Conference shares ideas on entrepreneurial globalisation

FSB head of external affairs Ben Cottam on sharing best practice around the world to support entrepreneurs

LAST week, it was a pleasure to represent the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and join the Welsh Government delegation to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Istanbul.

The Global Entrepreneurship Congress is a four-day conference that gathers together all elements of the world-wide entrepreneurial network.

The Congress was attended by thousands of delegates all with a focus on helping entrepreneurs start and scale new businesses.

The Welsh delegation consisted of representatives from Welsh Government, Be the Spark and Careers Wales as well as the Federation of Small Businesses.

The congress saw the meeting of entrepreneurs and policy makers from 125 different countries to discuss business issues.

Through discussion it became clear that while the congress delegates were made up of entrepreneurs of different races, religions and cultures, the business issues experienced were in many cases the same.

From this came a useful exercise in drawing on the solutions implemented by some countries to solve problems experienced by others.

Speaking ahead of the event Jonathan Ortmans, President of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, said: “The globalisation of entrepreneurship is a powerful force that is positively impacting communities, cities and countries around the world.

“Istanbul will provide an important backdrop for start-up champions everywhere to come together in building one global entrepreneurial ecosystem.”

The congress was opened by a number of speakers, one of which was Muhtar Kent, current chairman and Former CEO of the Coca Cola Company who gave a truly global take on the business landscape.

Our main aims in attending the conference were picking up best practice on promoting entrepreneurship and to emphasise Wales and our vision for business with delegates from around the world.

This ties in with FSB’s work on Wales in the World which is the theme for several pieces of work this year, as well as our annual dinner in June.

We are passionate about ensuring that Wales is seen throughout the world as a dynamic hub of business and an exciting place to visit.

We have a strong national identity which forms the cornerstone of our Wales brand – something I felt very privileged to represent last week.

Key workshops that I attended included those focusing on the next steps for financial technology, alternative methods of finance, angel investments and doing business abroad with trading partners such as the USA – which will be important for businesses in Wales post-Brexit.

The Global Entrepreneurship Network also looks at the future of our businesses in an ever changing landscape.

This allowed me the opportunity to draw parallels between FSB’s work on the future of Welsh towns with the rise in incubator hubs/tech startups around the world, and particularly with Swansea council’s plans for the technology sector of the city as part of City Deal.

There are huge opportunities in this area and the congress made clear to me that we can benefit from learning about what is already being done around the world.

Now that we are home, our next steps must be to build on our brand and push even harder to promote Wales around the world; both to provide trading opportunities for our smaller firms, and to encourage more tourists to visit Wales every year.

Wales has a strong national identity and is home to a thriving small business community; something I was pleased to take to delegates around the world last week.

I now look forward to continuing to have the discussion in Wales about how we can promote business start-ups across the country, at the same time as we project our Wales brand around the world.