Riyadh - Under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs - may God protect him - the activities of the Global Entrepreneurship Conference (GEC) will be launched on Sunday 24 Shaaban 1443 AH corresponding to March 27, 2022 AD. The King Abdulaziz International Conference Center and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, which is organized by the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises “Monsha’at” in cooperation with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) under the slogan “We Re-Innovate - Renew”.

The conference, whose activities will continue until Wednesday, March 30, 2022, in the presence of entrepreneurs, investors, experts and decision makers from 180 countries, will discuss a number of topics aimed at building a unified global system for entrepreneurship, helping entrepreneurs to sustain and expand their businesses around the world, and knowledge of new global trends. For pioneering work in the post-pandemic era, through more than 100 rich discussion sessions involving more than 150 speakers.

More than 26 ministers from around the world, speakers from international company leaders, economists and decision makers, will participate in the discussion sessions, to discuss a number of important topics in the field of entrepreneurship, and best practices for building a global entrepreneurship system.

Among the most prominent personalities who will participate in the conference as speakers are His Royal Highness Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy, His Excellency Minister of Investment, Eng. Khalid Al-Falih, and His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Eng. Abdullah Al-Sawaha.

On the international level, the conference will host a number of senior entrepreneurs, as the panel discussions will be attended by Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Mark Randolph, co-founder of Netflix, Jeff Hoffman, Entrepreneur and Chairman of GEN, Ashish Thakkar, founder of Mara Group, in addition to a number of A large number of speakers specialized in various sectors of interest to entrepreneurs.

The conference discussion sessions aim to be a source of inspiration for entrepreneurs and a positive incentive to take innovative measures that keep pace with the accelerated efforts to develop the entrepreneurship environment at the local, regional and international levels, in addition to providing the best measures to achieve economic recovery for small and medium enterprises in the post-pandemic stage.

It is noteworthy that all major conference sessions will be broadcast via the live broadcast feature on Monshaat’s Twitter account @MonshaatSA, in order to allow the largest possible audience to benefit from the content of the sessions.

The conference will also witness a number of agreements, launches and announcements of investment rounds in support of entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises, with the participation of a number of government and private sectors, and major international companies.

The conference includes an accompanying exhibition at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, workshops and innovation sections, and a number of events aimed at developing the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation among young people in the world. To contribute to sustainable development, and motivate them to come up with innovative ideas that keep pace with the accelerated efforts to develop the entrepreneurship environment at the local, regional and international levels, in addition to achieving economic recovery for the small and medium enterprises sector, globally, from the pandemic, and also includes inspiring and informative innovative trips to view the latest innovations in The world of entrepreneurship.

The Global Entrepreneurship Network also chose the capital, Riyadh, to host the conference due to the great mobility witnessed by the entrepreneurship environment in the Kingdom, which was embodied in its ranking first globally in the indicators “Availability of good opportunities to start a business” and “Ease of starting a business.” The first in the “Pandemic Entrepreneurs’ Response” and “The Kingdom’s Government Response to the Pandemic” indicators, out of 45 countries, according to the indicators of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, where the network is keen to choose cities that witness intense activity in the entrepreneurial environment.

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During its participation in the "Invest in Saudi" pavilion, the Ministry of Investment reviews investment opportunities, discusses the challenges facing investors and the facilities provided to them, and exchanges experiences, allowing to identify more opportunities for partnerships and available investment opportunities.

The conference will witness the signing of memorandums of understanding by the Ministry of Investment with a number of agencies in the public and private sectors to support emerging companies and entrepreneurs, enhance the Kingdom's position as a leading center in the world for startups, enhance economic activities, and build effective relationships with various parties, which contribute to advancing the Kingdom's economic growth.

It is noteworthy that the conference provides an important opportunity for entrepreneurs to listen and understand the challenges they face, thus contributing to the formulation of a more sustainable and flexible unified global leadership environment, in addition to providing the opportunity for entrepreneurs to meet with their counterparts from around the world and benefit from their experiences, and listen to the most important global experts in this field .