity deals in Brazil in the first half of 2011 were early stage, seed or incubator investments. In 2010, that ratio was 12 of 28.

A few interesting companies that are mentioned in the article:

• Elo7
• Akwan Information Technologies (acquired by Google)
• Peixe Urbano
• Baby.com.br

Read the entire article here.

Deciding Against a Life-Sentence of Selling Soap

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The Economist offers "the outlook for entrepreneurs in India."  And yes - we are all looking for the next Infosys.  One particular comment in the article stood out for me:

And yet, for all these barriers, new firms are emerging in unexpected places. Vinayak Chatterjee, who graduated from IIMA in 1981, first joined a consumer-goods firm. After deciding against a life-sentence of selling soap, he went on to establish Feedback Infra, an engineering and consulting firm in Delhi that specialises in infrastructure projects. With 1,250-odd staff, half of them engineers, and a list of blue-chip and government clients, it exemplifies the kind of high-end services that India could excel at. Mr Chatterjee reckons his costs are a quarter of rich-world firms’. Big parts of this business are “no different fundamentally from IT outsourcing”, he says. The priority for now, though, is to build scale at home. With about $50m of revenue, growing by about 30% a year, the firm is on its way to that goal. A flotation would be a natural next stage in a few years’ time.

Reminds me of the bold statement Steve Jobs once made to former Pepsi exec John Sculley when he tried (and succeeded) to woo Sculley to run Apple:  "... prefer to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?" (refer to 1983-1993).

So you can choose:  Become a global entrepreneur or sell soap in India for the rest of your life!

Read the entire article here.