Seychelles to host world’s leading celebration for entrepreneurs |14 November 2020
Seychelles has been chosen, among 170 countries, to host the Global Entrepreneurship Week 2020 which will run from November 16 – 23.
The activities are being led by the young team at the department of Entrepreneurship and Industry in collaboration with the Enterprise Seychelles Agency (Esa) and the Seychelles Investment Board (Sib).
The Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is the largest and most visible one-week campaign affiliated with entrepreneurship, which occurs annually every November. It is an international event, which involves the participation of over 170 countries, and more than 10 million people. It is a celebration of entrepreneurs, innovators and job creators, who launch their start-ups by bringing ideas to life in order to drive economic growth and increase human welfare.
The Minister for Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry, Devika Vidot, noted in a press meet yesterday that “I would like for all to take an active role in the GEW and it is an exceptional opportunity that Seychelles is having and with the pandemic, we have seen new business ideas coming forward. Covid-19 did disturb the economy but it did also bring new ideas. Covid-19 is still ongoing, but I would like to call upon young people who want to start a business to come forward and move forward with their ideas. They are the ones that should be the entrepreneurs of Seychelles. Our industry needs new ideas to make our country move forward.”
A spokesperson from the department of Entrepreneurship and Industry (DEI) explained that they have secured a number of partners and participants and there are a series of events which will be taking place to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship for development during the said week. The activities will be visible as from Monday November 16, 2020. From students running a business to topical debates on youth and women and interactive quizzes, the week is more or less packed with activities.
The DEI also noted that entrepreneurs are valuable to any economy because they create and distribute new wealth, generate new employment and raise the standards of living with their ground-breaking ventures. They are also immune to hardships. If there is a message that we would wish to be conveyed during the week is that in the face of adversity, there is a way out – and that is the entrepreneur’s way.
“Seychelles, through our department, has already embarked on a collaboration with the United Nations Corporation of Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in regards to the development of an Entrepreneurship Strategy for Seychelles. This strategy will increase the level of entrepreneurial activity by developing policies that directly addresses entrepreneurs’ needs, for instance, optimising the regulatory environment, enhancing the entrepreneurship education and skills of the general population, facilitating technology exchange and innovation; improving access to finance; and promoting awareness and networking,” stated the spokesperson of DEI.
“Another request that was made to UNCTAD was to establish their flagship capacity-building programme – EMPRETEC – in Seychelles to foster the motivation and self-confidence of Seychellois who have chosen to start or expand their businesses. EMPRETEC is based on a behavioural approach, designed to unleash personal entrepreneurial potential.”
Seychelles started participating in the GEW in 2019 but with only a few activities. A request was made earlier this year by the GEW Inc. for Seychelles to host GEW in view of its unceasing efforts where entrepreneurship development is concerned.
The Seychelles Business Studies Academy (SBSA) kicked off the GEW activities with a special entrepreneurship lecture series in October. Accompanying the article is a brief programme of the several GEW Seychelles 2020 activities to be held but to keep up to date with Global Entrepreneurship Week Seychelles news visit the official GEW Seychelles website – genglobal.org/Seychelles, the department’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Updates may also be accessed by using the hashtags #GEW2020 #GEWSeychelles.