Global Entrepreneurship Week 2024: Empowering Innovators and Entrepreneurs Around the Globe

If you’re unfamiliar with GEW, this week-long campaign works to drive interest in entrepreneurship. There are events and activities taking place in over 180 countries to showcase entrepreneurial spirit and the talents aligned with being your own boss such as tenacity, creativity and resilience. 

GEW creates a platform for aspiring and established entrepreneurs to share ideas, explore opportunities, and develop skills that are necessary to compete in the harsh reality of the business world. Despite the scale of economic challenges, recent stats suggest that the number of new UK startups has grown by 4.5% (April 2023). For this reason GEW is an amazing initiative that is helping to plant the seed of innovation in nurturing more people capable of running their own business to go ahead and do it!

The Theme of GEW 2024

The theme for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2024 centres on ‘Inclusive Growth and Innovation’, highlighting the importance of building an entrepreneurial culture that is accessible to everyone, regardless of gender, race, geography, or socioeconomic background.

With the rapid changes brought about by technology and the global economy’s evolution, this theme highlights how innovation can serve as a tool for reducing inequality. 

As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, entrepreneurs have a crucial role in creating solutions that transcend borders. Whether they are building new apps, launching green businesses, or supporting their local communities, entrepreneurs actually help economies grow – and this is why GEW is so important.

GEW 2024 is built around four key themes that guide the discussions, events, and initiatives throughout the week:

Ecosystem

A strong entrepreneurial ecosystem is critical for innovation to thrive. During GEW 2024, local and global leaders will come together to discuss policies, share resources, and build networks that foster entrepreneurial growth. Events around this pillar will focus on strengthening support systems that help startups and small businesses scale sustainably.

Education

Entrepreneurship education empowers individuals with the skills they need to turn ideas into action. GEW 2024 will highlight programs that teach not only the technical aspects of running a business but also the mindset of innovation, resilience, and problem-solving. By engaging students, educators, and training programmes, this theme promotes lifelong learning for entrepreneurs.

Inclusion

True innovation flourishes in diverse environments. The inclusion pillar will feature initiatives that encourage underrepresented groups – such as women, young people, people of colour, and individuals from low-income communities – to access entrepreneurial opportunities. This focus will be on breaking barriers and levelling the playing field to create a more equitable future for all.

Policy

Policies and regulations are the backbone of any thriving business environment. GEW 2024 will spotlight conversations around how governments, institutions, and the private sector can work together to create supportive, business-friendly policies that foster innovation while maintaining ethical practices and sustainability

Overview and Reflections of Forward Enterprise Services

Forward Enterprise Services has been providing business support to those from disadvantaged backgrounds since 2018. We are firm believers that entrepreneurship should be made accessible to everyone, regardless of their struggles, experience and background and we have supported hundreds of budding entrepreneurs to start their businesses over the last 6 years.

We specialise in supporting those with multiple complex barriers to self-employment and this includes ex-offenders, recovering addicts, those with physical/mental health disabilities and many more.

 Here are some key findings of the support we have provided over the past few years:

• 40% of our clients have progressed into trading – that’s approximately 80 people who have started their own business through the intensive support we offer at Forward!
• The most popular industries our clients wish to provide their services to include the arts, food, and healthcare.
• Overall, our clients reported an improvement in their project management skills, communication skills, and decision-making abilities, as well as increases in their motivation, self-esteem, and knowledge.
• 77.8% of clients (former and current) stated feeling very satisfied or satisfied with the support received by Forward Enterprise Services.

These findings demonstrate the excellent impact our interventions provide to marginalised people who need and thrive through the support we offer and we invite our supporters to contact us to discuss funding our services to help us reach and support even more people into enterprise.

Global Entrepreneurs Week 2024 at Forward

Forward Enterprise Services celebrates GEW every year and we have an action-packed list of activities and events throughout the week. Working alongside the themes for this year’s celebrations, some events include:

• A celebration of GEW in collaboration with the Financial Times at our London office. Our budding entrepreneurs will get to hear from our Enterprise Coach about his reflections on providing business support over the last 5 years in addition to some guest speakers who will be focussing on their entrepreneurial journeys and the skills needed to develop an entrepreneurial mindset.

• A showcase of a selection of our budding entrepreneurs, their businesses, and their successes through short videos and case studies promoted through our social media channels.

• A podcast around Business Development with our very own Executive Director of Research and Business Development, Carwyn Gravel, on how to approach business development for a start-up business.

How to Get Involved in GEW 2024

Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, policymaker, educator, or just someone passionate about innovation, there are countless ways to participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week 2024. Some examples include:

• Attending local and networking events can provide valuable opportunities to connect with other innovators.
• If you’re part of a startup, organisation, or community that supports entrepreneurship, consider hosting a local event.
• GEW 2024 will be filled with live-streamed sessions, panels, and discussions. Tune in to hear from global thought leaders and participate in conversations that explore the future of entrepreneurship, innovation, and inclusive growth.
• If you’re an entrepreneur, your story can inspire others. Use social media to share your entrepreneurial journey, the challenges you’ve faced, and the victories you’ve achieved, using the official hashtags #GEW2024 and #GlobalEntrepreneurshipWeek.

If you are a funder/investor and are interested in helping support disadvantaged people into entrepreneurship, we would love to hear from you. We have a variety of different support packages for our start-up so please do get in touch with me to discuss this in more detail.

Let GEW 2024 inspire you to innovate, collaborate, and grow – because when entrepreneurs succeed, we all succeed.