Hyderabad is all set to roll out the red carpet for the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES-2017), a gathering of hundreds of budding, ambitious and well-known entrepreneurs as well as investors and supporters of the eco-system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate it on Tuesday evening in the presence of US President’s Adviser Ivanka Trump and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
An event that serves as a forum to celebrate and nurture entrepreneurship besides providing opportunities to network, this is the 8th edition of the GES and coming for the first time to South Asia.
Co-hosted by the United States and India, the 3-day event with ‘Women First, Prosperity for All,’ as the theme will be the first of the annual series in which women are the majority – over 52.5% – of the participants.
More than 10 countries will be represented by an all-female delegation, including Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Women entrepreneurs help drive innovation and job creation, as well as address the world’s greatest and most critical challenges, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.
The theme demonstrates the commitment of the US and Indian governments to the principle that when women are economically empowered, their communities and countries thrive, he said here on Monday, addressing the media along with US Ambassador Kenneth I. Juster and Telangana Chief Secretary S.P. Singh.
The GES-2017 will receive 1,200 entrepreneurs – 400 each from the US, India and the rest of the world – besides 300 investors. The youngest entrepreneur is 13-year-old, while the oldest entrepreneur 84. The American entrepreneurs, investors and eco-system come from 38 US States. This is the largest contingent from the US at any of the GES, Mr. Juster said. Since 2010, the GES has been held in Washington, Istanbul, Dubai, Marrakech, Nairobi, Kuala Lumpur and Silicon Valley. A panel discussion on opening up opportunities for women entrepreneurs in their countries and communities will follow, with Ms. Trump, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Managing Director of SRS Aviation and SRS Petroleum Sibongile Sambo and Chairman of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken Marcus Wallenberg as the panellists. Chairman emeritus of Cisco John Chambers would be the moderator.
The next two days would be devoted to networking, mentoring and workshops. Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj and Suresh Prabhu would also be participating in the Summit, with latter addressing the closing session.
Among those who would be speaking at the Summit include the newly crowned Miss World Manushi Chhillar, Founder of Cherie Blair Foundation for Women Cherie Blair, ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar, actors Sonam Kapoor, Aditi Hydari Rao, sports personalities Sania Mirza, Mithali Raj and P. Gopichand, star chef Vikas Khanna, Chief Customer Officer of Dell EMC Karen Quintos, USAID Administrator Mark Green and Treasurer of the US Jovita Carranza.
For Telangana, the Summit could not have come at a better time as the youngest State of India seeks to build on the early gains from the clutch of policies it has initiated to attract investments. At a time when many other States are going all out with Global Investor Meets, the GES provides a platform for Telangana to showcase the advantages of investing in the State. The host State, top ranked in the Ease of Doing Business rankings, is thus pulling all stops, an initiative that has seen Hyderabad bounce back to life, all spruced up after being hit by heavy rains a weeks ago.
