Between 15 and 18 April, University of Malta academics Dr Leonie Baldacchino from The Edward de Bono Institute and Dr Nathaniel Massa from the Department of Management joined business leaders from over 170 countries in Manama, Bahrain, for the Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2019.

Now in its 11th year, the GEC featured dozens of parallel events conducted by leading global organisations actively supporting the spread of an entrepreneurial culture.

Among the highlights were inspiring keynotes by Skype founder Jonas Kjellberg and Samsung Global senior executive Pranav Mistry, several masterclasses on entrepreneurship skills such as pitching, starting and scaling a business and numerous interactive discussions on topics related to entrepreneurship and innovation.

Also included in the GEC programme were meetings for Global Entrepreneurship Week country hosts. This year, GEW Malta received a special mention at one of these meetings for the Budding Rockstars conference that has been held locally every year since 2015.

Organised by the Malta Communications Authority in collaboration with the Edward de Bono Institute and the Ministry of Education, this is an educational conference for fifth form students from all schools in Malta. It exposes students to the exciting world of start-ups and aims at promoting entrepreneurship as an attractive career option.

In the run-up to this year's Congress, the Edward de Bono Institute launched the Global Entrepreneurship Network Malta online platform (https://genglobal.org/malta), which is designed to connect local and international entrepreneurs, educators, students, researchers, investors and policy makers. GEN Malta aims to strengthen and streamline the growing entrepreneurship ecosystem by minimising overlaps and maximising the impact of the numerous initiatives that are now available for start-ups in Malta. Individuals who are in any way involved in the Maltese entrepreneurship ecosystem may join GEN for free and gain access to an extended network of professionals, programmes and events in over 170 countries.

Preparations are now underway for this year's Global Entrepreneurship Week, which will be held from 18 to 24 November.

For further information about GEW Malta, GEN Malta, or the courses on entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation that are offered by The Edward de Bono Institute, visit www.um.edu.mt/create or send an email on: [email protected]