Global Entrepreneurship Week and the Emergence of Entrepreneurial Economies in Asia

Hosting the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Melbourne, Australia in September 2023 opened many questions for me about GEN's work in Asia. When I learned that the much-vaunted APEC Ministerial – the annual gathering of heads of government of the Asia-Pacific region – would align with the opening of Global Entrepreneurship Week, I decided to change plans to attend Web Summit in Lisbon and accept an invitation to head to China via San Francisco. 

It was a fitting start for me to Global Entrepreneurship Week given the San Francisco APEC ministerial clearly embraced the same key messages of innovation, interconnectedness and inclusivity we were advancing globally. Returning to the U.S. for an unprecedented third time, the APEC Summit was built around the theme of ‘Creating a Resilient and Sustainable Future for All’.  

Like with other multilateral bodies around the world (namely the G20’s launch of the Startup20 engagement group), it is encouraging to see APEC using ministerial meetings to discuss topics deeply connected to entrepreneurship. In particular, I was heartened by the remarks made by Secretary Blinken who emphasized three priorities for the United States to pursue through APEC. 

The first was building global interconnectedness – something I later in the week advanced in speeches in China, Africa and Europe as vital to global economic and social stability in the future. While emphasizing that adjustments need to be made, Blinken reasserted the powerful belief that interdependence is a strength for modern economies, not a weakness. At a time when our world faces burgeoning geopolitical distrust this is an essential message. The rise of nationalism in many parts of the world and growing skepticism towards globalization makes it all the more important for us to double down on collaborative work to build connections across the global ecosystem.  

His second priority revolved around innovation and technology, particularly in the areas of the digital economy and sustainable infrastructure. Global organizations like APEC have a unique opportunity to generate and spread innovative practices and investment in high-quality, sustainable infrastructure that connects the member economies and encourages technological progress. This discussion too quickly has focused on short-term distrust over data and needs to return to focusing on working together to solve global problems that transcend national boundaries. 

Blinken also highlighted the work being done to foster a more inclusive economic environment that unleashes the full potential of all communities while specifically mentioning programs to increase opportunities for women in STEM, expand financing towards Indigenous entrepreneurs and improving connectivity with rural communities. Crucially, he linked inclusivity to higher levels of growth and contributing towards a more robust economy overall.  

These three priorities resonate well during Global Entrepreneurship Week, a global campaign that attracts more than 10 million attendees from nearly 200 countries each year since its launch 16 years ago. It encourages such a global outlook and advances the notion that innovators and risk takers from diverse ecosystems and geographies who have developed deep and trusting relationships have an important role to play in developing similar confidence among their political leaders. 

GEW was created to spread entrepreneurial culture to all communities across the globe. It’s mission is to ensure that every citizen with a good idea feels empowered to become an entrepreneur, and to ensure they have the opportunity to transform that idea into a product that impacts the lives of people across the world. 

Basic math tells us that economies suffer when any individual is excluded and they suffer exponentially when entire communities are excluded for reasons of politics, historical disadvantage or discrimination. How many transformative ideas have been lost because the people in possession of them lacked the opportunity to commercialize them? How much slower has progress been on critical technologies because the pool of talented individuals working on them is restricted by barriers of race, gender, class and education? 

Our belief now – as it was then – is that no single culture or ecosystem has a monopoly on good ideas and more importantly that every person excluded from entrepreneurship is a loss to the entire global community. When entrepreneurs do well, we all do well. And we’ve seen it happen absolutely everywhere. From rural farming communities to industrial hubs, from cultural capitals to remote territories. Absolutely no one is immune to the transformational power of entrepreneurship. 

That the APEC Summit also ended with some positive comments from both President Biden and President Xi Jinping provided encouragement for my next stop in Shanghai where I opened GEW in China with a keynote speech at the Yangtze River Delta Innovation and Entrepreneurship Summit.   

The data on Chinese entrepreneurship is as impressive as what you see as a visitor. Patent applications for Chinese inventions soared to 1.58 million in 2022 – more than the United States, Japan, Republic of Korea and Germany combined with Chinese researchers the second most cited in international scientific journals.  

China also reportedly has a lead in 37/44 critical and emerging technologies including synthetic biology, electric batteries, 5G and nano manufacturing, AI, machine learning, advanced robotics, and quantum communications. I visited multiple startups and without exception was aghast at the deep tech and potential. Since my hotel was attached a mall, I took a few minutes to walk about the Apple store-like shops selling Chinese EVs. Not only were they half the price paid in the U.S. but the technology is clearly next generation. 

The Chinese story is a remarkable but more importantly one being replicated by other former emerging markets like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Over the course of several decades China charted a unique path overcoming logistical and educational challenges thereby making their progress an invaluable example to ecosystems across the developing world.  

And China is only part of the wider regional story. Asia now has seven of the top 30 highest performing ecosystems in the world according to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report led by Singapore which was the biggest success story of 2022, entering the top 10 ecosystems for the first time, moving up an impressive 10 places from 18th place the previous year. I visited Singapore twice this year, witnessing an ecosystem that now boasts 18 unicorns and is second in the region only to Beijing. Moreover, Singapore experienced a 33 percent increase in the count of early-stage deals and doubled the number of exits over $1 billion, including Grab which exited at $40 billion.  

Of course our data is still incomplete for 2023. Conflict, inflation and the threat of recession continue to linger as we enter 2024. Yet Asia, in many ways, may end up bucking the downtrend visible in other markets including the United States. While most regions have struggled this year with steep drops in early-stage funding, Asia has barely taken a hit. The amount of early-stage funding declined by just one percent in the face of heavy economic headwinds including for China a very late exit from pandemic lockdowns. Likewise, their decline of five percent in early-stage deal count paled in comparison to the 18 percent global average drop.  

Further, while not on my travels last week, let’s not forget that any conversation about entrepreneurship in Asia is incomplete without mentioning India. The Indian ecosystem has been a pivotal factor in the Asian success story and can boast having seven ecosystems moving up in the rankings including Delhi and Bengaluru-Karnataka placed in the top 30 at 20th and 24th, respectively. Mumbai is also knocking on the door in 31st place and saw its number of exits over $50 million increase by 60 percent. Part of this growth is due to India’s relatively flexible approach to the pandemic compared to, for example, China, but the reality is that India’s high percentage of working-age population coupled with its pro-innovation policies and the reluctance of the U.S. to create a startup visa to import their talent, has created what is perhaps the world’s largest talent pool. 

India has now of course surpassed China as the world’s most populous country and it is not far off from closing the unicorn gap either. Again, while 2023 data is unclear, that gap fell from 21 to just three in 2022. It’s going to be fascinating to see how this rivalry develops in the coming years.  

The transformation across Asian ecosystems in the 16 years since we launched Global Entrepreneurship Week has been something remarkable to behold. During my first GEW global tour in 2009, as an entrepreneurship advocate I did not feel welcome when visiting Malaysia where the media questioned encouraging Malaysians to take risks suggesting it was not the government's policy.   

A decade and a half later, our mission to spread entrepreneurial culture to all communities across the globe has been successful. No matter where I visit in Asia now, the culture is one where every citizen with a good idea is encouraged and empowered to become an entrepreneur and provided with the necessary support to ensure they have the opportunity to transform that idea into a product that impacts the lives of many around them. As a global ecosystem we need more entrepreneurs, and whether the West likes it or not, nations like China, Singapore and India are leading the way in making this a reality.