Football season begins this month and even though it is only pre-season, people are already talking about the Seahawks repeating their championship season. But as you well know, they won’t get there by resting on their laurels. Every team in the league looks for a headline that boldly says they beat the world championship Seahawks. When you are number one, number two is always close behind.
I know how they feel. Last year, Washington State was the national champion of Global Entrepreneurship Week with our Start-up Washington 365 campaign. We led all the other states with 109 events in 34 counties. But other states are nipping on our heels, claiming they will have more events that we will this year. I am ready for the challenge, but I need your help!!!!
From November 17-23, Washington State will join the rest of the world and celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, which is Nov. 17-23. It is the world’s largest celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare.
The Department of Commerce will be building a new Start-up Washington web page soon. And here’s where we need your help. It is time to start working with your high schools, community colleges, universities, associations, chambers, banks, non-profits and others who believe that entrepreneurship is a way to create prosperity and jobs in our communities. You may want to start by introducing people to GEW and also take a look at the dozens of no or low cost events that have taken place around the world. We will be cataloguing the events and submitting them to the Kauffman Foundation. Please start planning your events soon so we can get it on the calendar and you can start promoting them in your community. Let’s continue our reign as the Super Bowl champs of entrepreneurship.
As a society we need to rethink how we define education. Education is not just about scholarship but also successful adulthood and personal satisfaction from work. Economic developers need to work with our educational institutions to help make education become more relevant to the lives of individuals and to our country. Then I can start loving September.