Good People,
In
Africa Forward Strategy for which President Obama is expanding the 2014
USA African Leadership Summit into 2015 and beyond going forward ,
Diaspora must concentrate in a Coalition for Africa Diaspora Investment
through the following Zones...................
e.g.
ZONES
OF ENGAGEMENT FACING AFRICAN LEADERSHIP SUMMIT AND THE DIASPORA MOVING FORWARD INTO GES (THE GLOBAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT OF JULY 25-27 IN NAIROBI) PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN AFRICA AND AMERICA
It is about time where all sector, political, economic and social welfare programs in business and non-business organizations to
make their own contributions to the African Narratives within the zones of progressive agenda for Africa. There are seven zones
of engagement facing the leaders of the Africa Summit in light of these
differing views about "What must be done." Here are the zones for
your attention and retention.
1. The first zone is that of
Diplomatic Cooperation and Political Communication to address the needs of both
Americans and Africans simultaneously
2. The second zone is that
which calls for harmonization of contending views about Africa among American
parties on the one hand and African parties on the other hand.
3. The third zone of
engagement deals with the role and place of the non-governmental parties in
America and in Africa who wish to add to the growing body of knowledge about
American-African relations over the last one hundred years. More particularly,
since the beginning of Africa's independence from colonial rule and the
recognition of African states as members of the United Nations.
4. The fourth zone of
engagement deals with the realms of diplomatic and political protocols that
define how Americans and Africans could, and must negotiate on a wide
range of issues. Take for example, the Kennedy Administration and its decision
to reach out to African youths and peoples through the Peace-Corp Program. Not
only did the U.S. engage Africa's peoples but she provided a number of
educational, cultural and political program to foster the strategies of
engagement and cooperation between the two parts of the world.
5. The fifth zone relates to
American interest in Africa and to Africa's interest in America. These two
concepts about American-African relations are problematic. The United States of
America is a federation of fifty states who can act singly in the service of
American interest nationally and globally. Africa consists of fifty-four states
that are diplomatically called African Union, but the bottom line here is that,
these political entities are not likely to fashion a draft document that
equalizes their collective interest to the American President who made the call
for this Summit. Hopefully, the African leaders would do their expected “home-work”
before the Summit in August.
6. The sixth zone of
engagement between the United States of America and the African Union revolves
around geopolitical understanding of Africans with their natural resources on
the one hand, and political economic understanding on the other hand. What do
we mean by geopolitical understanding? Here, we mean the nature of land ownership at individual
African countries with national sovereignty of these countries as is understood
abroad. For Africa, the question of land ownership is becoming more and more critical.
This is largely as a result of the growing penetration (in the Scramble for
African’s Lands= Land Grabbing) by outside forces searching for lands to
purchase for private business mining and for farming. Land Grabbing is a new
concept and new phenomenon. It robs Africans indigenous of rightful ownership
as stakeholders and deprives fair shared interest for development
purposes. On the same same strength, it
terrorizes, denies justice, manipulates and impoverishes Africans to an extend
it reduces African people to succumb to extreme poverty, pain and sufferings
with all forms of crime, abuse and violation of human rights. There are numerous Witness news with
documented reports from many African countries to this effect. This phenomenon is affecting the Economic and
Political conditions with social lifestyle of millions of people across African
Continent.
With respect to how the
Summit is going to harmonize or provide immediate effect in both Short and Long
term for American-African relations, to meet challenges from other competing
Countries like China is crucial and is fundamentally most necessary factor
requiring to be considered and shared broadly between stakeholders and
shareholders to avoid and reduce Poverty, Pain and Sufferings, a condition that
arose from the Scramble to Africa and which are viewed as Crimes, Abuse and
Violations of Human Rights exploding in Africa as a result of “Land Grabbing”.
Two points deserve our
attention here:
1.
The first deals with the Human Factor in
American-African relations. The lives of countless millions are at stake. How?
Well,
the paradox in American-African relations, when it comes to human relations, is
most obvious in terms of labor, production and exchange value in the
international markets.
2.
Because of the percentage of African
immigrants living and working in the United States of America, the annual
remittances of dollars going to Africa, as studied by the World Bank and other
interested parties records, greater than the total foreign invest in Africa.
This is to say, African governments collect more dollars in their central banks
than foreign investments from overseas coming into their economies. This
African Summit is going to face these realities. In this zone of engagement,
what must be done will be an issue.
7. The seven and last zone
of engagement relates to the "broken wings" in the
American-African Plane of Social, Political and Economic collaboration. The
missing parts in this equation consists of the following items on our list of
necessities: Good Governance and the Democratic Pills for political
communication between the leaders and the led; Political Transparency and the
Medicine against Political Kleptocracy; Political Innovations with respect to humanity
aspects as in:
a) minority
rights, human rights, gender rights and religious pluralism, with its
b) Social
amenities that adds value to peace and Liberty and where;
c) Economic Trading Entrepreneurship has
conducive environment to thrive.
At
the summit, those who seek to shed some light on what must be done will have a
serious challenge before them. Both the Americans and the Africans must
demonstrate political sagacity with creative imagination that are able to shed
some lights, if they want to make a serious impression on their peers.
After presenting these seven
zones of engagement, we the people in “Africa Forward” must ask our colleagues
in the different organizations routing for the summit to come up with their
own. Perhaps, they might very well see their ideas embodied in the points
identified here. With this challenge, let us start with what we know and humbly
ask others to augment our narrative and footnote our text appropriately.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
=======================
“Africa
Forward” in Sustained Economics & Community Development
Confederation Council
Foundation for Africa Inc., is a Non-Profit making for Social, Political and
Economic development undertaking in Africa for sustainability in a conducive
environment. The organization strives to
create awareness on educational information with cultural social heritage
values and virtues and provides voice of reason social media and through
advocacy for the Refugee and Displaced persons.
Our intervention is not limited, but goes beyond to offer meditation for
rehabilitation to realize Economics advantage with Community Development programs
that motivates peace. We engage in promoting increased prosperity and economic
security for all African oriented communities, individuals and families, small
farmers and also, ranchers, entrepreneurs’ traders, and consumers across the
People of African Descent. Working together with African America Diasporas with
University Professors and gives us an edge to provide leadership securely.
We wish to collaborate with
Government staff to assist in facilitating our organizational team to realize
preparation for the coming meeting in August 2014, where we expect to formalize
areas of interests for research, education, capacity building and in extending
our activities that shall help participants at the forum to be prepared and
engage effectively incorporating sound collaborative strategies that will make
African Leadership Forum a success story.
This will include discovering historical new economic opportunities for
Africa Moving Forward. It shall also
engage effectiveness of Energy/Water Proposal, develop successful agricultural
and nonagricultural enterprises cooperative enterprising and take advantage of
new and consumer-driven markets at both the local and international levels, and
understand the implications of public policy on these and other activities of
progressive development.
We take the opportunity of
the coming Summit as a necessary leverage and an advantage against our
competitors with example to China’s scramble to Africa.
I must reiterate and
emphasize that, in partnering with diverse African Diaspora in America, we
collaboration in consultations alongside other African NGO groups, Faith
Based and Community Leaders under “One
Stop Service Center Coordination” to make sure we avoid duplication of
work, we shall engage the local community in the affairs of their Social
Welfare Development towards fulfilling African historical values on “African Forward” where African
Diaspora have comparative advantage with more leverage.
Consequently, looking
forward to our US President's invitation of African Leaders Summit in August,
we anticipate great opportunity for his legacy with African Diaspora to
undertake serious involvement to make deliberations from the summit a success
story. I must reiterate and emphasize
that, in partnering with diverse African Diaspora in America, we
collaboration in consultations alongside other African NGO groups, Faith
Based and Community Leaders under “One
Stop Service Center Coordination” to make sure we avoid duplication of
work, we shall engage the local community in the affairs of their Social
Welfare Development towards fulfilling African historical values on “African Forward” where African
Diaspora have comparative advantage with more leverage.
We therefore want to be
fully involved in the US/Africa Partnership Development at the African
Presidential Summit so that we shall provide an economic booster with reliable
and sustainable better and improved prospects moving forward. The U.S.
President Obama's foreign policy for mutually fair and balanced economic development
provides a shared and balanced organized program that is suitable for
USA/Africa business and Social Welfare Partnership engagement capable of moving
“Africa forward”. The African Presidential Summit in August therefore, is
more promising with historical values that we cannot afford to be left behind
without capturing the essence for:
a)
Obama Legacy,
b)
The Obama Prestige on African Historical
values
c)
Post Obama Presidency
Our priorities therefore
shall be:
1)
Water, Natural Minerals and Energy
2)
Agriculture and land ownership
3)
Education, Science and Technology for Industrialization
4)
Foreign Direct Investment
5) Health projects
6)
Transportation infrastructure linking Africa
Nations.
7) Diaspora Franchising with Supply chains and Investments in Africa
With the vast experience and
knowledge in Science, Engineering and Technology that America has shared with
other advanced European and Eastern blocks countries, the US African American
(Americans of African descent) shall be our bargain leverage investment Partnership with
Africa for exchange in Technology transfer an industrialization in Africa.
Preparing for the same, it
is crucially important and more fundamental to effectively prepare ourselves
sufficiently at the African Leadership Forum by visiting Senegal, Kenya,
Tanzania, DRC Congo, South Sudan, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Guinea and South Africa in
advance of African Leadership Summit in order to fully provide good promises
for the Summit breakthrough in this August 2014.
Partnering with Social,
Economic and Political drivers as a team, we shall create a harmonious better
understanding of things with greater fundamental rewarding impact. We believe
and it has been tested that, the prospects can be made promising in a fast
turnover, as impacts are readily felt and realized, since the people are
involved in their business of participating, engaging and improving their own
lifestyle and economic development according to their own cultural values and
tradition and at the same time, the development process slowly adopts diversity
without negative force as has been the case. Together, we shall make good
inroad to a sustainable progressive development in economic security and
sufficiency and at the same time, improve on Environmental protection.
We must prepare to do
business differently that give people hope and are with good return and better
sustainable prospects, an engagement that provides competitive education
with good health and as well promotes local peasant cooperative agriculture
which is the prescription for income generating job creation, innovative
expansion with sustainable economic opportunities will nurture peace and
harmony for common good of all.
Participating and engaging
in Cooperative Partnership for development inclusively, we cannot go wrong in
Democratizing efficiency and supply vs. demand and at the same time, cushioning
the African Government Leadership to realize its development promise to its
Citizen and the larger business community in a shared effective fair manner
favorable to all thus:
1)
Energy/Water Supply and Management that shall
ease the burden of fetching water long distances and energy to provide
lighting, cooking and small industrial for economic prospects. Rural Community
Development with Related Stakeholders Input and Information
2)
Sustainable Cooperative Agriculture shall
provide with job creation, improved education with economic growth and
expansion with Social Welfare improvement from capacity of financial flow from
job creation with economic financial advantages.
3)
Community Welfare for Social Development will
engage preservation of Wild Life, Environment and great lakes protection from
adverse Industrial pollution with other mismanagement. The stakeholders and shareholders will have
opportunity to work closely in harmony together.
4)
Small-scale and peasant farming cooperative
entrepreneurship will provide sustainability of Development agenda with both
short and long-term diversity and expansion.
The Cooperative Partnership between USA and Africa and as well offer
training to both the Socially Disadvantaged African Farmers to realize economic
sustainability as well as built the capacity in social welfare agenda. This
will boost the financial Security Promoting Family and Small Farms into
Cooperative management through Social
Welfare Integration on sustainable agriculture
5)
Hospital and Schools (Health, Early School
Learning including Reading as well as Higher Education with Scholarships and
Internships) for Foreign Assistance to American Schools and Hospitals Abroad
(ASHA)
6) Diversify Cultural Heritage Values and also
harmonize Exchange Network through Agriculture, Art and Sports (traditional
foods, music and physical sporting activities
As a result of the above, it
is crucial that we make advance feasible negotiation in order that we present
competitive Partnership proposal before the Forum hence the advance funding
request.
While we shall involve
Politicians in Africa to provide enabling environment with good policy and
security, we aim to strengthen expert and professional consultation to set
standardization for a secured progressive business complex in order to meet the
challenges of other existing business players at the Global Emerging Market
Place. The Diaspora Engagement in Public
Private Partnership for effective Development Management in Africa, shall
require expert design and implementation on standardized, effective and
efficient strategies of projects to promote Counties, National and Regional
cooperation. Its intended outcome is for civil servants effectiveness to public
Service Delivery and to apply the acquired knowledge, skills in the workplace with good policies
that shall protect and secure the success of business partnership capacity
development.
I am delighted that, as the
Executive Director for Confederation Council Foundation for Africa, I am
fortunate to have been endorsed by a group of Diaspora members to provide
leadership to make this program for Diaspora Project investment in Africa a
success. I look forward to building upon that African Union legacy for Diaspora
by focusing on key strategic issues of critical importance to Africa and to
US-Africa Diaspora relationship. This by
no means shall consolidate and expand our diverse engagement, and will elevate
Africans credentials that impact Africa business community with its social
welfare, a success. We shall engage to stimulate public engagement as
stakeholders and favorably share in the Partnership with shareholders in order
to improve the quality of life and increase prosperity in Africa, since vibrant
economies excite entrepreneurial initiatives in the business world platform.
Judy Miriga
Diaspora Spokesperson
Executive Director
Confederation Council Foundation for Africa Inc.,
USA
http://socioeconomicforum50.blogspot.com
Email: socioeconomicforum50@gmail.com
jbatec@yahoo.com
Kenya to host Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES)
The Government of Kenya has agreed to co-host the 2015 Global
Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) this July. Organized annually since 2009,
the GES has emerged as a global platform connecting emerging
entrepreneurs with leaders from business, international organizations,
and governments looking to support them. This will be the first time
the GES will take place in sub-Saharan Africa.
President Obama will travel to Kenya in July, where he will hold
bilateral meetings and participate in the GES. His trip will build on
the success of the August 2014 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and continue
our efforts to work with countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including
Kenya, to accelerate economic growth, strengthen democratic
institutions, and improve security. This will be President Obama’s
fourth trip to sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency.
Kenya to co-host the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2015 in Nairobi
by kingatmo • April 14, 2015
The
Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in Nairobi, is intended to bring
together entrepreneurs, leading business personalities, government
officials, investors to strengthen ties and to focus on the contribution
of entrepreneurship to economic prosperity.
GES is an initiative by the White House in the U.S that aims to
partner with host countries to showcase entrepreneur’s capabilities and
strengthen entrepreneurial infrastructure.
Spark Initiative: U.S. Government Programs
U.S. Government Spark Programs
The programs designated as part of the President's Spark initiative
represent the best work being done by the U.S. Government to advance
entrepreneurship around the world. The following U.S. Government
programs are part of the larger SPARK network.
Launched by President Obama in 2009, the Global Entrepreneurship
Summit (GES) is a preeminent annual gathering that links emerging
entrepreneurs from around the world with leaders from business,
government, and innovative organizations. GES showcases the latest
trends, training, and technology available to emerging or aspiring
entrepreneurs, along with providing a powerful platform for policy
discussions with government leaders. Past summits, held in the United
States, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and Morocco, have
inspired numerous initiatives, forged collaborations across countries,
and helped to increase economic opportunities, particularly amongst
marginalized groups.
GIST creates a network of
entrepreneurs, angel investors, mentors and others to strengthen
entrepreneurial ecosystems in 86 emerging economies across Africa, Asia,
Latin America, and the Middle East. GIST empowers young innovators
through networking, skills building, mentoring, and access to financing
to develop startup solutions that address economic and development
challenges. GIST includes an interactive virtual network with online
programming, a global annual Technology-Idea (Tech-I) competition, and
startup boot camps.
WECREATE Centers are physical entrepreneurial community centers in a
safe and centralized location. At these centers, women gain access to
vital resources that both enable established business to build capacity
and allow microenterprises to move from the informal sector into the
formal sector.
The Presidential Ambassadors for Global Entrepreneurship is a
first-of-its-kind collaboration between America’s most inspiring and
prominent entrepreneurs and the White House, Department of Commerce,
Department of State, and U.S. Agency for International Development. The
goal is to harness the energy, ideas, and experience of successful
American entrepreneurs to help develop the next generation of
entrepreneurs both at home and abroad. Members participate in outreach
and mentorship activities to help promote start-up culture, and energize
their own personal and professional networks to challenge and inspire
budding entrepreneurs and raise awareness of the many resources
available to them.
U.S. Global Development Lab's Partnering to Accelerate
Entrepreneurship (PACE) Initiative aims to catalyze private-sector
investment into early-stage enterprises and test financially sustainable
approaches to enterprise incubation – unlocking the potential of
thousands of promising enterprises around the world. Through six
public-private partnerships, PACE partners are already reaching more
than 200 enterprises and mobilizing more than $80 million in private
capital in the first year.
U.S. Global Development Lab's Development Innovation
Ventures (DIV) is an open innovation fund at USAID that sources, tests,
and scales breakthrough solutions to global development challenges.
Through a year-round grant competition for innovative ideas in any
sector and nearly any country, DIV invests funding and hands-on support
in solutions with the potential to deliver more impact, for lower cost,
at sustainable scale. Since 2011, DIV has supported over 115 innovations
spanning 35 countries.
The Office of Commercial and Business Affairs at the State Department
develops binational initiatives through the Entrepreneurship and
Innovation Program (EIP) to significantly enhance the conditions in
which entrepreneurial endeavors can thrive. EIP is currently active in
two countries, Poland and Mexico. The U.S.-Poland Innovation Program (PLUS-IP)
is a collaborative initiative between the U.S. Department of State and
the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Poland.
The program will strengthen Poland’s entrepreneurship ecosystem by
promoting innovation through U.S.-Polish joint ventures and joint
research and development projects. The Mexico-U.S. Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council (MUSEIC)
aims to enhance regional competitiveness by strengthening the North
American entrepreneurship ecosystem. MUSEIC is made up of public and
private sector representatives from both countries who are working to
develop new initiatives along with public policies to promote
entrepreneurship and innovation.
Through YALI, the United States Government is investing in the next
generation of African leaders, and has committed significant resources
to enhance leadership skills, bolster entrepreneurship, and connect
young African leaders with one another and the United States. The
initiative includes the Mandela Washington Fellowship, which brings 500
of Africa’s most dynamic young leaders to the United States each year
for six weeks of leadership training, networking, and mentoring at top
U.S. universities. Four Regional Leadership Centers being established in
Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, and South Africa, as part of YALI, will improve
the availability and quality of leadership training programs and
professional development opportunities for young African leaders. In
addition to in-person training and opportunities, the YALI Network
provides more than 130,000 members with virtual resources and vibrant
physical spaces that equip young African leaders with the skills and
connections they need to improve their communities and their countries.
YSEALI is President Obama’s signature program to strengthen
leadership development and networking in Southeast Asia. Through a
variety of programs and engagements, including U.S. educational
exchanges, regional exchanges, and seed funding, YSEALI seeks to build
the leadership capabilities of youth in the region, strengthen ties
between the United States and Southeast Asia, and nurture an ASEAN
community. YSEALI focuses on critical topics identified by youth in the
region: civic engagement, environment and natural resources management,
and entrepreneurship and economic development.
African Women’s Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) is an outreach,
education, and engagement initiative that targets women entrepreneurs in
sub-Saharan Africa to promote business growth, increase trade both
regionally and to U.S. markets through the African Growth and
Opportunity Act (AGOA), create better business environments, and empower
African women entrepreneurs to become voices of change in their
communities. Launched in July 2010, the initiative identifies and builds
networks of women entrepreneurs across sub-Saharan Africa poised to
transform their societies by owning, running, and operating small and
medium businesses.
President Obama launched the WEAmericas initiative at the Summit of
the Americas in 2012. WEAmericas leverages public-private partnerships
to encourage inclusive economic growth in the Western Hemisphere. The
initiative reduces barriers and increases opportunities for women
entrepreneurs to start and grow small and medium-size enterprises by
improving access to markets, access to capital, skills and capacity
building, and leadership opportunities. Through WEAmericas, public,
private, and nonprofit partners are working together to build a stronger
and more collaborative environment for women entrepreneurs to achieve
mutually beneficial goals: inclusive economic growth; social impact from
commercial activity/growth; formalization of informal sector work; and
enhanced competitiveness for firms and local economies.
The International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) is the U.S.
Department of State’s premier professional exchange program. Through
short-term visits to the United States, current and emerging foreign
leaders in a variety of fields experience the United States firsthand
and cultivate lasting relationships with their American counterparts.
Professional meetings reflect the participants’ professional interests
and support the foreign policy goals of the United States. There are
over 50 entrepreneurship exchanges each year with more than 450
participants. The business programs explore the role of small business
in driving local economic development and examine U.S. efforts to
promote small business development and innovation, both domestically and
internationally. Social entrepreneurship exchanges look at the growth
of this sector in the United States and the impact of technology –
particularly social networking – in developing new avenues for civic
engagement and participation.
The Global Entrepreneurship Program (GEP) is a U.S. State
Department-led effort to promote and spur entrepreneurship by catalyzing
and coordinating private sector and U.S. Government programs to support
entrepreneurs around the world. GEP was launched in April 2010 at the
Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. GEP supports integrated
entrepreneurial ecosystems by focusing on seven key areas: identifying,
training, connecting and sustaining; guiding to financing; facilitating
market access; enabling supportive policy; and celebrating
entrepreneurs. GEP’s partners include domestic and global NGOs,
corporations, foundations, educational institutions and investors. To
develop entrepreneurship ecosystems, GEP partner organizations are asked
to further their activities, either by expanding current programs to a
new country, or deepening existing programs in their current countries
of operation.
The
Resilient, Entrepreneurial, And Dynamic Youth (READY) Initiative
teaches at-risk youth between the ages of 18 to 30 how to code, matches
them with a virtual mentor, places them in a pre-arranged internship
with a technology company, and prepares them for online employment upon
completion of the program. READY works with key partners in local
entrepreneurial ecosystems to showcase the relationship between
entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth to program
participants.
==========================
Spark Initiative: Promoting Global Entrepreneurship
Get Involved
Answer President Obama’s call to invest in emerging entrepreneurs through Spark: http://www.startthespark.org/
What is Spark?
A common symbol and platform for connecting diverse programs working to promote entrepreneurship around the world.
What is the U.S. Government's Spark initiative?
The programs selected to the President's Spark initiative represent
the best work being done by the U.S. Government to advance
entrepreneurship around the world. They commit to generate at least $10
million dollars over three years for emerging entrepreneurs, with more
than half raised by women and young entrepreneurs. The initial
commitments toward this goal totaled over $1 billion dollars that would
be generated by the end of 2017. The programs agreed to co-brand their
communications with the Spark logo, while working to more closely link
their programs to increase their reach and impact. More on the U.S. Government’s Spark Programs»
What is the External Spark consortium?
Representing
some of the world’s top organizations working on entrepreneurship, the
Spark consortium serves as the first-ever umbrella organization for
connecting, coordinating, and communicating about their programs. The
Spark consortium chose to focus their initial work on creating a unified
communications capacity about entrepreneurship across their
organizations, developing a searchable inventory of programs, resources,
and investment opportunities for entrepreneurs, coordinating their
events and major programs, collaborating on the Global Entrepreneurship
Summit, as well as working to prioritize key policies and issues facing
entrepreneurs. The Spark consortium is supported by some of America’s
top marketing firms, who have dedicated significant time and resources
to developing a universal symbol to represent the hope and opportunity
offered by entrepreneurship. More on the external Spark consortium»
Where did Spark Start?
At the 2014 Global Entrepreneurship Summit, Vice President Biden
announced a bold goal for the best work being done by the U.S.
Government to advance entrepreneurship around the world: help emerging
entrepreneurs, including social entrepreneurs generate over $1 billion
in new private investments in their businesses, with more than half of
the investment being raised by women and youth. As President Obama said
in a video address to an entrepreneurship summit in Tunisia, “Over the
next three years, we’re aiming to spark more than one billion dollars in
new investments in the next generation of entrepreneurs around the
world—to help them open a new business, expand into new markets and
ignite the next era of innovation and growth.” This ambitious initiative
sparked the attention of a number of leading organizations, companies,
and figures working on entrepreneurship, who gathered at the White House
to discuss how they might collaborate. This coalition is coalescing
around a number of key goals, ideas, and actions. Their first step is to
open a conversation via #StarttheSpark about the common goals shared by
those working to promote entrepreneurship. Together, the effort can
help to increase communication, coordination, and collaboration across
all our efforts to support entrepreneurs around the world. Connecting
these entrepreneurial sparks can help set alight a bright beacon of new
hope, shared purpose, and opportunity.
====================
Partners for a New Beginning
The Opportunity
From Tunisia to Indonesia, the world’s attention is focused on
Muslim-majority nations in some of the most critical regions in the
world. The “Arab Awakening” has created a new era of collaboration as
long-embedded institutions are replaced or changed. Adding pressure to
the situation is massive youth unemployment, which reaches upward of 25
percent across the Middle East and North Africa region. This demographic
youth bulge has the potential to significantly contribute to long-run
economic growth, yet there remains serious underinvestment in education
and innovation in many of these communities.
The Alliance
President Obama’s 2009 Cairo speech laid out America’s interest in
seeking a new beginning between the United States and the Muslim world
based on mutual interest and mutual respect. In 2010, the Secretary’s
Office of Global Partnerships (S/GP) launched Partners for New
Beginnings (PNB) as a new approach toward diplomacy development aimed at
bridgebuilding between the United States and key Muslim-majority
countries. Since its launch, PNB has grown into a cross-cutting global
network of prominent business leaders and civil society actors who are
committed to building effective partnerships that promote economic
opportunity, foster advances in science and technology, enhance
educational opportunities, and catalyze exchanges to enhance mutual
understanding in a variety of fields. The Aspen Institute serves as the
PNB Secretariat.
The Pillars
PNB’s chapters are located in Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan,
Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Pakistan, the Palestinian Territories,
Tunisia, and Turkey. These local chapters build partnerships that
encourage four central pillars:
1. OPPORTUNITY: Promote
economic opportunity by increasing employment, improving access to
finance, and building business capacity and development services to
enhance livelihoods.
2. INNOVATION: Foster
advances in science and technology by improving infrastructure,
addressing natural resource challenges, enhancing research capabilities,
and funding cutting-edge capabilities to support innovation and
economic growth.
3. EDUCATION: Enhance educational opportunities by broadening access to education and enhancing the quality of facilities and equipment.
4. EXCHANGE: Catalyze
exchanges in a variety of fields, including education, interfaith,
business, and research, while developing programs to enhance human
connectedness and build mutual understanding.
Learn more at www.aspeninstitute.org/policy-work/new-beginning.
===================
Global Entrepreneurship Summit and the President’s Travel to Africa
Statement by the Press Secretary
GES Nairobi publicity
The
Government of Kenya has agreed to co-host the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship
Summit (GES) this July. Organized annually since 2009, the GES has
emerged as a global platform connecting emerging entrepreneurs with leaders
from business, international organizations, and governments looking to support
them. This will be the first time the GES will take place in sub-Saharan
Africa.
President
Obama will travel to Kenya in July, where he will hold bilateral meetings and
participate in the GES. His trip will build on the success of the August
2014 U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit and continue our efforts to work with countries
in sub-Saharan Africa, including Kenya, to accelerate economic growth,
strengthen democratic institutions, and improve security. This will be
President Obama’s fourth trip to sub-Saharan Africa during his presidency.
The Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES)
GES is an
annual summit bringing together entrepreneurs – including social entrepreneurs
-- business people, venture capitalists and foundations for an intense two-day
conference to network, learn from each other, and identify ways to improve the
entrepreneurial ecosystem. GES is a White House initiative that partners
with a different host country each year to showcase the dynamism of the local
environment and hopefully strengthen entrepreneurial infrastructure.
Last year's
U.S.-Africa Leaders' Summit advanced the Administration's focus on trade and
investment in Africa and highlighted America's commitment to Africa's security,
its democratic development, and its people. The theme of the Summit was
"Investing in the Next Generation," and leveraging entrepreneurship
throughout the continent is a direct outgrowth of this longstanding support to
Africa's next generation of leaders. During the Leaders' Summit, the
President committed to holding the 6th annual GES in sub-Saharan Africa.
Kenya's selection as the location for this year's Summit highlights the
country's role as an economic leader in East Africa and the dynamism and
innovation that characterizes Kenya's entrepreneurship ecosystem.
We expect members of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI)
network and from the African Women's Entrepreneurship Program (AWEP) to be well
represented at GES Nairobi, as well as those from other USG women and youth
initiatives.
More information is available at www.state.gov/e/eb/cba/entrepreneurship
The Spark Global Entrepreneurship
initiative
“Spark” is a common symbol and platform
for connecting diverse programs working to promote entrepreneurship around the
world. The programs selected to the President's Spark initiative
represent the best work being done by the U.S. Government to advance
entrepreneurship around the world. They commit to generate at least $10 million
dollars over three years for emerging entrepreneurs, with more than half raised
by women and young entrepreneurs. The initial commitments toward this goal
totaled over $1 billion dollars that would be generated by the end of 2017. Top
entrepreneurship organizations will announce the formation of the Spark
coalition in the coming months and have opened a social media conversation
about expanding entrepreneurship with #StarttheSpark.
More information is available at: www.state.gov/e/eb/cba/entrepreneurship/spark
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