• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

PlanningShop

Plan. Start. Grow.

  • Our Products
  • Instructors
  • Entrepreneurs
  • BizGear
  • Rhonda’s Blog
  • Book Rhonda
  • About PlanningShop
  • Search
  • Our Products
  • Instructors
  • Entrepreneurs
  • BizGear
  • Rhonda’s Blog
  • Book Rhonda
  • About PlanningShop
  • Search
Entrepreneurs Save World

Can Startups Save the World?

June 29, 2016 //  by Rhonda Abrams

Can startups save the world? Can entrepreneurs successfully tackle today’s most important problems – such as climate change, poverty, lack of clean water, extremism – and make money too?

President Obama and the rest of the participants at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit seem to think so.

“The world has shrunk.  It is interconnected.  All of you represent that interconnection,”  Obama said at GES on Friday at Stanford University. “I believe all of you represent all the upside of an interconnected world, all the optimism and the hope and the opportunity that that interconnected world represents.”

Obama launched the GES initiative in 2010 believing that nurturing young entrepreneurs around the world combats conditions that foster terrorism and extremism. For three days, in the heart of Silicon Valley, the U.S. government brought together 700 of the world’s most promising entrepreneurs — 150 of them from America — with 300 venture capitalists at the seventh annual GES. It was only the second one held in the U.S. Since its inception, GES has reached more than 17,000 entrepreneurs from 170 countries.

The heaviest of  heavyweights showed up. There was the “A list” of politics: President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet and Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Megan Smith.

There was the “A list” of Silicon Valley: Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Google co-founder Sergey Brin and CEO Sundar Pichai, the founders of LinkedIn, Airbnb and Uber — Reid Hoffman, Brian Chesky and Travis Kalanick — and more.

“There’s a connection between prosperity and peace, between economic policy and foreign policy,” Kerry said.  “Young people need education, opportunity. … Think of the peril if we leave those minds to the pickings of extremists, exploiters and demagogues.”

There were lighter moments at the conference. When Egyptian entrepreneur Mai Medhat mentioned the lack of bandwidth inhibiting the live-streaming of video in her country, Obama complained he, too, is frustrated by buffering. “If it makes you feel any better, it happens to me, too. I thought I’d have the best gear, but I’m just sitting there waiting, waiting.”

Cast members of the HBO TV show Silicon Valley made an appearance, cavorting through the audience, skewing tech buzz words such as “glocal” (global and local), “entrepretech” (tech entrepreneur) and their own invention, “neveryone” (no one and everyone at the same time).

“Much of the news about the Middle East in the U.S. is unfortunately about negative topics such as war, terrorism, extremism, refugee crisis and so on,” said Basak Taspınar Degim, co-founder and co-CEO of Armut, Turkey’s leading online marketplace for local services, such as cleaners, plumbers, electricians and movers. “Likewise, news about the U.S. in the Middle East has a negative connotation. But not GES. GES has been a unique event that bridged the Middle East and the rest of the world to the U.S. on a positive note.”

Degim’s Armut is a good example of how entrepreneurship can counter extremism. Her site enables individuals to find work, make a living and create small businesses in a country currently under enormous pressure from radical elements. “People that have extremist ideas usually get on this path due to economic hardship and frustration.”

Degim sums up the feelings of optimism and challenge engendered in those participating in the GES:

“Of all the things this GES event gave me, the most important one is hope. Humankind always, always moves forward,” Degim said. “We as entrepreneurs, we as the human race, must continue to stay curious, strive on learning, insist on making a difference. Even when it is hard and lonely. Especially when it is hard and lonely. Now that I’ve been to GES, I know: The president counts on me.”


Copyright, Rhonda Abrams, 2016

This article originally ran in USA Today on June 29, 2016

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Category: Solution CenterTag: entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, GES 2016, Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016, President Barack Obama, rhonda abrams, startup, USA Today

Previous Post: «Women Entrepreneurs This is the Best City for Women to Start Businesses
Next Post: Is Globalization Good for Small Business? Small Business Globalization»

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Rhonda's Blog via Email

Instagram @rhondaabrams

Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tip Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tips and the latest info. sent straight to your inbox! Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #newsletter #smallbizguru
What’s old is new again! How to stay in front of What’s old is new again! How to stay in front of your smallbiz customers, in my latest @usatoday column. Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #customer #digitalmarketing #smallbizguru
National Doughnut Day on Friday?? Great way to sta National Doughnut Day on Friday?? Great way to start the weekend!! Enjoy, and go find yourself some doughnuts 😋 🍩 
.
.
#smallbusiness #fridayfeeling #nationaldoughnutday
#smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #entrepreneur #ins #smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #entrepreneur #inspirationalquotes
“And I’m proud to be an American, where at lea “And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.” - Lee Greenwood -
.
.
#memorialday #neverforget
We're heading into a long weekend! Here's to some We're heading into a long weekend! Here's to some R&R, productivity . . . whatever your small business needs~
.
.
#smallbusiness #weekend #entrepreneur #fridayfeeling
Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tip Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tips and the latest info. sent straight to your inbox! Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #tips #entrepreneur #newsletter #smallbizguru
#smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #inspirationalquot #smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #inspirationalquotes
Here's to a great week, small business owners! . . Here's to a great week, small business owners!
.
.
#smallbusiness #smallbusinessowner #mondaymotivation
My Tweets
  • Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tip Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tips and the latest info. sent straight to your inbox! Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #newsletter #smallbizguru
    What’s old is new again! How to stay in front of What’s old is new again! How to stay in front of your smallbiz customers, in my latest @usatoday column. Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #customer #digitalmarketing #smallbizguru
    National Doughnut Day on Friday?? Great way to sta National Doughnut Day on Friday?? Great way to start the weekend!! Enjoy, and go find yourself some doughnuts 😋 🍩 
.
.
#smallbusiness #fridayfeeling #nationaldoughnutday
    #smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #entrepreneur #ins #smallbusiness #tuesdaythoughts #entrepreneur #inspirationalquotes
    “And I’m proud to be an American, where at lea “And I’m proud to be an American, where at least I know I’m free. And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me.” - Lee Greenwood -
.
.
#memorialday #neverforget
    We're heading into a long weekend! Here's to some We're heading into a long weekend! Here's to some R&R, productivity . . . whatever your small business needs~
.
.
#smallbusiness #weekend #entrepreneur #fridayfeeling
    Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tip Sign up for my newsletter - get small business tips and the latest info. sent straight to your inbox! Link in profile~
.
.
#smallbusiness #tips #entrepreneur #newsletter #smallbizguru
  • Footer

    Our Products
    Instructor Central

    Privacy Policy
    Contact Us

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter

    Copyright © 2023 PlanningShop · All Rights Reserved · Site design by paulinaart

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. ACCEPT Read More
    Privacy & Cookies Policy

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT