We need to always be learning from history. Imagine if governments around the world had heeded the learning from the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic? In terms of fostering entrepreneurship to help economies emerge out of a global crisis, we can look back to data from 10-12 years ago following the financial crisis.
Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, as the longest running study of entrepreneurship, is well positioned to provide insights from this period of time and highlight the lessons that are applicable to today. On that note, we are launching an Online Learning Series to examine the actions governments and entrepreneurs should be taking in the weeks and months ahead.
Our first session will be held on Monday, April 20th from 12:00 - 12:45 US EST / 18:00 - 18:45 CET with GEM Executive Director Aileen Ionescu-Somers moderating a session with researchers Mark Hart and Niels Bosma. They will share their perspectives on questions like:
- What GEM data from the 2008 financial crisis should entrepreneurs and policymakers keep in mind?
- For entrepreneurs and policymakers, what is different about the Coronavirus crisis compared to the 2008 financial crisis?
- How long do you think the impacts of this crisis will be felt?
Bring your lunch, dinner, snack or beverage of choice and join us for an informative and interactive session. Register.
About the researchers
Mark Hart is Professor of Small Business and Entrepreneurship at Aston Business School, Associate Director of the Aston Centre for Growth, and is one of the Programme Directors and Academic Lead of the national Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses programme. A 2014 recipient of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, he has played a national role in promoting enterprise skills and supporting entrepreneurs as well as advising government on small business and entrepreneurship matters. He is Deputy Director of the national Enterprise Research Centre (www.enterpriseresearch.ac.uk) which is jointly hosted by Aston University and the University of Warwick and has as its mission to understand the drivers of small business growth. Mark leads on business growth and productivity research to understand the dynamics of the private sector over time and the role of SMEs as well as contributing to the work on growth ambition and access to finance. He also manages the GEM UK national team for GEM Global which is the only international source of annual evidence on entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspiration.
Niels Bosma is an Associate Professor at the Utrecht University School of Economics, Chair of the GERA Board of Directors and co-founder of the Utrecht University Social Entrepreneurship Initiative. His main research interests are individual entrepreneurial and innovative behaviour in regional and social contexts. Niels has been published in several leading academic journals and has been involved with GEM since 2005. He received his PhD from Utrecht University – his dissertation focused on the geography of entrepreneurial activity and regional economic development.
About the moderator
As GEM’s Executive Director since February 2019, Aileen Ionescu-Somers' main objective is to ensure that GEM is increasingly perceived as the world-class reference for data-driven entrepreneurship knowledge and expertise worldwide. Aileen is a highly experienced academic researcher/teacher and an author of books, case studies and journal/newspaper articles.