This March, participants from 135 nations gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the 2013 Global Entrepreneurship Congress. First held in 2009, the annual event brings together entrepreneurs, leading thinkers, researchers, and policymakers to celebrate entrepreneurship, in particular the successes of Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW).
Every November, delegations from around the world, from Ghana to Turkey to the United States, organize GEW events that give future entrepreneurs the chance to expand their professional networks, better understand their countries’ business environments, and practice important skills, such as giving a pitch for a new business. Through partnerships with universities, community organizations, and businesses, Global Entrepreneurship Week teaches individuals how to create successful businesses that will support not only themselves and their families, but their nations’ economies.
In recognition of national committees’ outstanding achievement in organizing GEW events, the Global Entrepreneurship Congress bestows awards for most partner organizations, most activities, and best overall campaign. And the winner of this year’s Buzz Builder Award for best use of social media?
That would be Tunisia. Led by CIPE partner IACE (l’Institut arabe des chefs d’entreprises), the Tunisian committee generated more social media support for its achievements during the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Week than any other delegation, no small feat for a country of about 10.6 million people.
IACE’s Center for Young Entrepreneurs, whose year-round programming supports the next generation of Tunisian entrepreneurs, took the lead in organizing Tunisia’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. GEW Tunisia events demonstrated the diversity of the business community and gave future entrepreneurs the information and tools they will need to start their own businesses.
The Center for Young Entrepreneurs produced a video to celebrate a successful GEW: in six days, 5,000 people participated in 80 activities across the country in support of entrepreneurship. Promoting the video through their website and Facebook page, IACE and the Center for Young Entrepreneurs went up against delegations from fifteen other countries—including Mexico, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and the United States—to eventually win the 2012 Buzz Builder Award.
Tunisian society is no stranger to social media. In 2011, videos and images of protests in Tunisia quickly spread throughout North Africa and the world via YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The ensuing revolution and ouster of the longtime regime set an example for similar regime changes in Egypt, Yemen, Libya, and elsewhere.
Almost two years later, IACE’s Center for Young Entrepreneurs invited the youth that sparked the Arab Spring to explore empowerment through entrepreneurship. Inspired by changes in the region, Tunisians are clamoring for not only political but economic agency. With engaging, informative activities like Global Entrepreneurship Week, IACE is giving Tunisian youth the tools to transform their passion and ability into real economic opportunity.