More than 130 participants attended the EuCham International Day of the Global Entrepreneurship Week on 16 Nov 2012 co-organized with FIVOSZ and the U.S. Embassy. Topics related to success and the culture of failure in new entrepreneurial ventures were the main focus of the panels and presentations.
Ms Edit Herczog, Member of the EU Parliament and Vice President of SME Intergroup, gave the keynote speech about the importance of multicultural interactions for students and young professionals. The opening speeches were made by Mr Michele Orzan of EuCham and Mr Patrik Kovacs of FIVOSZ.
Mr Larry Moffett from USA, Vice President of the European Young Innovators Forum, focused on the creation of new ideas, their realization and, lastly, the attempt to make an impact on society. Then the first panel discussion consisted of young entrepreneurs and senior professionals who shared their opinion on the key factors to success and the instruments needed to recover from missteps in business.
Mr Andrew Jackson, Managing Director at First Title CEE, presented an overview on the different perspectives between the European and the American approaches in the business environment, and how some entrepreneurial failures may be useful as learning tools so as not to repeat the same mistakes. The session continued with the joint presentation of Ms Roxana Damaschin, Enterprise Development Director at NESsT, and Ms Susanna Buss, Founder & Managing Director at Yturn, who highlighted the role of social entrepreneurship.
The second panel discussion addressed the topic of mentoring and financing start ups. Subsequently, Mr William Benkő, member of Board of Governors at AmCham, captivated the audience with a highly inspirational speech. The host for the day, Mr David Trayford, Managing Director of Wow Media, closed the event with a brief description of the Graduate Studies Program at Singularity University in Mountain View, California, where he was coaching this year, and announced the upcoming Global Impact Competition to win a scholarship.
In addition to the presentations and the panel discussions, the International Day also included two networking sessions with participants from 18 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, UK, USA.
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