On Wednesday July 14, 2010, the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) hosted an operational meeting for fellow Global Entrepreneurship Program DC Partners. The meeting was held at the George Washington University School of Business and focused on both macro and micro perspectives of each organization and where to go next? In attendance were Leslie Jump from Sawari Ventures, James Grabowski of AmidEast, Marianne Siemietkowski Needham from Cisco Systems Inc., Peter Righi of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Executive Development (CEED), Lorraine Hariton of the United States Department of State, and Dr. Charles Matthews, Past President and current SVP of Strategic Partnerships for ICSB. The meeting was facilitated by Dr. Ayman El Tarabishy, Executive Director of ICSB.
ICSB played a role in facilitating this session with a goal to link thevariouspartners' activities, areas of expertise and needs. Partner presentations hinged on four key aspects; this is what we do, this is where we can help others, this is what we are currently working on, and this is where we need assistance/cooperation/partnership. This foundation provided the group with a lot of time to discuss not only their organizational goals, but to brainstorm and communicate around other global hotbed issues.
Four major themes emerged from the meeting to further explore in the fall. The first theme was Access to Capital in terms of angel and venture association networks that can be developed for the MENA region. The second theme is the E-Mentoring Platform, based on the State Departments current model. ICSB, Cisco Inc. and other partners have similar resources in this arena and are interested in moving forward to connect mentors/mentees. The third major theme centered on Women Entrepreneurs; cultivating, fueling, and integrating them within organizations around the world. Women entrepreneurs and investors are making tremendous strides in the business community and are significant players in the global economy, so it is important that we build global networks that share global knowledge on these emerging topics. The fourth and final theme was content development – sharing and localization. The DC partners present talked about working together to create global content and enhance the translation engine.
Follow-up minutes and action plans will follow in the coming weeks as activities move from the ground level. On behalf of the ICSB, we would like to thank our fellow DC partners for attending the session and communicating information that will serve to be mutually beneficial and relevant. For more information on the Global Entrepreneurship Program, ICSB or other DC Partners, please contact icsb@gwu.edu.
