Financial Literacy Takes Center Stage at Global Entrepreneurship Week

Amid one of the world’s largest celebration of entrepreneurs, innovators and startup company founders that drive economies and solve some of the most pressing problems, Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) in mid-November in Kosovo put a major spotlight on financial education as a pillar of entrepreneurial, business and personal success.

Financial literacy professionals were buzzing over the infusion of financial capability as a significant theme throughout the week-long series of events. Looking to fuel the growth of local and national economies in communities throughout the world, local and global leaders embraced the campaign, as they did in 2013 as well, when more than 125 heads of state supported GEW through their speeches and other endorsements. But as many local and national economies have continued to struggle in the last year, a greater recognition of the importance of financial literacy has emerged as a factor that many believe is crucial for the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders to be successful.

Financial education also was central in local celebrations of GEW in both developing and developed nations. In one example, Women for Women International, a global organization serving hundreds of thousands of marginalized women in countries affected by war and conflict, conducted financial literacy workshops in Rwanda, where women were trained by several financial institutions on key financial education topics. Through this training, Women for Women leveraged GEW by providing business-focused entrepreneurial women with the financial information, resources and tools they need to become more empowered to best manage their individual, family and business-related financial affairs.

There is broad consensus that GEW’s support and promotion of financial education will further infuse financial literacy as one of the most critically important foundations for personal and business success in all regions throughout the world.