Press Digest (Weeks 19-20): Canada Wants YOU
The North American country is in need of job creators and innovators. Therefore the Canadian government has recently revealed its Economic Action Plan, which will target the “immigrant entrepreneur” as the country’s primary goals remain “jobs, growth and long-term prosperity”. At the same time, other countries struggle to retain their talented and suffer from brain drain effects. No, we are not talking about good old Central Europe, but Australia: the Sydney Morning Herald takes account of entrepreneurs who decided to leave the country where failure is not accepted (!). As a consequence, there are more than 65 tech startups in Silicon Valley which were created by Australians. Our selection also covers a stories on why Tel-Aviv is such a cool place to start a business, a scheme in Hungary to help SMEs and how Rovio could be an example for European startups.
Tel Aviv called one of the best places to open a start-up – The Times of Israel, May 8, 2012
It takes a village — or, rather, an ecosystem — to build a successful start-up. And according to a study released by the Startup Genome Project, a project whose mission is to help start-ups succeed, Tel Aviv has one of the world’s top “start-up success ecosystems.” The folks at the Startup Genome know what it takes to succeed; the project was started last year by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Bjoern Herrmann, Max Marmer, and Ertan Dogrultan, who set out to build a “best practices” guide that would help struggling start-ups to make it.
Hungarian Big Businesses Launch Purchasing Community for SMEs – The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2012
The Hungarian National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers launched a scheme Monday that aims at lowering purchasing expenses for the small and middle-sized business community in the financially embattled country. SMEs form the backbone of the Hungarian economy, employing 70% of the workforce in the private sector. The Hungarian government and the European Union have both launched schemes to help SMEs’ development and investment plans. Companies participating will provide SMEs with electricity, fuel, cars, raw materials, as well as banking and telecommunication services at a lower cost.
Canada wants foreign entrepreneurs – The Telegraph, 15 May, 2012
The Canadian government last week revealed its Economic Action Plan 2012, which highlights its commitment to support entrepreneurs, world-class research and innovators. Citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism minister Jason Kenney said: “Our government’s top priority remains jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. Canada cannot afford to lose out in the competition for foreign entrepreneurs among immigrant-receiving countries.” He added: “We need to proactively target a new type of immigrant entrepreneur who has the potential to build innovative companies that can compete on a global scale and create jobs for Canadians.”
Maker of Angry Birds Shows Way for European Start-Ups – The New York Times, May 17, 2012
As Silicon Valley prepares for its latest blockbuster initial public offering, a sale of stock that is expected to value Facebook at more than $100 billion, Europe can counter with the David and Goliath tale of Rovio Entertainment. The company, developer of the “Angry Birds” games, in which players use a digital slingshot to attack egg-stealing pigs, has said it plans its own offering next year. Analysts have said the sale could value Rovio, which is based in Finland, at up to $9 billion — a small fraction of Facebook’s valuation, but huge for a European technology I.P.O.
Brain drain: why young entrepreneurs leave home – The Sydney Morning Herald, May 18, 2012
“We’ve created crack for women,” says 20-year-old entrepreneur Nikki Durkin of her online fashion startup 99dresses. The trouble is, Australian financiers don’t want to get the habit. Ms Durkin’s aim is clear: “I want to build a billion-dollar company.” But she says Australia won’t let her, so she’s joining thousands of other Australians pursuing their dreams in the US. Over in Silicon Valley, failure is celebrated and seen as a chance to learn, but Ms Durkin, who grew up in Sydney, had the opposite experience in Australia when she had to shut down her site to tweak her idea.”In Australia failure’s seen as a bad thing . . . generally I think it’s a bit of tall poppy syndrome happening,” she says.
Young entrepreneurs thrilled to see Warren Buffett – Seattlepi.com, May 21, 2012
The 15 young entrepreneurs who got to present business ideas to billionaire Warren Buffett on Monday seemed nearly as excited to meet the investor as they were to learn who won the contest. Of course it may have helped that Buffett surprised them by announcing plans to give all the finalists 10 Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock worth nearly $800 to go along with the prizes in the contest sponsored by www.creditreport.com. Five of the finalists also received $5,000 checks for winning grand prizes.
London fashion: Meet 5 startups re-shaping the industry – The NextWeb.com, May 21, 2012
London has always been a massive contributor to the international fashion scene. From world-famous designers like Paul Smith, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood and the late Alexander McQueen to the bevy of gorgeous faces like Kate Moss, Lily Cole and Agyness Deyn that grace the runways, London has produced some of the most memorable brands and icons. In fact, Net-a-Porter and ASOS, two of the most well known sites who’ve led the digitization of the online retail are both based in London.
