More than  25 Canadian organizations  have come together to sponsor Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) Canada 2019 – November  18-25 – and to “connect and celebrate ” business leaders and their contributions to economic growth and job creation.

Apart from the official sponsors of GEW Canada  2019, several GEW partners and organizations will host events in cities across Canada for building the capacity of the country’s entrepreneurs or for helping them to generate sales during the week.

Several organizations from the  Caribbean diaspora will join business leaders and their supporters in celebrations during GEW 2019

The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) will lead more than 170 countries, including Canada, in celebrating the event.  The four official themes for this year’s celebration are ecosystems, policy, education, and inclusion.

The GEW focus on ecosystems is intended to drive collaboration and partnerships in promising “mid-tier” cities. Business leaders note that many “mid-tier ” cities need economic revitalization; the economies of most are based on agriculture, mining, forestry, fishing, hunting and related primary production.

For Policy, the focus is on recognizing the role of government in enabling the growth of entrepreneurs and their businesses. The second thrust is for engaging governments for their support through regulations that drive the growth in number and diversity of businesses, as well their pace of scaling-up.

Organizers of the GEW note that education seeks to open minds to the “what is” and “hows” of entrepreneurship, plus opportunities that abound― starting with children, through the different stages of our lives, and educational journeys.

They also  note that the theme “Inclusion” recognizes that entrepreneurship does not come on a level playing field, but that there are barriers related to “race, age, gender, or where one lives”, GEN will highlight startup champions around the world that are helping to remove those obstacles.

“We are committed to designing market systems development solutions for ensuring more Canadians with Caribbean roots can start and grow big businesses from which the ethnic flavor pops―in Canada as well as in all of the region’s diasporic markets,” said Meegan Scott of Magate Wildhorse Limited, a Toronto-based management consultancy.

“We look forward to seeing the growth of businesses that understand that even in creole or patois, the quality feature in your customer service can never be spelt qualuty”.  As IMB puts it “you can’t spell quality without the “I”.  To be in business without the customer at the core is to be out of business.  No buy Caribbean or buy Black will help you once you have fired the boss―that is the customer.

“So, let us bear in mind and in our actions that customer service means reliable, reassuring, courteous, demonstrated competence, looks good, is empathetic, honest, and responsive”.

“Let us remember, that we cannot grow a strong Black or Caribbean business ecosystem in isolation, we need collaboration, co-creation, and competition to meet curiosity, creativity and shared learning among entrepreneurs of all ethnicities, academia, researchers, media, and governments in host and home cities.  The Community of Practice for Caribbean Immigrant Entrepreneurs and its partners are on a mission to make that a reality for our community.”

Partnering organizations such as Magate Wildhorse Ltd, The Community of Practice for Caribbean Immigrant Entrepreneurs, The Caribbean Camera and academic institutions such as George Brown College will host official GEW Canada events.

This year Magate Wildhorse Ltd and The Caribbean Camera will focus on Inclusion, and Ecosystems―with the aim of helping Canadians to understand the importance of inclusion by and among all groups of entrepreneurs and enablers of entrepreneur growth and development.

Facilitating collaboration among peoples of African descent will also be a feature of this year’s celebration.

Futurpreneur is the county host for GEW Canada.