Remarks by PAO Vanessa Harper on behalf of CDA Troy Fitrell at GEW event

It is an honor to be with you today and I thank Mrs. Nivedita Nathoo and the Mauritius Alliance of Women for helping us set up today’s event

Last week together with International Education Week, we celebrated Global Entrepreneurship Week

Each November, Global Entrepreneurship Week connects young people everywhere through local, national and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials and many others participated in a range of activities, from online to face-to-face, and from large-scale competitions and events to intimate networking gatherings.

Last year, over 35,000 events celebrating GEW took place in nearly 120 countries - many with the active support and participation of the host governments.  

Through this initiative, the next generation of entrepreneurs is inspired and can emerge. In doing so, they will begin to acquire the knowledge, skills and networks needed to grow innovative, sustainable enterprises that have a positive impact on their lives, their families and communities.

Economists and business people differ in their definitions of entrepreneurship. Most, however, agree that entrepreneurship is vital for stimulating economic growth and employment opportunities in all societies. This is particularly true in the developing world, where successful small businesses are the primary engines of job creation and poverty reduction.

Entrepreneurs are known for the innovation they bring to bear in the market.  It takes passion and an affinity for risk.  To be an entrepreneur is not only to have the vision to see the potential of a new product or service, but it’s also the ability to make it happen. However, entrepreneurs have the capability to reduce unemployment, increase GDP, and solve local and national problems. When entrepreneurs turn their ideas into businesses, jobs and economic opportunity follow closely behind.

Entrepreneurs are the engines of economic growth and job creation; which in turn, are the underpinnings of political stability and the growth of civil society.  Entrepreneurship empowers women and youth, highlights the importance of education, science and technology, and provides new economic opportunities for investors.

Research study after research study has confirmed that it is young firms that drive job creation.  In the United States, from 1980–2005, firms less than five years old accounted for nearly all net job growth in the country.  In 2007 alone, young firms (1-5 years old) accounted for nearly two-thirds of job creation. 

According to the Public Forum Institute, entrepreneurs have been responsible for 67% of the inventions and 95% of the radical innovations made since World War II.

The Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) is a U.S. State Department-led effort to promote and spur entrepreneurship around the world.  Announced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in April 2010, the GEP highlights the U.S. government’s commitment to use America’s entrepreneurial culture to advance entrepreneurship in emerging markets and developing countries.  The program is managed as an interagency team, which includes USAID, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, among others, and is led by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Economic Affairs/Office of Commercial and Business Affairs.  

The GEP represents a vital public-private partnership that achieves its objectives by catalyzing and coordinating non-governmental partners around six categories of activity, which are considered essential to creating an integrated, holistic entrepreneurial ecosystem.  These six areas include:  identifying promising entrepreneurs, training them, connecting them to each other and sustaining their efforts, increasing funding for emerging enterprises, enabling supportive policy, and celebrating their successes. 

By establishing a supportive ecosystem, entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to create jobs and vastly improve the economic conditions of their country.  The GEP rests on the philosophy that economic growth, and particularly job creation, is the foundation for political stability.

Ladies and gentlemen, in the United States, we feel so strongly about entrepreneurship as a key part of what makes for a free and prosperous society, that we make it a part of our engagement with other countries.  We see this engagement as a true partnership, a sharing of ideas, and a way to build security and opportunity worldwide.

I am certain that Mrs. Nivedita Nathoo, recent participant to the International Visitor Leadership Program “African Women Entrepreneurs”  (AWEP) agrees with this statement

I know that Mrs. Nathoo has already established the first contacts in view of the setting up on an AWEP Chapter in Mauritius…rest assured that the U.S. Embassy is fully supportive of this type of endeavor

There is a growing youth demographic brimming with intellectual energy and capabilities that are seeking new market opportunities.  Unfortunately environmental challenges, such as a lack of mentors, networks, resources and information, impede their successes.  An environment needs to be created to give this demographic a chance at success.

I am certain that our alumni and women entrepreneurs present here this afternoon will pave the way for next generation of Mauritian entrepreneurs.

I thank you for your attention.