The Global Entrepreneurship Symposium was held from 7-9 December 2020 with more than 140 participants from 20 countries. The symposium was coordinated by Mr. Karim Sahli in cooperation with the following organizations:
• ALMOBADR
• United Religions Initiative- URI
• We Love Souses
• UNICEF
• The 40 Foundation
• Desert Bloom for Training & Sustainable Development
• AnnaLindh Foundation
The symposium gathered a wide diversity of expertise including business, government, NGOs and academia. A good number of social/business entrepreneurs and young potential entrepreneurs enriched the discussions by sharing their stories and experiences. The facilitating team included Karim Sahli (Libya), Dr. May Al-Hendi (Jordan) and Mr. Anis Bofrikha (Tunisia), who played a dynamic role in enabling transdisciplinary knowledge creation and integration.
Mamoun Khreisat, URI Regional Coordinator for MENA and the Founder of Desert Bloom, introduced URI as a global grassroots movement for positive change across the globe. He explained how URI engages people to bridge religious and cultural differences and work together for the good of their communities, stressing the fact that URI includes hundreds of social entrepreneurs in more than 100 countries.
Mamoun also introduced Desert Bloom as a Social Enterprise that focuses on building young people’s entrepreneurial competencies. He shed light on Desert Bloom’s “INN@SE– Innovative Social Entrepreneurship with Youth Engagement” project that will develop a multi-stage digital educational game dedicated to improving young people’s competencies in the field of the social entrepreneurship. Mamoun also shared Desert Bloom’s model of Community Needs Assessment.
At the end of the symposium, a committee was assigned to launch the Global Platform of Entrepreneurship.
Major themes covered:
• Opening speeches by participating organizations
• Entrepreneurship: Success Stories from Different Parts of the World
• Entrepreneurship: Concept, Laws and Advocacy
• African Cultural & Creative Entrepreneurship: Potential and Challenges
• Social Entrepreneurship, Concepts and Vision
• Entrepreneurship and Social Media
• Launch of the Global Platform of Entrepreneurship