Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009 Exceeds 1,000 U.S. Partners Across All 50 States

Those interested in participating can identify a host of activities, including virtual and face-to-face events, large-scale competitions and intimate networking gatherings through the interactive Global Entrepreneurship Week activities calendar (http://www.unleashingideas.org/usa/activities_calendar). The activities calendar, which lists hundreds of events across the United States, can be searched by key word or sorted by location to help participants access the Week's many resources and events.

Among the notable activities included in the calendar is NYSE Euronext Mentoring Madness, which brings together well-known entrepreneurs -- like Snoop Dogg and Blake Mycoskie of TOMS Shoes -- with more than 200 local college students and aspiring entrepreneurs to create an open dialogue about successful entrepreneurship. Also included on the calendar are movie screenings for "Ten9Eight," a documentary that chronicles the stories of the teenage entrepreneurs who arrive in New York City for a grueling day of presentations in a national business plan competition organized by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE). For more information on these and other featured activities, please visit here http://www.unleashingideas.org/usa/featured.

Co-founded in 2008 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in the United States and Make Your Mark, a business-led, government-backed campaign in the United Kingdom, Global Entrepreneurship Week is designed to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs.

"During last year's inaugural Global Entrepreneurship Week, we engaged more than 3 million people in more than 75 countries around the globe," said Carl Schramm, president and chief executive officer of the Kauffman Foundation. "With the support generated so far in 2009, we are set to reach even more young people, inspiring them to acquire the knowledge, skills and networks needed to grow innovative, sustainable enterprises that have a positive impact on their lives and communities."

States with the highest number of partner organizations to date include: Michigan (93 partners); California (90 partners); Pennsylvania (53 partners); New York (49 partners); Massachusetts (44 partners); Tennessee (44 partners); Texas (38 partners); Virginia (37 partners) Missouri (36 partners); Ohio (29 partners).

States with highest number of confirmed activities to date include: Tennessee (52 events); California (41 events); Michigan (40 events); Florida (37 events); New Jersey (31 events); New York (29 events); Massachusetts (25 events); Oklahoma (22 events); Pennsylvania (20 events); Wisconsin (19 events).

Organizations supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week include Global Sponsor NYSE Euronext; Global Partners Endeavor, Junior Achievement Worldwide (JA), Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), DECA, the Prince's Youth Business International, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), UK Department for Business Innovation and Skills, MIT Enterprise Forum, the European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs, and Youth Enterprise and Sustainability.

To view a complete list of participating countries and organizations, or to learn more about the Week, visit www.unleashingideas.org.

About Global Entrepreneurship Week

With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week will encourage youth to think big, turn their ideas into reality, and make their mark. From Nov. 16-22, 2009, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Tens of thousands of activities are being planned in dozens of countries. Global Entrepreneurship Week is founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Make Your Mark campaign. For more information, visit www.unleashingideas.org, and follow @unleashingideas on Twitter.

Kauffman Foundation

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Through its research and other initiatives, the Kauffman Foundation aims to open young people's eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and find alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and technologies. It also works to prepare students to be innovators, entrepreneurs and skilled workers in the 21st century economy through initiatives designed to improve learning in math, engineering, science and technology. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo. and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org, and follow @kauffmanfdn on Twitter.

Make Your Mark

Make Your Mark is a national campaign to create an enterprise culture among young people in the UK. It does this by giving people in their teens and 20s the inspiration and opportunity to turn their ideas into reality, whether through starting businesses or social enterprises or by making an idea happen at work. It is funded by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and was founded by the four main UK business organizations -- the British Chambers of Commerce, CBI, Federation of Small Businesses and Institute of Directors. Make Your Mark leads a campaign coalition of 25 national organizations from education, the voluntary sector, business and government.