Thank you.

Together, we have made history.

The inaugural G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit saw more than 200 young entrepreneurs and leaders of entrepreneurial organizations from the G20 nations convene to discuss how to best harness the potential of young entrepreneurs worldwide.

Working under the theme of  “Entrepreneurship = Recovery = Jobs” the two-day Summit culminated in the creation of the G20 Young Entrepreneurs’ Alliance, a global initiative that brings together young entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial experts from around the world to identify and address key policies surrounding the challenges and promotion of youth entrepreneurship. Together, we created a communiqué reflecting the five key issues that either discourage young people from launching new businesses or limit their success for growth.

The communiqué called upon the governments of the G20 countries to recognize that young entrepreneurs have the power to change their lives, their communities, their cultures and their countries. It called for support of the following five points: excessive regulation and taxation; inadequate or inefficient coordination of many of the forms of support that are available; social attitudes that discourage risk-taking or stigmatize failure and the need for specific entrepreneurial education in schools and universities.

Following the close of the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit, I was honoured to present the communiqué to the G20 Business Summit (B20) in Toronto on June 26^th. There, I was given the opportunity to share with government and business leaders that young entrepreneurs are vital to the continued growth of the economy, and that while governments are not responsible for entrepreneurship, we do need their help in helping support these innovative young people and their businesses. The B20 Summit delegates showed strong and positive support of our efforts.

It is through events like the G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit that we can bring the importance of youth entrepreneurship to the G20 leaders, and to the world.

I look forward to continuing the discussion with all of you at the 2011 G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit in Nice, France.

Sincerely,

Vivian Prokop
CEO, Canadian Youth Business Foundation
Chair, G20 Young Entrepreneur Summit