Global Student Entrepreneur Awards Named As Featured Event in Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010

NEW YORK--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), an Entrepreneurs’ Organization program and the world’s premier competition for students running revenue-generating businesses, announced today that the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation will host its Global Finals as a featured Global Entrepreneurship Week 2010 (GEW) event. The GSEA Global Finals will be held in Kansas City, Mo. on Nov. 17-19, 2010. Thousands of GEW events will take place around the world from Nov. 15-21, 2010.

“The student finalists are some of the most creative young people on the planet and inspire us all.”

The GSEA Finals brings together aspiring and inspiring high school, university and graduate student entrepreneurs from around the world to compete for the title of “Student Entrepreneur of the Year,” $150,000 in cash and in-kind business services, and access to the Global Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Network to grow their businesses and skills as business owners.

“We are honored to once again host the world’s next generation of aspiring entrepreneurs who represent the economic drivers of the future. They are the quintessential GEW role models,” said Carl Schramm, president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation. “The student finalists are some of the most creative young people on the planet and inspire us all.”

The Global Finals will unite 30 “dorm room entrepreneurs” from across the globe for a head-to-head competition judged by panels of some of the world’s top business luminaries, national media and EO member CEOs.

“We could not be more excited for GSEA to be part of Global Entrepreneurship Week for the second year, and to have the support of the Kauffman Foundation, a globally recognized leader that is as dedicated to entrepreneurship as EO,” said Kevin Langley, EO global chairman elect. “EO’s 10-year partnership with the Kauffman Foundation inspires our student business owners when they realize that there are people, well beyond their dorm rooms, who want nothing more than their success, and who have the resources and networks to support them. We’re honored to feature these outstanding young business owners during GEW.”

GSEA finalists hail from as far away as Zimbabwe, Singapore, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka, with businesses generating revenues in some cases upwards of $3 million annually. These business owners, who remarkably manage their competitive careers while being full-time university students, already have competed to win local, regional and virtual competitions. The Global Finals also provide an opportunity for students to attend critical workshops on presentation training, public relations and marketing while networking with their peers from around the world, established business leaders from EO and Kauffman Foundation leaders.

For more information about the GSEA, visit http://www.gsea.org/. To learn more about Global Entrepreneurship Week, visit www.unleashingideas.org.

About The Global Student Entrepreneur Awards

As the premier global competition for undergraduate students, the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) inspire students to adopt entrepreneurial endeavors by bringing global visibility to student business owners who are innovative, profitable and socially responsible. Since 1998, the GSEA, a program founded at the John Cook School of Business at Saint Louis University, has honored outstanding students who juggle a full course load while running their own businesses. The Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) took on leadership of the GSEA in 2006 to offer student entrepreneurs access to a global network of mentors, resources and connections from the most influential community of entrepreneurs in the world. The GSEA is generously supported by major foundations, including the NYSE Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Ernst & Young and the Todd Thomas Foundation. To nominate a student entrepreneur or to get involved, go to www.gsea.org.

About EO

The Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) – for entrepreneurs only – is a global community that enriches members’ lives through direct peer-to-peer learning, connections to experts and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. EO is the catalyst that enables entrepreneurs to learn from each other, leading to greater business success and an enriched personal life. EO is comprised of more than 7,000 members in 38 countries, with an average member age of 39 and average annual revenue of US$14.4 million. The organization is committed to building the world’s most influential community of entrepreneurs. For more information, go to www.eonetowork.org.

About Global Entrepreneurship Week

With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week will encourage youth to think big and turn their ideas into reality. From November 15-21, 2010, millions of young people around the world will join a growing movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Tens of thousands of activities are being planned in dozens of countries. Global Entrepreneurship Week is founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Enterprise UK. For more information, visit www.unleashingideas.org, and follow @unleashingideas on Twitter.

About the Kauffman Foundation

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow economies and improve human welfare. Through its research and other initiatives, the Kauffman Foundation aims to open young people's eyes to the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education, raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and find alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and technologies. In addition, the Foundation focuses on initiatives in the Kansas City region to advance students’ math and science skills, and improve the educational achievement of urban students, including the Ewing Marion Kauffman School, a college preparatory charter school for middle and high school students set to open in 2011. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo. and has approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit www.kauffman.org, and follow the Foundation on Twitter at @kauffmanfdn and Facebook.

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