THE PRESIDENTIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT AND BEYOND

UNCLAS STATE 112495 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EAID PREL SOCI XF SUBJECT: THE PRESIDENTIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP SUMMIT AND BEYOND REF: STATE 112486 COUNTRIES WITH SIGNIFICANT MUSLIM COMMUNITIES--OIC "PLUS 16" LIST. NOT ALL ADDRESSEES COULD BE LISTED ON ONE CABLE. THIS COPY IS FOR 5 ADDITIONAL ADDRESSEES. FOR CHIEFS OF MISSION FROM THE SECRETARY ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: This is an action cable, see paragraphs 7, 8, 9, and ¶10. In the President's June 4 speech in Cairo, he announced that he would host an Entrepreneurship Summit within a year. The National Security Council staff and the Domestic Policy Council's Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation have been leading an Interagency Team to implement the President's vision for the Summit. The Summit will be an unprecedented opportunity to highlight the importance of fostering entrepreneurship - focusing especially on the connection between entrepreneurship and job creation - in Muslim-majority countries (MMCs) and Muslim communities around the world. It will also be an important platform to highlight successful entrepreneurs from these communities; to discuss the entrepreneurship "ecosystem" including obstacles and ways they can be overcome; to brainstorm how to expand the most successful programs; and to build networks among stakeholders in entrepreneurship. The Summit will also emphasize the President's broader aims of supporting entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic opportunity at home and abroad. To make the most of this strategic opportunity and the possibilities beyond, we request that Posts/Missions take several important steps, outlined below. END SUMMARY. Global Muslim Engagement ¶2. (U) While the President's speech in Cairo included specific action items, including a commitment to host an Entrepreneurship Summit, the speech is much more than a list of action items. The speech is most importantly strategic guidance for how the U.S. Government will engage MMCs, including their minority populations, and Muslim communities around the world. The specific action items mentioned in the speech should be accomplished but the principles that those action items exemplify should generally inform all of the USG's programs, activities, and efforts concerning MMCs and Muslim communities around the world. Specifically, the President articulated a desire for "a new beginning" whereby our relationship will be more comprehensive (i.e. not defined largely by just one or two security or political issues),based on mutual respect, and 
defined by partnerships in areas of mutual interest. The overarching strategic objective for this effort is for the U.S. to work in a spirit of partnership to advance opportunity, prosperity, and security in MMCs and Muslim communities worldwide by addressing issues of paramount concern to people in these communities, such as: job creation, entrepreneurship, economic development, education, exchanges, responsive governance, science and technology, and health. Addressing the youth bulge and the empowerment of women is a priority that should cut across all of these areas. The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship ¶3. (U) One of the specific commitments the President made in the Cairo speech as an example of his broader commitment to a new beginning was to host a summit on entrepreneurship. The Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship will bring together successful business and social entrepreneurs, investors, academics, technology developers, leaders of entrepreneurship networks, non-profits, foundations, businesses, and select government representatives who are invested in advancing business and social entrepreneurship in MMCs and Muslim communities around the world. The Summit will take place in Washington, D.C. in the first quarter of 2010. We anticipate inviting at least 150 participants from overseas. Participants will be responsible for their own expenses; but there will be some funds for participants who are particularly in need of support. ¶4. (U) Potential Topics. The Summit will take place over two days in Washington, and the President will deliver opening remarks. The Summit will include a series of moderated discussions on key issues and challenges for advancing entrepreneurship, job creation, and economic opportunity including: enhancing access to capital; creating and supporting entrepreneur networks; promoting a culture of entrepreneurship; broadening access to effective business development services; promoting the education, training, and mentoring of entrepreneurs; supporting and connecting social entrepreneurs; collecting better market data and making it broadly available; developing a policy environment that supports entrepreneurship; and providing tools and resources for expanding market access for entrepreneurs. Women and youth issues will also be priority areas of focus across the board. In addition to moderated discussions, there will be networking opportunities for participants. ¶5. (U) Objectives of Summit. The Objectives for the Summit are multi-fold. First, the Summit should inform, inspire, and catalyze greater entrepreneurship in MMCs and Muslim communities and elsewhere. It will do this by emphasizing the importance of entrepreneurship to job creation and expanding economic opportunity, and by highlighting potential role-models who have been innovative, pioneering and effective as entrepreneurs themselves or in expanding opportunities for entrepreneurship. Second, the Summit will help participants (and those able to view the Summit via webcast or broadcast) to identify ways of scaling effective approaches to entrepreneurship and to address obstacles by bringing together stakeholders who are knowledgeable, effective, and successful. Third, the Summit will be an opportunity to build and expand global, regional, and local entrepreneurship networks. Finally, we hope the Summit will serve as a catalyst for other stakeholders - including other governments as well as for-profit and non-profit actors - to potentially announce commitments related to supporting entrepreneurship, job creation, and economic opportunity. For instance, we hope that this Summit will lead others to hold regional conferences built on the same guiding principles and objectives as the Summit and to make progress on the goals expressed by participants at the Presidential Summit. Ideally, in the long-term, the Summit and follow-on processes will result in scaled and sustainable support systems for entrepreneurs that will enable them to produce the jobs needed to provide meaningful economic opportunity for the next generation. ¶6. (SBU) USG Role in Summit and Follow-through Process. In all of the efforts pertaining to the Summit and the follow through on these objectives, clear articulation of the role of USG as a convener, catalyst, and platform for engagement is paramount. It will only be through partnerships and locally-driven initiatives that the USG can play a productive role in expanding entrepreneurship opportunities and making them more self-sustaining in MMCs and Muslim communities. As such, Washington will aim to do our part to be responsive and to empower you to execute your objectives. ¶7. (U) On that note, we want to acknowledge and thank Posts/Missions for their outstanding cables providing input to Washington following the President's Cairo speech. Those cables have helped to inform both our thinking on the Entrepreneurship Summit, as well as our broader emphasis on entrepreneurship, job creation and economic opportunity. Please note, a subsequent cable will provide a more comprehensive account of how those earlier cables are informing our work here in Washington. Economic Opportunity Working Groups ¶8. (SBU) ACTION: Chiefs of Mission are requested to establish and maintain an interagency working group on expanding economic opportunity. (If Post feels it does not have the capacity to do this, it should contact its regional bureau, who can work with S/P to devise an alternative arrangement.) Expanding economic opportunity will be a top priority in the President's vision for a New Beginning with MMCs and Muslim communities. There will be an on-going, multi-year effort to partner with local stakeholders to advance economic opportunity, job creation, and entrepreneurship. The request to establish working groups on expanding economic opportunity reflects the recognition that many different Country Team elements have a role to play in this issue, and these working groups should serve as a mechanism for: integrating, coordinating, and leveraging the tools, capabilities, programs, and activities of all relevant Country Team members; creating and managing partnerships that advance economic opportunity, with particular emphasis on identifying, supporting, and empowering the most effective local stakeholders; executing the President's initiatives in this area and ensuring that existing efforts in this area reflect the principles put forward in the Cairo speech; ensuring local stakeholders and communities are engaged and informed about the work being done. ¶9. (SBU) ACTION (cont.): Posts/Missions should submit a list of their 10 top nominees to attend the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship in Washington. These should be inspiring, pioneering, effective, high-potential stakeholders in business and social entrepreneurship; they should be role models for others. The list of 10 should be diverse: well-known and not well-known; big, small, and medium enterprises; and there should be a few submissions that do not fall under the "usual suspect" category. For instance, the list should also include new economy entrepreneurs, e.g. technology entrepreneurs where possible. These lists should be submitted no later than November 30, along with approximately one page including background and the justification supporting the nomination (as well as any other supporting documentation Post/Missions may wish to submit) for each nominee. (POC: Greg Behrman, S/P). ¶10. (SBU) ACTION (cont.): Each Post/Mission is requested to conduct a Roundtable (ideally hosted by the Chief of Mission) or a series of Roundtables in December to engage key stakeholders in entrepreneurship and economic opportunity; the Entrepreneurship Summit, our aims for the Summit and to solicit input as to how we can achieve those aims; and, to explore the potential for partnerships in advancing entrepreneurship, economic opportunity, and job creation more generally. Posts/Missions should seek to facilitate networking among local attendees. Second, Ambassadors are requested to reach out individually to stakeholders (investors, business leaders, government officials, Foundation and NGO heads, etc) who they feel can be high-impact partners and solicit their thoughts, and to cultivate them as partners. Posts/Missions are asked to send a summary of the Roundtables and other related engagement efforts to Washington NLT December 28 (Attention: S/P - Greg Behrman, S/SRMC - Karen Chandler, and R - Sehreen Noor-Ali). ¶11. (U) ACTION (cont.): Each Post/Mission is asked to provide a summary of proposed public diplomacy activities for the Summit and for lead-up and related activities. Please submit to Washington by November 30. Each Post/Mission is also requested to profile as appropriate Post/Mission efforts to advance local entrepreneurship and economic opportunity and to highlight programs and activities for which entrepreneurs and stakeholders in advancing entrepreneurship may be eligible. (Attention: S/P - Greg Behrman, R - Sehreen Noor-Ali). ¶12. (SBU) As noted, the Summit is part of a process. Follow-up will ideally include regional and sub-regional conferences, which we hope will be hosted by other governments or leading local institutions. Posts/Missions should begin thinking about public or private sector partners (educational institutions, NGOs, Foundations, etc) who can serve as hosts for future conferences, which will offer opportunities for engaging the issues and goals addressed at the Summit with regional specificity and with a larger and more inclusive set of stakeholders. Conclusion ¶13. (SBU) This Summit will be a singular and unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate that the United States wishes to be a partner in advancing economic opportunity around the world, including in MMCs and in Muslim communities. It will be an extraordinary opportunity to profile leaders and pioneers who can build the future that we all seek, to create a global network of stakeholders in entrepreneurship, and to inspire others to support them and to follow their example. Your efforts per the ACTION items in this cable will enable us to maximize the strategic benefits from the Summit and will be instrumental in realizing the President's vision for a New Beginning based on mutual respect and the pursuit of partnership in areas of mutual interest. We are deeply grateful for your efforts. Thank you. ¶14. (U) Minimize considered. CLINTON