GEN Magazine - Supported by Crossroads Capital | Page 3
FOREWORD
Spark and start
- embracing entrepreneurship worldwide
Everywhere I go, across the US and around the world, I hear from people who are ready to start something
of their own - to lift up people’s lives and shape their own destinies. And that’s entrepreneurship.
E
ntrepreneurship creates new
jobs and new businesses,
new ways to deliver basic
services, new ways of
seeing the world -- it’s the spark
of prosperity. Entrepreneurship
offers a positive alternative to the
ideologies of violence and division
that can all too often fill the void when
young people don’t see a future for
themselves.
Entrepreneurship means
ownership and self-determination.
Entrepreneurship brings down
barriers between communities and
cultures and builds bridges that
help us take on common challenges
together. Because one thing that
entrepreneurs understand is that you
don’t have to look a certain way, or be
of a certain faith or have a certain last
name in order to have a good idea.
All of you embody a spirit that we
need to take on some of the biggest
challenges that we face in the world
-- the spirit of entrepreneurship, the
idea that there are no limits to the
human imagination; that ingenuity
can overcome what is and create
what needs to be.
The challenge is -- as so many
of you know -- it’s very often hard
to take those first steps. It’s hard to
access capital. It’s hard sometimes
to get the training and the skills to
run a business as professionally as it
needs to be in this competitive world.
It’s hard to tap into the networks and
mentors that can mean the difference
between a venture taking off and one
that falls flat.
And it’s even harder for women
and young people and communities
that have often been marginalised
and denied access to opportunities.
You run into old attitudes that say
some people, because of where you
come from or what you look like,
don’t have what it takes to lead or
create a business.
Of course, the best answer
to that kind of thinking is the
example that all of you are setting
-- your success. And that’s why
I’ve made encouraging this spirit
of entrepreneurship a key part
of America’s engagement in the
world. I launched the first Global
Entrepreneurship Summit in
Washington five years ago and I
attended this year in Kenya. Since
then, we’ve helped empower
thousands of entrepreneurs, giving
them a boost to launch thousands of
new businesses and initiatives.
One of the things that we have
come to understand in Government
is that in order to create successful
entrepreneurs, Government also has
a role in creating the transparency,
the rule of law, and the ease of doing
business that creates a platform for
people to succeed.
One nation that continues to
embrace the flame of knowledge
and invest in a world-class education
for your young people is Ireland.
And today, Ireland’s youth, and those
who’ve come back to build a new
Ireland, are now among the besteducated, most entrepreneurial in
the world.
This is a nation that met its
responsibilities -– and inspired the
entire world.
We’ve got to invest in human
capital so that everyone has the
opportunity to access this information
and there’s got to be the framework
for access to capital; reduce
regulatory barriers; the