The following post is a guest contribution from Daniel Szabo, a young Hungarian entrepreneur working out of the GEW Global offices in Washington, DC.

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The Young Entrepreneurs’ Association (FIVOSZ) organizes Global Entrepreneurship Week in Hungary for the fifth time this year in partnership with the main Hungarian employers and entrepreneur organizations.

While in 2011 the event’s partners, speakers and sponsors represented 6.5% of the Hungarian GDP, this year the number grew to an astonishing 26% figure. Consequently the organizers are expecting a record number of participants in the various activities they organize both in the capital, Budapest and also throughout the country. Over 5,000 aspiring young entrepreneurs and students attended 44 different programs in 11 cities during the GEW/Hungary campaign last year. The FIVOSZ website counted 95,000 page loads, and more than 250,000 citizens heard about the week through the 80+ articles published in the local media.

It is impressive that in such a short time the FIVOSZ team was able to build the most important initiative for helping the young entrepreneurs in Hungary.

"We have managed to make this happen, since we feel we are an integral part of the GEW community!’ said Patrik Kovács, founder and president of FIVOSZ.

Following the tradition that worked so well for the Hungarians, this year each day has its unique theme:

Women Entrepreneurs’ Day (12th of Nov)
Hoping to repeat last year’s success amongst businesswomen and female attendees, GEW/Hungary kicks off with a strong lineup of successful women presenters, some of them working in surprisingly unique jobs as a rally pilot or as a winemaker. Another highlight of the day will be the presentation of Amway research on self-employment.

Day of Green Entrepreneurs (13th Nov)
Entrepreneurial advantages can also be built around environmental awareness and socially responsible behavior. This topic is on the agendas of both established and startup companies’ and this thematic day showcases great presenters, who are known as pioneers of the field in their companies.

Participants can hear examples from Adam Lendvai (Tesco), Laszlo Bocsardi (Siemens), Laszlo Karolyi (Legrand), Istvan Keresztenyi (MOL) and Gabor Gonda (HP)

Becoming an Entrepreneur Day (14th Nov)
Why is it worthy to fight for every little success? What are the challenges faced during daily operations? To tackle the economic crisis, the EU widely supports startup creation and encourages youngsters to consider self-employment as an option – the ‘Becoming an Entrepreneur Day’ enables participants to learn more about how to become a successful entrepreneur. Speakers include: Karoly Gerendai, the founder and managing director of the Sziget, winner of the 2011 Best Major European Festival and Levente Balogh (CEO of Szentkiralyi, a world-famous mineral water company).

The day concludes with two FIVOSZ members announcing that they will cross the Atlantic Ocean next year in a kayak. 

Innovative Start-up Day (15th Nov)
Successful enterprise from nothing! How to convert your idea to a viable business? Innovative enterprises make a special segment of startup companies and a huge number of Hungarian businesses were once launched with innovative solutions, patents or creative ideas.

This is an exceptional day for the new generation of founders as all government decision-makers (under-secretaries, Innovation Committee members, members of the National Innovation Office) and Ferenc Klausz (Deputy Managing Director of Telenor) will be present to meet the featured startups.

Hear the stories of the following entrepreneurs, Kristof Bardos (Digital Natives), Tamas Scheller (Future Development), Peter Rona (Clariton), Viktor Huszar (Boadree), Donat Pajer (Content 2 Connect), Peter Gaspar (Carbon Solutions Global) Peter Papp (Kancellar.hu), Benedek Kiss (Attrecto), Attila Kuri (Mypromo) to find out how innovation helps an entrepreneur to succeed.

EuCham – International Day (16th Nov)
The day’s main topic is Success and the Culture of Failure. FIVOSZ partnered with EuCham – European Chamber and with the U.S. Embassy and organized a number of panel discussions on the key factors to success, on recovering from failure as well as on social entrepreneurship and enterprise financing to make this day even more interesting.

Guests include: Gabor Baranyai (Adjunct Lecturer CEU Business School, angel investor, business development expert, former Head of HVCA), Guido van de Coterlet (Entrepreneur, JCI Expat President), Alexander Dory (CEU Business School alumnus, Entrepreneur in residence at CEU Innovations Lab, Founder at SRG Group), Ákos Fodor (Young Entrepreneur, Ideamanufactory), David Maasz (Entrepreneurship Foundation, Founder), David Masover (Top Line Selling Solutions, Founder & CEO), Shehryar Piracha (Kupon Világ, formerly CityDeal and Groupon Belgium), Colin Snead (Entrepreneur, Fürge Futár Kft), Maryna Yaroshchuk (WWF, Regional Public Fundraising Coordinator), Peter Zaboji (European Entrepreneurship Foundation, Founder & President), representatives from EXIMBANK – MEHIB, HITA and Ernst & Young

GEW/Hungary will be closed by Her Excellency Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis, the ambassador of the United States to Hungary and a representative of ILO (International Labour Office) at a traditional gala ceremony in Hilton Budapest where the Young Entrepreneurship Award will be handed out (last year’s winner, szállás.hu grew to a company with 30 employees and reached market leader position in Hungary).

You can connect to GEW/Hungary via Facebook or by visiting the website.

tags: FIVOSZ