National Entrepreneurs Week

Thanks to my loyal blog reader for sharing this.

Entrepreneurship is definitely a great skill to have, and it is great to see that many people are working hard to grow our Entrepreneurs in the country.

This is quoted from NST
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WITH the biggest entrepreneurship event happening in November, there is still much preparation to be done on the part of Malaysian host, Warisan Global Sdn Bhd.

Warisan Global Chief Executive Officer Dhakshinamoorthy Balakrishnan would like to see greater participation from tertiary institutions.

He hopes to get more universities and colleges involved in the upcoming Global Entrepreneurship Week (the Week), happening on Nov 17-23.

"All they have to do is to register online, think up of an activity to do during the Week and get the word out," says Dhakshinamoorthy.

The idea is not to organise big "splashy" events but those with substance that will get students thinking about entrepreneurship and creativity.

Dhakshinamoorthy gives the example of an Indian secondary school that held an entrepreneurship contest for its students during India's Enterprise Week.

The students' parents gave their children 50 rupees (RM3.70) each and whoever could make the most from the amount given won.

One class pooled its money together, approached a nearby shopping centre and offered to do a report on why there were few customers there for 10,000 rupees.

At the end of it, the students gave a full report to the shopping centre and they were paid the amount they had asked for.

"I think only a small number of university students is thinking like entrepreneurs -- most just want to get their exams out of the way, find work and move on," says Dhakshinamoorthy.

It is important for students to look at entrepreneurship not just as an alternate career path but also as something that enables them to be value creators whether they are self-employed or salaried workers.

In today's workplace, employees are expected to multitask so job seekers have to think like entrepreneurs to be deemed valuable enough to be employed.

"Entrepreneurial thinking is the most important skill for survival in the 21st century," says Dhakshinamoorthy.

Another important skill is thinking globally -- bearing in mind not just Malaysia but the world when starting a business.

A 2006 report by the International Labour Office entitled Stimulating Youth Entrepreneurship: Barriers and Incentives to Enterprise Start-ups by Young People underlines the importance of entrepreneurship.

It states that the world's population is growing at a time when traditional, stable labour markets are shrinking. It also estimates that 47 per cent of all unemployed persons globally are young men and women and 660 million young people will either be working or looking for jobs in 2015.

Nineteen organisations have signed up to be partners for the Week, including Multimedia Development Corporation, TechPenang.com, the Technopreneurs Association of Malaysia, the Cradle Investment Programme, Ideapreneur.net, tertiary institutions and the Energy, Water and Telecommunications Ministry.

Warisan Global hopes to get many more to facilitate programmes in every state that will reach out to a bigger Malaysian audience.

The Week will feature two signature events -- Unleash It, an online activity where anyone can put up a challenge for future entrepreneurs; and Speed Network the Globe, where participants can speed network with participants from more than 60 countries.

As a precursor to the Week, Oli Barrett, a speed networking expert from the United Kingdom, will be in Malaysia this Wednesday as part of his Whistlestop Tour to promote the activity.

It involves a roomful of people, a whistle and a series of three-minute bursts of networking rounds.

It will be held at Wisma MCA, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur from 11am to noon.

Attendance is free.

To find out more about the Whistlestop Tour and the Week, visit www.gewmalaysia.com or www.unleashingideas.org or email gew@warisanglobal.com


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Would encourage any of my blog readers to share with me any event that you come across. As long as the event/activity/initiative is education/charity/youth oriented and is not-for-profit, I would be more than happy to post it to share!