Francis Stevens George to guide GEN Sierra Leone to strengthen international connections and implement new programs, initiatives
WASHINGTON, DC – The Global Entrepreneurship Network has appointed Francis Stevens George as acting managing director of GEN Sierra Leone. In this role, George is responsible for expanding collaboration among the country’s entrepreneurship ecosystem leaders and connecting them to their counterparts in more than 170 countries.
“There is now a universal acceptance that entrepreneurship and innovation holds the key to development in Africa,” said George. “If entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone are to create jobs and grow our economy, they need an ecosystem to support their value creating activities. GEN Sierra Leone is taking the leadership in building this ecosystem.”
George said GEN Sierra Leone’s mission is to organize, support and energize a vibrant ecosystem to support entrepreneurship across the country, by identifying stakeholders within the ecosystem to help provide that much-needed support. However, George said, there seems to be a fragmentation of stakeholders in the country. This was a gap in the ecosystem George identified that GEN could help fill.
“We have taken the lead in building an ecosystem,” George said. “There is a new breed of entrepreneurs – value-creating entrepreneurs, that need an ecosystem to grow. An ecosystem is also needed to effectively channel donor funding into effective interventions that will see entrepreneurship grow in the country.”
Sierra Leone is now holding the first pitch competition in the country, George said, and through the competition they are aiming to engage the financial, corporate and academic sectors.
At the global level, GEN operates in more than 170 countries. It fuels healthier start and scale ecosystems by fostering deeper cross-border collaboration and initiatives that engage entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers, researchers and entrepreneurship support organizations.
GEN Sierra Leone aims to strengthen the ecosystem by focusing on:
- Mapping the entrepreneurship support ecosystem across Sierra Leone
- Identifying and implementing high impact initiatives that support entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone with a view toward increasing the number of people who become entrepreneurs
- Creating a forum for dialogue between politicians and the entrepreneurship community to foster a better understanding of the needs of entrepreneurs, and provide input for policies that better support entrepreneurship
- Establishing a platform for universities, institutions of learning and research centers to test ideas in a business and entrepreneurial setting/environment and
- Increasing understanding between the new and traditional elements of Sierra Leone’s economy through the constructive engagement of broad-based coalitions of public and private sector leaders in supporting smart, evidence-based programs and public policies that strengthen the ecosystem.
About the Global Entrepreneurship Network
The Global Entrepreneurship Network operates a platform of programs in 170 countries aimed at making it easier for anyone, anywhere to start and scale a business. By fostering deeper cross border collaboration and initiatives between entrepreneurs, investors, researchers, policymakers and entrepreneurial support organizations, GEN works to fuel healthier start and scale ecosystems that create jobs, educate individuals, accelerate innovation and strengthen economic growth. For details on the programs that make up GEN, visit genglobal.org and follow @unleashingideas on Twitter.
