In a speech today at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Dubai, Fadi Ghandour, CEO of Aramex and Chairman of the Board at Wamda, announced a new movement (click here to register) calling upon the private sector to help build sustainable societies and create employment by supporting entrepreneurship.

Made from an indoor stage at the World Trade Center, the announcement evoked the moment two years ago at the Celebration of Entrepreneurship when Wamda, along with Riyada Enterprise Development, first launched as a platform to enable entrepreneurs. Wamda has now evolved into a fully-fledged entity comprising a media site, investment vehicle, and support services. As a continuation of that initiative, Ghandour set forth a “Corporate Entrepreneurship Movement,” which calls upon private sector stakeholders to contribute their capital, knowledge, skills, and networks to empower a new generation of entrepreneurs under the umbrella of Wamda.

In his talk, Ghandour set forth a blueprint for activating private sector resources, first calling for the establishment of new councils and public-private partnerships to build new entrepreneurship-focused education curricula. He also urged the activation of private wealth to enhance startup access to capital, and called upon support organizations and CEOs to increase access to knowledge by offering mentorship through vehicles like Wamda's Mix n' Mentor event series. 

To expand entrepreneurship networks, Ghandour asked the region’s accelerators and incubators to enhance access to regional markets and international expertise, while he called on researchers to map entrepreneurship networks and index local environments in order to support advocacy for startup-friendly policies. 

The media should continue to celebrate success stories and highlight role models while revealing social impact and discussing needs for policy change, he prescribed. Corporations, on the other hand, should create cultures of internal entrepreneurship and do business with small businesses where possible. "The private sector needs to buy small," he said.

To ensure a sustainable society moving forward, he is launching the Corporate Entrepreneurship Responsibility movement via Wamda, "to move this effort from talk to action." 

Those who are interested can join the corporate entrepreneurship movement by registering on Wamda.