Insights and views galore as mega entrepreneurship event concludes

The Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2019, hosted for the first time in the Kingdom, organized by the Global Entrepreneurship Network and Tamkeen, concluded with more than 110 sessions delivered by over 240 speakers from all over the world.  Tamkeen Chairman Shaikh Mohammed Bin Issa Al Khalifa, expressed pride in partnering with GEN to host the Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2019 for the first time in Bahrain.

He pointed out that according to the reports of GEN, the international participation during the event reached up to 51 percent, which has been recorded as the highest in the history of the Congress for over the past 10 years. He shed light on the importance of this remarkable benchmark achieved by the Kingdom in positioning itself as a thriving business hub and a leader in building sustainable economic environments and fostering innovation. He also highlighted Bahrain’s extensive support for the startup sector and their key role as an economic driver.

Tamkeen Chief Executive, Dr. Ebrahim Mohammed Janahi, commented saying: “Bahrain’s unique business environment is distinguished for its supportive regulatory laws and processes, which contribute to enhancing the Kingdom’s position as an economically sustainable entrepreneurial hub.  In its first time since the inception of the GEC, witnessed the highest participation of over 50 countries at the “Startup Nations Ministerial Sessions”. 

In addition, the GEC witnessed wide participation from around 170 countries including the United States, India, France, Turkey, Nigeria, the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Cambodia and more. The GEC continued with its parallel sessions on its third day yesterday, which covered approximately 50 topics that addressed entrepreneurship in digital platforms, creative industries, innovation policies, startup business acceleration, women in global entrepreneurship, mapping and measuring entrepreneur ecosystem, digital economies and more.

Among the highlights of the third day included a session on “Building a Digital Nation” presented by former Estonian President Toomas Ilves, who remarked the progress made by Estonia in smart digital government services, especially in implementing Blockchain Technology.