Genesis: The Global Entrepreneurship Summit can be traced to a 2009 speech by Barrack Obama. In the speech delivered in Cairo, Obama
“pledged to host a Summit on Entrepreneurship to broaden and deepen ties between business leaders, foundations, and entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.”
Inaugural Summit: The first summit was held in Washington, D.C. between 26th and 27th April, 2010. It highlighted the importance the importance of entrepreneurship, job creation and community development.
Other Summits: Other countries that have hosted the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) before are Turkey, the United Arab Emirates Malaysia and Morocco in that order.
The Nairobi Summit: It will be an event of its kind as Kenya hosts all kinds of business entrepreneurs between the 25th and 26th of July.
Summit Agenda: Going by the agenda of the first summit held in Washington D.C, the summit will focus on the following: Innovation and Technology, Access to capital; Catalyzing youth entrepreneurship; Mentoring and giving back; Fostering a culture of entrepreneurship; Unleashing the power of women entrepreneurs; Promoting entrepreneurship and enabling business; Social entrepreneurship.
History made: This will be the first time that the summit is being held in Sub Saharan Africa. It is also the first time that Kenya will host a sitting American President.
How Kenya will benefit: Reports indicate that Kenya is set to benefit from aid totaling to sh50 billion. A good chunk of this money will go to HIV/AIDS programmes. Civil societies are also said to be part of the sectors that will benefit from this funding. Others are marginalized groups such as the youth and women.
Boosting tourism: The summit is also an opportunity for Kenya to showcase its heritage and to market itself as a tourist destination as thousands of delegates some of whom are world’s biggest names in business are expected to attend.
