Latest news with #GEC
Technical.ly
10 hours ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
GEC 2025: What the Global Entrepreneurship Congress says about American entrepreneurial leadership
Among the greatest of American exports, hip-hop and basketball have gone entirely global. Entrepreneurship too. Back to antiquity, the first businesses were in Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The modern corporation is a European invention, and the longest running company is Japanese. But the Americans made it cool. From the 1980s-era 'greed is good' to post-Great Recession social entrepreneurship, the United States put get-rich businesses on magazine covers and humble small business owners on primetime reality TV. Fitting, then, that the Global Entrepreneurship Congress is an American product that has been mostly held abroad. With origins in the early 2000s, this first-of-its-kind globally-minded pro-startup conference was held in 2009 for 200 attendees in Kansas City, with funding from the entrepreneurship-obsessed Kauffman Foundation. Founded by trained economist and policy wonk Jonathan Ortmans, the conference is organized by what is now called the Global Entrepreneurship Network (or GEN, pronounced like the name Jen), which Ortmans leads. This year boasted more than 3,000 attendees. 'Entrepreneurs are the new diplomats of the world.' Jonathan Ortmans, Global Entrepreneurship Network Over the following 15 years, the Congress was held the world over, including Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Australia. Last week, GEC was held in the United States for the first time since its start — in Indianapolis, a growing city in a Midwestern state with bipartisan support for business growth and a hook into federal research dollars. 'Entrepreneurs are the new diplomats of the world,' Ortmans said on stage. His opening remarks lamented fading enthusiasm for an interconnected global economy. Elsewhere, he spoke optimistically of what remains bipartisan support for business creation. In the conference's keynote conversation with entrepreneur-turned-celebrity investor Mark Cuban, Ortmans boasted that GEC was held in Moscow in the weeks that followed the Russian invasion of Crimea. Back in March 2014, for the conference-attending entrepreneurs and their supporters from around the world, 'nothing was different.' Whether that sounds like a hardworking ethic or aloof indifference, Ortmans argues entrepreneurs crave stability, clarity and transparency, which benefits everyone else. Alongside Ortmans, Cuban presented as even more optimistic, and idealistic, for Entrepreneur The Diplomat. Cuban gushed about the promise of artificial intelligence to unlock the entrepreneurial spirit around the world, leveling the playing field with just an internet connection. Famously, Silicon Valley notables broke toward supporting Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, but Cuban was a prominent outlier and frequent MAGA critic. He was less directly critical at nonpolitical-striving GEC, and Ortmans encouraged him to widen his lens to consider a global audience in the convention hall that came from at least 130 countries. Tellingly, there was no formal delegation from the American federal government, nor its DOGE-cost-cutting Small Business Administration. (One member of a GEC advisory group politely declined to comment and sensibly encouraged this reporter to focus on the international presence and bipartisan support among state and local American officials.) 'There are plenty of places to talk about politics. If you're an entrepreneur, be an entrepreneur. If your business succeeds, the politicians will come to you,' Cuban advised. 'You want your business to outlast any one politician.' In some sense, it's a hopeful throwback to a more innocent time when a jet-setting elite believed commerce would lead to peace and prosperity. That's the optimistic worldview that led the American government to welcome the Chinese Community Party into the World Trade Organization, and the same that encouraged the German government to rely on the Russian state for its energy security. In recent years, there's been a reversal: Global citizens of international capitals have been humbled into a choice, say more, or say less. During the pandemic, social justice protests demanded that entrepreneurs speak out on a growing list of political issues. Ortmans, Cuban and the spirit of GEN's GEC seem to say something different. As one GEC collaborator has told me: 'Entrepreneurship is my politics.' Informed by the modest, Midwestern style of the Kauffman Foundation, the conference was filled with practical advice for entrepreneurs and local economic development leaders. Common-sense policy discussions happened alongside meet-and-greets between commerce ministers from dozens of countries. Each GEC features a dedicated 'compass room' with a UN-style circular white table with microphones. Its orientation stands in contrast to the Silicon Valley investor-catwalk startup conferences, Austin's hipper-than-thou SXSW and and the sprawling and showy Las Vegas consumer technology shows. Ortmans hopped between sessions and off-site events. He addressed both the launch of a national campaign to center entrepreneurs in next year's anniversary of the American Revolution and at a working session of 'national ecosystem resource providers' — of which Technically is one. 'This is one way back,' Ortmans said of a more pro-growth time. 'Customers matter. Failure doesn't.' Mark Cuban Cuban, who knows something about hip hop and basketball, embodies a brighter optimism than most American elites of late. A thousand of us overflowed conference chairs, and clapped and chuckled at his folksy charm, embodied by the carefully chosen polo-shirt he wore from his Indiana University alma mater,. As ready-for-TV as Cuban is, he still offers practical advice for founders: 'Raising money isn't an accomplishment. It's an obligation.' And in practiced, self-effacement: 'Customers matter. Failure doesn't.' (In contrast, another main-stage panel of Colorado-bred tech startup notables was a snoozefest of self-congratulation from a bygone era.) Cuban advised policymakers and economic development leaders to invest in community, rule of law and lifestyle to attract and retain entrepreneurs: When he chose where to start his businesses, first Indiana and later Texas, 'not one single time did I look at the tax rate first.' Speaking to a crowd with attendees from countries including Iraq, Nigeria and France, he personified his role as the commonsense sage of American-style center-left techno-optimism. Said Cuban: 'An entrepreneur is always an entrepreneur first.'
Technical.ly
4 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
Startup leaders kick off national ‘America the Entrepreneurial' campaign
A new initiative rooted in the aspirational goals of the Declaration of Independence places entrepreneurs at the forefront of the country's semiquincentennial celebration. In 1893, the United States was in the midst of an economic depression that contrasted gaudy, gilded-era wealth with struggling labor. Emerging communications technology mesmerized and threatened jobs, powering an insurgent populist political movement. Americans debated over the country's global role and confronted the vile stain of racial inequity, just a generation removed from a Civil War. That summer, New England professor Katharine Lee Bates took a wagon trip up Pike's Peak in Colorado. So moved by the view, and overcome by a sense of ideals amid a storm of unease, Bates wrote what would later become an enduring patriotic ballad: 'O beautiful for spacious skies / For amber waves of grain / For purple mountain majesties / Above the fruited plain!' This July 4 will mark 130 years since 'America the Beautiful' was first published. Right to Start founder Victor Hwang has another anniversary on his mind: To mark next year's 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, his national nonprofit launched on Thursday a new campaign: America the Entrepreneurial. 'The country we are in is different than the country we are told we are,' said Hwang, drawing from three cross-country road trips visiting entrepreneurs. (No bus was involved) 'It's a more hopeful one. More need that chance.' The campaign was announced in a crowded rooftop bar near the Indianapolis Convention Center, where Global Entrepreneurship Congress is being held in the United States for the first time since its founding in 2009. (Full disclosure, this reporter had four arancini and an extra shrimp cocktail.) Like Hwang's Right to Start, GEC is part of a suite of initiatives spun out of the Kansas City-based Kauffman Foundation, which funded a generation of pro-entrepreneurship research. Hwang was once a Kauffman vice president credited with championing much of 'field building' for what insiders call 'entrepreneurial ecosystem building.' Now he leads Right to Start, which is guiding policymakers on entrepreneurship-boosting policy — and moonlights as a podcast host. Hwang developed the new initiative with his board member and former White House policy advisor John Bridgeland, and it will be led by Right to Start's COO Kim Lane. 'America was made by builders, dreamers, and risk-takers,' Hwang said. 'Yet today we have a system that too often works against entrepreneurs.' The campaign outlines three key actions: Creating a level playing field: Tackling outdated regulations, inequitable access to capital, and procurement rules favoring large incumbents. Spreading entrepreneurial knowledge: Offering nationwide access to skills training, practical education, and community networks. Supporting entrepreneurial households: Advocating policies that ease healthcare, childcare, and financial burdens for entrepreneurs and their families. 'The most courageous startup the world has ever seen' To be clear, entrepreneurship is already booming in the United States, at least compared to pre-pandemic trends. That boom in business starts is being led by women, especially women of color. But Hwang, like his tribe of Kauffman-affiliated spinouts, thinks in terms of a much more sustained and complete change of economic development and policymaking at all levels. Sounds like a revolution. 'In 1776, America didn't just declare independence,' Hwang is credited with saying in a followup press release. 'America launched the most courageous startup the world has ever seen — a country conceived and dedicated to the promise of opportunity, enterprise, and self-determination.' The 'America the Entrepreneurial' campaign plans to mobilize more than 250,000 Americans in coalitions spanning all 50 states by the end of 2026. Engagement will be facilitated through local events, storytelling initiatives and a comprehensive toolkit available through the campaign's website, per the group. For Hwang, this initiative builds on decades of foundational work advocating entrepreneurship and ecosystem-building. He routinely cites two cornerstone bits of research: that new business drives all net new jobs and that every 1% increase in entrepreneurial activity in a state correlates with a 2% decline in poverty. 'This is effectively saying the whole country, all of society, should care about entrepreneurship and be involved in it,' Hwang told before the launch. 'We've been missing that message because it's effectively been a conversation amongst ourselves.' Entrepreneurship, Hwang argues, is more than just economic activity — it is central to America's identity and future. I've spoken with Hwang about 'America the Entrepreneurial' a half dozen times in the last couple months. Each time he says the name with an uplifting tone, raising his hand to match. At the launch he joked that he hears music when he does. 'If you want a strong America, you have to have strong entrepreneurship,' Hwang said. 'When the entrepreneurial spirit thrives, America thrives.'More details about the campaign are available at americatheentrepreneurial.o rg.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Lima'25 a resounding success with RM11 billion in deals
PETALING JAYA: The 17th edition of the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima'25) concluded on a high note with RM11 billion in transactions signed over five dynamic days. Co-organised by the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) and Global Exhibitions & Conferences Sdn Bhd (GEC), Lima'25 lived up to its theme, 'Innovate Today, Thrive Tomorrow', by setting new benchmarks in participation, innovation and impact. This year's event held from May 20-24 welcomed more than 860 companies from 24 countries, featured 15 country pavilions and hosted dignitaries from 64 nations, making it the most internationally represented edition in Lima's history. With 43 aircraft and 31 ships from both local and foreign countries, alongside an expanded programme across four exhibition halls and interactive themed zones, the exhibition drew tens of thousands of trade and public visitors. GEC managing director Abd Hafiz Abu Bakar said: 'Success is built on strong pillars – hard work, innovation, learning, and unity. By bringing these elements together at Lima'25, we created a platform where progress is possible and opportunities are open to all.' In congratulating Mindef and GEC for successfully organising the event, Kedah State Tourism, Culture, Arts and Entrepreneurship Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Salleh Saidin said Lima'25 has delivered far-reaching economic and social benefits for Langkawi and greater Kedah, contributing positively to their goals for Visit Kedah Year 2025. 'It has brought the world to our doorstep, creating invaluable exposure and business opportunities for our local SMEs. The spillover effects extend across key sectors – tourism, hospitality, logistics and services – enabling us to unlock the full potential of Kedah's vibrant economy. I am happy to say that restaurants and eateries were always full on a daily basis, and almost all establishments in Langkawi benefitted from Lima'25, directly or indirectly,' he added. Mohd Salleh expressed confidence that events of this calibre will continue to position Kedah as a globally competitive destination, while driving sustainable growth and inclusive development for the people. *I hope to see the next edition of Lima continue to catalyse opportunities for growth, innovation and global engagement for Kedah and beyond,' he said. At Lima'25, numerous strategic collaborations were forged between local and international players through memorandums of understanding, letters of intent and contracts, contributing to a total transaction value of RM11 billion. A total of 1,400 business-to-business and 920 business-to-government meetings were facilitated, and nine conferences and two industrial competitions were organised. These outcomes affirm LLima's status as a catalyst for innovation, cross-border collaboration, and inclusive industrial development. The 18th edition of Lima is tentatively scheduled for 2027, with Mindef and GEC calling on all stakeholders to continue building on the momentum of this landmark event.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Facing 200,000+ Vacancies, U.S. Schools Urged to Tap International Teacher Talent Through Exchange Visitor Program Sponsored by GEC
NASHVIILLE, Tenn., May 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With the U.S. facing an estimated 200,000 teacher vacancies in the 2024–2025 school year, school districts are being urged to explore global hiring pathways to sustain educational quality and classroom continuity. One such solution: the Exchange Visitor (EV) Teacher Program, administered by the U.S. Department of State. As a long-standing designated sponsor, GEC is helping schools nationwide recruit and onboard fully qualified international teachers in high-need subject areas such as Special Education, Math, Science, and World Languages. "Many schools are out of local options — this is a national crisis, not a local shortage," said Cem Arituluk, Director of GEC. "Our program gives districts access to a pipeline of certified, English-proficient educators from abroad who are prepared to step in quickly and make a difference." According to recent data from the Learning Policy Institute and the National Center for Education Statistics:- 44 states report teacher shortages in core areas- Rural and Title I schools are disproportionately affected- Special Education is among the hardest roles to fill The Exchange Visitor Teacher Program:- Allows schools to hire international teachers for 3–5 years- Enhances classroom diversity and cultural competence- Offers a federally compliant, structured hiring channel- Supports educational equity by ensuring students have access to stable instruction GEC's support includes:- Full credential and background verification- Visa sponsorship and compliance management- Access to a nationwide database of screened international teachers With over two decades of experience, GEC has helped thousands of international participants successfully join U.S. schools and organizations under multiple Exchange Visitor programs. School leaders interested in bridging staffing gaps can contact GEC at: email: carituluk@ About GEC ExchangesGEC Exchanges is a U.S. Department of State-designated sponsor for Exchange Visitor Programs with over 20 years of experience. GEC supports school districts across the country in recruiting global talent to meet urgent needs and enrich American classrooms through cultural exchange. Contact:Cem Arituluk(615) 391-2546 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Global Educational Concepts (GEC) Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Facing 200,000+ Vacancies, U.S. Schools Urged to Tap International Teacher Talent Through Exchange Visitor Program Sponsored by GEC
NASHVIILLE, Tenn., May 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With the U.S. facing an estimated 200,000 teacher vacancies in the 2024–2025 school year, school districts are being urged to explore global hiring pathways to sustain educational quality and classroom continuity. One such solution: the Exchange Visitor (EV) Teacher Program, administered by the U.S. Department of State. As a long-standing designated sponsor, GEC is helping schools nationwide recruit and onboard fully qualified international teachers in high-need subject areas such as Special Education, Math, Science, and World Languages. "Many schools are out of local options — this is a national crisis, not a local shortage," said Cem Arituluk, Director of GEC. "Our program gives districts access to a pipeline of certified, English-proficient educators from abroad who are prepared to step in quickly and make a difference." According to recent data from the Learning Policy Institute and the National Center for Education Statistics:- 44 states report teacher shortages in core areas- Rural and Title I schools are disproportionately affected- Special Education is among the hardest roles to fill The Exchange Visitor Teacher Program:- Allows schools to hire international teachers for 3–5 years- Enhances classroom diversity and cultural competence- Offers a federally compliant, structured hiring channel- Supports educational equity by ensuring students have access to stable instruction GEC's support includes:- Full credential and background verification- Visa sponsorship and compliance management- Access to a nationwide database of screened international teachers With over two decades of experience, GEC has helped thousands of international participants successfully join U.S. schools and organizations under multiple Exchange Visitor programs. School leaders interested in bridging staffing gaps can contact GEC at: email: carituluk@ About GEC ExchangesGEC Exchanges is a U.S. Department of State-designated sponsor for Exchange Visitor Programs with over 20 years of experience. GEC supports school districts across the country in recruiting global talent to meet urgent needs and enrich American classrooms through cultural exchange. Contact:Cem Arituluk(615) 391-2546 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Global Educational Concepts (GEC) Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
