Global Entrepreneurship Week kicks off today

AMMAN — The Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2019 kicks off on Monday under the theme “Learn the Rules; Then Win”, President of Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT) Mashhour Rifai announced on Sunday.

During a press conference at Tank incubator at the King Hussein Business Park, Rifai said that the event, held under the patronage of HRH Princess Sumaya, chairperson of PSUT’s board of trustees, is organised by the Queen Rania Centre for Entrepreneurship (QRCE) and Umniah Jordan.

Spread over 170 countries, 10 million people will be involved in the GEW’s 35,000 activities, 250 of which will be held throughout the Kingdom, mainly outside of Amman, Rifai said, noting that PSUT will host 13 activities.

“The goal of these activities is to adopt the entrepreneurial lifestyle in Jordan, especially among youth, and utilise it to serve the community,” Rifai noted, adding that the focus will be on success stories and start-ups that aim at creating jobs.

GEW 2019 focuses on four pillars: Education, policy, ecosystems and inclusion, according to Rifai.

PSUT has given attention to entrepreneurship since the establishment of the QRCE in 2004, and the university was among the first to offer a master’s programme in this field, in addition to an obligatory course on the topic for all students, the university president said.

For his part, QRCE Executive Director Mohammad Obaidat said that 40 partners in Jordan will oversee the 250 activities in the Kingdom, which place emphasis on villages and remote areas.

He added that this year, the week covers school and university students, training and youth centres and chambers of commerce and industry, in addition to public- and private-sector companies.

“Many say that entrepreneurship institutes do not interact with each other, and the main goal of the GEW is to gather these institutions such as incubators or private and public sector organisations, to discuss, cooperate and coordinate together. We hope that this year, the impact will be larger and bring sustainable cooperation,” Obaidat said.

The 2019 activities will feature new faces and new ideas, Obaidat noted.

For her part, Umniah Jordan Corporate Communications Manager Nicole Shahin said that partners are going to work to help younger people “discover their strengths and natures early on”.

She said that the main purpose of entrepreneurship is to find solutions to people’s problems through innovation.

Tank, by Umniah, is a physical incubator that supports its members directly through supplying them with the tools they need, Shahin said.

Obaidat mentioned that this year’s theme was “inspired by the fact that people need to understand every aspect of entrepreneurship, its policies and programmes and what it entails in order to be able to venture into the field and succeed”.

The GEW is one of the largest global events to celebrate innovators and entrepreneurs, who establish start-ups to manifest their ideas and improve the economy and the quality of services provided to the public, according to the organisers.