Let's eat, live business at GES 2015

The Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Nairobi on July 25-26, 2015, will be one of the greatest gatherings in Kenya ever. It will bring the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, to Kenya, his late father's homeland.

This great son of Kenya will join President Uhuru Kenyatta in a global event that will showcase the people and the communities that drive youth entrepreneurship in Kenya and around the world. GES 2015 will also highlight efforts by the innovators, mentors, activists, bridge builders, investors, funders and networkers who make a difference and transform the lives of millions around the world.

Simply put, GES 2015 will be a meeting of great (and even visionary) minds and strategists. This gathering will inspire, equip, enable – in a word, empower – young entrepreneurs in Kenya and beyond for decades to come. GES 2015 will also be a great enabling context and atmosphere. We shall eat, live and breathe business throughout this great Summit.

The fact that Presidents Obama and Kenyatta will co-chair this global gathering is the icing on the GES cake.
GES 2015 participants will learn great and abiding lessons from leading social entrepreneurs and innovators, business professionals and the youth of other nations.

The Summit is set to be a hub and laboratory of expanding networks, collaborations and partnerships, including public-private partnerships. GES 2015 is bringing the world to Kenya in the most vibrant and vital sectors, the ones that impact most directly, positively and sustainably on the youth. Entrepreneurs will share their refined business plans with leading business consultants and businesspeople. The Summit is geared to be a festival of mentorship and good business practices.

It is an opportunity for corporate leaders to mentor young entrepreneurs and help them refine their business proposals in ways that will attract funding. Pitching for funding is critically important for young entrepreneurs and their enterprises and opportunities like GES 2015 do not come frequently. The Summit will be a time for making lifelong personal friendships and corporate partnerships.

Firm foundations will be laid as we eat, live and breathe business at GES 2015. The spirit of collaboration will be abroad in Kenya like never before and it will be up to us to sustain and grow it into the future. British mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell once defined civilisation as foresight. It is also insight and hindsight, as we shall powerfully discover at GES 2015.

One of the Summit's greatest lessons will be the fact that no one can do it alone. Going forward, team work, collaboration and partnership are the names of the game.

Young change makers are the best agents of change, for the simple reason that they are doing it for the balance of their lives, which lie ahead, not behind, of them, and for the next generation. GES 2015 will be of great benefit to the most enterprising and innovative young entrepreneur teams from Kenya and around the world.

On top of invaluable mentorship and benchmarking, it will provide sources of funding and other critical opportunities.

No gathering of entrepreneurs is complete without contributing to social entrepreneurship. From eco-tourism to alternative livelihoods and social ventures, GES 2015 must promote innovation in all spheres. Web and mobile applications will also loom large at the Summit, particularly in its Innovation Village segment.

Uplifting the lives of the underprivileged in Kenya and elsewhere will also feature prominently. By the end of this unforgettable event, a thousand ideas will bloom and contend, and mankind will be much the better for them.

Mr Esipisu is is the Secretary of Communications and Spokesperson at State House
@MEsipisu [email protected]