Postedy by Esta Malibiche on August 10.2016 Bussiness |
Milling
around him were 700 other entrepreneurs from 170 countries, all
gathered to participate in the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit
Afolabi
Abiodun, CEO of Nigeria-based telecommunications company SB Telecoms,
couldn’t quite believe his eyes as he stood on Stanford University’s (www.GSB.Stanford.edu) bustling Silicon Valley campus recently.
Milling
around him were 700 other entrepreneurs from 170 countries, all gathered
to participate in the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit. For the next
three days, Abiodun, a graduate of the Stanford Seed Transformation
Program, took part in presentations and workshops featuring scores of
international business leaders; networked with dozens of new colleagues
and potential investors, and attended a keynote address by U.S.
President Barack Obama.
“It’s like a
dream come true to be here,” he said. “Within two years I have gone
from a business with 10 employees, to one with 39 employees directly and
close to 150 indirectly. Now the boy from the streets of Nigeria has
been invited by the White House for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit;
that is all thanks to Stanford Seed. Isn’t that amazing?”
The
conference was held June 22-24, hosted by the U.S. State Department and
the White House. It was the seventh meeting of the annual international
event, which brings together entrepreneurs and motivated investors from
around the world to create new opportunities for both investment and
collaboration.
Abiodun was at the GES with other graduates of the Stanford Seed Transformation Program (http://apo.af/D4Ubco),
a program offered by the Stanford Institute for Innovation in
Developing Economies, known as Stanford Seed. The program brings
Stanford’s innovative and entrepreneurial mindset to promising business
owners in developing economies who want to expand their firms. The
12-month course is taught by GSB faculty members, who travel to Seed
centers in both West and East Africa, working with company leaders to
grow and scale their firms, create new jobs, and, ultimately, help lead
their regions to increased prosperity.
“Being
around Stanford Seed people, Seed faculty, and in the glorious
environment of this university brings a lot of focus around how you
think and how you put things into play,” said Seed entrepreneur Abimbola
Okubena, executive director of Nigeria-based nutraceutical company
Health Forever. “I am taking home a wealth of knowledge I have gathered.
And I am going back home with a huge Rolodex!”
Stanford
Seed was active at the GES, hosting a private luncheon for its visiting
entrepreneurs and co-sponsoring an investor pitch session in
collaboration with VLAB, the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the MIT
Enterprise Forum. Seed Advisory Board members Matthew J. Bannick,
managing partner of Omidyar Network, and Jacqueline Novogratz, founder
and CEO of Acumen, also lent their expertise to a panel discussion on
the value of impact investing in emerging markets.
Access to capital was a prominent GES theme, as expressed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.
“My team
has been focused on making sure investors attend the summit, and that
you, our entrepreneurs, have the opportunity to make key connections for
greater access to capital,” she said. “This year we have almost one
investor for every two entrepreneurs.”
During his
keynote address, President Obama stressed the importance of
entrepreneurship in a today’s increasingly connected world.
“Entrepreneurship
remains the engine of growth,” he told audience members. “When people
can start their own businesses, it helps individuals and families
succeed . . . It can make whole communities more prosperous and more
secure.”
Enthusiastic
Seed graduates at the GES said the opportunity to experience Silicon
Valley and its innovative thinking, to learn from world-class business
leaders and to network internationally was hugely inspiring.
“I see it
as a real privilege,” Abiodun said. “I established new relationships
that I could never have imagined I would have access to.”
Nicole Amarteifio, founder of Ghana-based television and film production company An African City, agreed.
“I am very
happy to be here,” she said. “You can feel the energy . . . It is a
global energy, and it is really exciting to be a part of that.”
The
Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies is led by
Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and works to help
entrepreneurs based in developing economies grow and scale their
businesses and lead their regions to greater prosperity. The Seed
Transformation Program is taught by Stanford GSB faculty at Seed’s West
Africa Center in Accra, Ghana, and at its East Africa Center in Nairobi,
Kenya.
The
application period for the Seed Transformation Program opens on Sept. 5,
2016 for its 2017-18 sessions; deadline for applications is Oct. 31,
2016. To find out more, visit: http://APO.af/D4Ubco.
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