GEC: Gathering of global go-getters
When Liverpool was named as the 2012 host city for the influential Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC), it marked yet another significant step in the city’s impressive transformation over the past decade and more.
With echoes of Liverpool’s award for the European Capital of Culture in 2008, secured with the “most vital, energetic bid” as Tessa Jowell commented at the time, the city continues with its timely reinvention as a globally renowned, cosmopolitan centre of entrepreneurial spirit.
Taking place in March, the GEC will make Liverpool “the heartbeat of the world of the entrepreneurial community”, according to GEC chairman Jonathan Ortmans, with the city’s vibrant rebranding gathering momentum under the watchful eye of Liverpool Vision; the economic development company responsible for integrating economic and physical development in the city, to build a sustainable economy.
“The significance of this for Liverpool cannot be underestimated and the effects of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress selection committee choosing our city will ripple for many years to come”, says Max Steinberg, chief executive of Liverpool Vision.
“We want to create the conditions in which innovators and entrepreneurs can thrive and that has never been more important than now. Liverpool is improving economically but we need to accelerate by encouraging enterprise and having the private and public sectors working more closely together.
“The Congress in Liverpool this year will help us achieve these goals while learning new lessons on how we can best stimulate and grow our economy.”
It’s a far cry from the rusting dockyards that signalled Liverpool’s steady decline in global influence in the 1970s and 1980s, but the city’s creativity and entrepreneurial innovation, which once reshaped the world’s industry and technology, has emerged once again.
A new generation of entrepreneurs has clustered in the North West to carve Liverpool a new role and new standing in the unforgiving, unrelenting business environment of the 21st century; one defined by specialism and expertise in a landscape of globalisation, commoditisation and overcapacity.
If it was the European Capital of Culture award that kick started the gradual shift in perception of the city from sleeping giant to emerging superpower, it has been smaller steps since that have made it really take hold.
Be it everything from the viral ‘It’s Liverpool’ media campaign, showcasing the city as a progressive urban centre in which to live, work and learn, through to Liverpool being the only UK city having an award-winning dedicated presence at the six-month long World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, it has been a carefully orchestrated rebranding strategy implemented by Liverpool Vision - supported by the city council, with wide-ranging private sector participation.
Behind it all has been a £4bn physical transformation of the city, following Liverpool Vision’s strategic regeneration framework for the city in 2000, and the subsequent Strategic Investment Framework (SIF) that is progressing ideas for the coming ten years. The city’s commercial district has expanded significantly and the retail offering is now in the Top 5 in the UK; unrecognisable from just a decade ago.
On top of that the city’s world famous waterfront has been transformed into a visitor destination of international quality and work continues a pace with a focus on north Liverpool.
Liverpool has been granted an Enterprise Zone that straddles both sides of the River Mersey, with the city taking bold steps to rebalance its economy and become less reliant on the public sector.
The parallels of Liverpool’s efforts to reinvent itself as a city with that of the UK’s need to evolve and redefine its own global standing in terms of innovation and expertise , have not been lost on Prime Minister David Cameron.
“It is a city of great creativity and innovation and a city with renewed confidence and ambition, committed to sparking enterprise in the young and helping others to unleash their ideas.
“The Congress in Liverpool will attract some of the world’s leading economists and entrepreneurs who are a key part of our strategy for growth and enterprise. The public and private sectors are collaborating in a unique way to ensure it will encourage debate, inspire talent and create a real legacy for Liverpool and the UK for many years to come.”
Behind the Congress is the non-profit Kauffman Foundation based in Kansas City, Missouri; an organisation dedicated to advancing and understanding entrepreneurialism to improve economic welfare, and one that has grown the inaugural event from its home town in 2009 to the likes of Dubai in 2010 and Shanghai in 2011.
Like the European Capital of Culture bid before it, it was the personality and ambition of the city that proved an almost irresistible allure for choosing it as this year’s host.
As Carl Schramm, out-going president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, remarked: “The power of the message put forward by Liverpool Vision about Liverpool's interest—and the many expansions of entrepreneurship that were pointed out in the application that characterized modern Liverpool as a city truly committed to entrepreneurship—were very decisive.”
It is of little surprise that this year’s event, in which Liverpool beat off strong competition from the likes of the United Arab Emirates, Chile and Denmark to hold it in Europe for the first time, will see around 3000 entrepreneurs from more than 140 countries descend on the city, and it has attracted some of the country’s highest profile business heavyweights in both support and participation.
It forms part of Liverpool’s plan to host a world-first ‘Festival of Entrepreneurship’, with more than 40 ‘free to enter’ fringe events happening across in the city, such as Start Up Weekend, the Future Lab, Great Enterprise Schools Challenge and the Lloyds TSB Entrepreneur Award to name but a few.
Headline speaker Sir Richard Branson recently reasserted his belief that “a strong economy needs to encourage entrepreneurs to create and grow their businesses” when interviewed about his support for Liverpool’s hosting of the event. He is joined on an impressive bill by the likes of former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy and founder of the Haymarket publishing group and former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Michael Heseltine.
For Leahy, born and raised in a pre-fab maisonette on a council estate in the Belle Valle district of Liverpool, the city’s rejuvenation is a matter close to his heart.
“In recent years I have seen Liverpool begin to restore its reputation as an international outward-looking destination.
“There is a sense of pride and confidence that has re-emerged with our success as European Capital of Culture and as a participant at the World Expo and here is another opportunity to make our mark.
“If Liverpool is to grow and prosper we need to help and encourage the next generation of innovators and business leaders to believe that their ideas and enthusiasm can make a lasting difference and I believe that the Congress is coming at the right time for Liverpool.”
The Congress also presents a unique opportunity to promote the emergence of Liverpool as a champion of women entrepreneurs in particular; a position that could have the most profound effect in the longer term.
With speakers at the Global Entrepreneurship Congress ranging from the UK Digital Champion and founder of Lastminute.com Martha Lane Fox, through to the President of the British Association of Female Entrepreneurs, Deb Leary OBE and Lara Morgan, CEO of Pacific Direct, the event has quietly and assuredly reinforced the message that women-owned businesses are critical to the health of the UK and global economy.
The global trends are striking. In 2010, 104 million women in 59 economies (which represent more than 52% of the world’s population and 84% of world GDP) started and managed new business ventures. These women entrepreneurs made up between 1.5 % and 45.4 % of the adult female population in their respective economies, whilst another 83 million women across those regions ran businesses they had launched at least three and a half years before.
Now in 2011, the role of female-led businesses is more important than ever. According to the influential Women’s Enterprise Policy Group, women represent only around 15% of the total business base, yet there are more than 700,000 women-owned businesses operating across the nation and in every sector – and their role in growing the economy, and creating and sustaining new jobs, is crucial to recovery and growth.
“Success doesn’t come from just having a great idea. Success comes from being connected. It comes from seeing that global is the new local. Technology, the internet and social media allows the market to come to us, creating diversity in terms of markets and people. From the minute we start our businesses and go on-line we are ‘born global’. The Global Entrepreneurship Congress takes it one step further and physically brings a wealth of resources and investors, and an invaluable network of start-ups, SMEs and global players, to Liverpool. It’s about growth. It’s about mindset”, says Deb Leary OBE, chief executive of Forensic Pathways.
It is opportunities like the Congress coming to town that must be taken seriously to prevent the British economy from stalling; recent UK figures also show female unemployment at its highest level for 23 years and there is a record level of young people, including many female graduates, who are not economically active.
Self-employment and business ownership remains one of the most positive ways of addressing these issues and whilst women remain under-represented in enterprise it hinders the opportunity to grow the UK and global economy.
Liverpool is once again ahead of the curve and forging its own forward-looking path, with the city establishing the striking £5.2m Women’s International Centre for Economic Development (WICED) - the first of its kind in the UK or Europe.
“Liverpool is pioneering female entrepreneurialism in the UK and WICED has become a beacon of best practise and expertise; an incubator for emerging ideas and talent and a global research hub. We have made excellent progress in raising awareness but more needs to be done through prioritising initiatives like WICED through governmental policy, embracing events like the GEC to act as a catalyst for growth, and getting the right media coverage across all channels”, says Maggie O’Carroll, CEO the Women’s Organisation.
With the UK and Europe seemingly gripped in a climate of economic fear and an uncertain 2012, Liverpool appears not to have noticed; pushing ahead with a confidence and a focus that is turning heads and demanding attention.
All eyes are now turning to the Global Entrepreneurship Conference in March, and it’s another of the speakers at the event, Martha Lane Fox, the UK digital champion and dotcom icon, who sums up the expectation now beginning to crackle through the city.
“The energy and excitement of Liverpool is absolutely incredible. The city has taken a very smart approach in facing its challenges and has gone out on the front foot and embraced the boldness and spirit of entrepreneurialism. Liverpool exemplifies everything I care about; the excitement of starting a business, finding a balance in the workplace, building networks, providing equal access to technologies and fuelling an innate desire to innovate and evolve.”
It’s an observation that is hard to argue with.
Liverpool, a city of firsts, is leading the way again.
The Visionaries
The story behind the people behind the Global Entrepreneurship Conference in Liverpool this year.
The Founders
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, the Kauffman Foundation is among the thirty largest foundations in the United States with an asset base of approximately $2 billion.
Its work centres on harnessing the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Through its research and other initiatives, the Foundation aims to open young people's eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and facilitate the commercialisation of new knowledge and technologies.
Why Liverpool?
“We were impressed by Liverpool’s tradition and history of entrepreneurialism and the attempts they are making to embed entrepreneurship across the city in a range of innovative ways. Liverpool Vision’s bid was outstanding and it has won the chance to bring the Congress to Europe for the first time”. Jonathan Ortmans, the president of Global Entrepreneurship Week who led the selection process.
Why is it so important?
“The work done at this Congress in preparation for Global Entrepreneurship Week could not be more important. To start the economy in any country—and restart the economy in periods of recession—entrepreneurs will play the critical role.” Carl Schramm, out-going president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.
Who’s behind the Liverpool rebrand?
Liverpool Vision is the city’s economic development company; established at a critical stage in the city’s urban and economic renaissance and pivotal to the considerable economic recovery and growth Liverpool has witnessed over the last decade.
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