UW-Madison will again be participating in Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), November 16-22, 2009, under the auspices of the Kauffman Foundation. Global Entrepreneurship Week is a grassroots initiative designed to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity. Through mentoring, networking, competitions and more, last year’s GEW involved more than 100,000 participants in events ranging from a Mentoring Madness session at the New York Stock Exchange to a seminar on hip-hop and entrepreneurship in Kansas City.

In Wisconsin, 33 partners hosted 17 activities during GEW, including several unique contributions by UW-Madison (i.e., an entrepreneurship boot camp with the Wageningen Business School in the Netherlands; an Entrepreneurial Deli with Madison MAGNET; a Retail Leadership Symposium; a Global Economic Crisis Panel; etc.)

We are planning several exciting events for this year and hope you will be able to participate. In fact, if you or your colleagues (or students) are intending to hold an international and/or entrepreneurship program this fall, we hope you’ll consider holding them between November 16-22. If so, we and our national GEW partners might be able to provide resources to support your efforts, including:

• Promotional materials and templates that can be personalized to your event
• Tips and tools on how to reach local and regional media
• An Ideas Bank filled with a variety of potential (additional) activity suggestions

In addition to these toolkits, the GEW Web site (http://www.unleashingideas.org/ ) will allow you to connect with others in Wisconsin and beyond. It’s easy to sign up, but be sure to tell them that you are affiliated with us!

Bottom line? We hope you and your colleagues will consider holding an interesting and exciting event during Global Entrepreneurship Week, Nov. 16-22, 2009. Feel free to contact us if you want to brainstorm event ideas and/or are looking for suggestions.

Doug Bradley
Assistant Director, Marketing & Communications
UW-Madison Office of Corporate Relations
608-263-0238