Entrepreneurs from the MENA Region, Pakistan and Turkey join AllWorld Network and Harvard faculty for three days of groundbreaking discussions to spur global job growth and economic innovation.
BOSTON, JULY 9, 2012…Today, over 100 AllWorld fast growth entrepreneurs and business leaders from the MENA region, Pakistan and Turkey arrive for the three-day AllWorld Summit@Harvard in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Design. This unprecedented gathering will see the world's top performing entrepreneurs brainstorm with illustrious Harvard faculty, investors, and corporate leaders from around the world. National and international VIPs joining the entrepreneurs include US Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia James Smith, Harvard University President Drew Gilpin Faust, executives from SABIC (the largest company in the Middle East) and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group; Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, Dean of the Graduate School of Design Mohsen Mostafavi and Founding Editor of Inc. magazine and of the Inc. 500 George Gendron.
The participating entrepreneurs are winners of AllWorld rankings in developing countries. AllWorld works in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Africa to find emerging growing private companies with proven track records and ranks them based on sales growth. In emerging economies, public companies are known, promising private companies are not. An AllWorld ranking puts fast-track entrepreneurs on the world map - attracting new investors, customers, growth partners and talent. This is AllWorld’s Visibility EconomicsTM.
The Summit focuses on “Solve It!” sessions where entrepreneurs define strategies they can implement globally in energy sustainability, education and technology, and agriculture. Many of the entrepreneurs are creating solutions that can be scaled to address major economic and social issues. To inspire and encourage creativity and entrepreneurship among the growing youth population, AllWorld and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank have teamed up to video the entrepreneurs during the Summit. The videos will be disseminated in 80 countries as part of the IFC’s SME Toolkit.
As a group, entrepreneurs attending the Summit grew an astonishing 60 percent a year over the past three years and created thousands of jobs while the world’s economy stagnated. In 2012-2013, they expect sales and employment to rise significantly and two-thirds expect to found another company. Companies participating include:
- The Pakistan ARABIA500 number one company e2e Supply Chain Management that grew 1,918 percent over the past three years, founded by Abid Butt. Established only seven years ago, e2e has revenues close to $70 million and employs 297 people. e2e has risen to become one of the most successful end-to-end air, sea and land logistics companies covering Pakistan and Afghanistan.
- The number two Saudi ARABIA500 winner Futurelab was founded in 2008 by Dr. Fayad Dandashi to create state-of-the art medical laboratory services for the health care industry. With one of the fastest growing populations in the world, health care in Saudi Arabia is poised to expand significantly in the coming years. Futurelab has already received private equity investment.
- Yavuz Eroglu, the 38-year old founder of SEM Plastics Corporation, made it to number 63 on the Turkish ARABIA500 ranking and was featured on the cover of TurcMoney and interviewed by the TRT Arabic Channel. SEM Plastics has two factories in Turkey and one in Palestine, and you may have used their disposable plastic products flying to Istanbul or on 38 other major airlines.
The AllWorld Summit@Harvard starts off with an adventure race as teams from different countries race through the Harvard campus testing their competitive spirit. Afterwards, Harvard President Faust and Dean Mostafavi will officially welcome the entrepreneurs and open the Summit.
Workshops on accessing the Saudi market, the largest market in the Middle East, will be led by US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Smith, and by Dr. Richard Crosby, a senior vice-president of Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation. The final day is hosted by the Graduate School of Design and features discussions on mega-cities and mega-trends. The Summit concludes with Harvard Business School Professor Porter’s highly anticipated workshop on Strategy & Shared Value, which challenges AllWorld entrepreneurs to tackle the world’s biggest problems.
AllWorld was co-founded by Deirdre Coyle, Jr., Anne Habiby and Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter. Described by the Times of London as the world’s “most influential management guru,” Professor Porter is widely regarded as the foremost authority on company and country competitiveness. AllWorld’s mission is to find and scale all the growth entrepreneurs of the emerging world by 2015.
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For members of the media interested in attending this invitation-only event or receiving more information about AllWorld Network, please contact Deirdre Coyle at 617.504.4547 or dcoylejr@allworldlive.com. Also visit allworldlive.com for a complete schedule.
Event Details:
Event: AllWorld Summit@Harvard
Venue: Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street, Cambridge (Monday & Tuesday) and Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall,
48 Quincy Street, Cambridge (Wednesday)
Time: All day – 9am – 5pm
Date: July 9-11, 2012
AllWorld’s mission to make visible ALL the scalable growth entrepreneurs of the emerging world, creating the largest information system and network of growth entrepreneurs.
