Crowdfunding featured at the World Entrepreneurship Forum in Lyon

Oct. 30, 2012 - PRLog -- October 29, 2012 - An inspirational fifth edition of the World Entrepreneurship Forum held in Lyon, France between October 24 and 26 brought together 200 entrepreneurs from 60 countries.

"The impact of the World Entrepreneurship Forum must be multiplied by 5 or 10 during the next 5 years," maintains Professor Tugrul Atamer, Co-President of the World Entrepreneurship Forum and Vice President of EMLYON Business School.

The Soho Loft  founder and Chairman David Drake presented to forum participants on crowdfunding during a session on key learnings in entrepreneurship around the world.  His presentation stressed the growing relevance of crowd funding platforms  - noting “crowdfunding is making some Venture Capitalists nervous (http://www.world-entrepreneurship-forum.com/Home/News/Day-2-key-learnings-from-Entrepreneurial-Ecosystems-around-the-globe)” - and the potential benefits for countries of origin.  Mr Drake’s co presenters in the session “Round-the-world Tour of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems” included Mr Feng, the Secretary-general of Hangzhou City (the largest city in Zhejiang Province in eastern China), a 2011 Presidential candidate from Cameroon, Kah Walla (http://www.kahwalla.com/bio/), Stefania Amorosi,  Imageen project and Nicolas Shea, Founder of Start-Up Chile and Adviser on Entrepreneurship to the Chilean Ministry of Economy.

During the event, the 2012 “Entrepreneurs for the World 2012” Awardees were announced.  The five winners (listed after their winning categories) were -

Entrepreneur – Mo Ibrahim (Anglo-Sudanese)   Mo Ibrahim has set out to improve the day to day lives of over 700 million Africans by encouraging best practice in political leadership and governance across the continent.

Social Entrepreneur – Tony Meloto (Filipino)  The founder of Gawad Kalinga, a template for enabling volunteers to build integrated, holistic and, perhaps most importantly, sustainable communities in slum areas across the developing world. Initially focused on the Philippines, Gawad Kalinga now works with over 2000 communities across its original home, Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea.

Women Entrepreneur – Aude de Thuin (French)  Aude de Thuin is the founder of the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society, an annual event with over 1,200 delegates which is designed to promote the representation of women in all areas of society and greater gender parity in all seats of power.

Policy maker – Irina Bokova (Bulgarian)  Irina Bokova is the first woman to hold the post of Director General of UNESCO. A former Bulgarian minister for foreign affairs, her contribution to her country’s development has been recognised by The New York Times, which described her as playing an active role in Bulgaria’s transformation to become a European Union member. She plays a key role at UNESCO in transforming education to develop global citizenship.

Young Entrepreneur – Melissa Kushner (American)  Melissa Kushner is the founder of goods for good which helps local communities in Africa to care for more than 67,000 orphans by providing them with the surplus goods of the developed world – so far over 100 tons of children’s clothes, school equipment, toys and other supplies.

Other highlights of the event included the attendance of the Head of Trade in Rwanda, representatives of the Turkish Education Department and the Gothenburg Mayor.  

One of the leading bodies of its kind, the World Entrepreneurship Forum aims to foster sustainable development which combines both social justice and economic growth.

For more information: www.world-entrepreneurship-forum.com

ABOUT US (www.thesoholoft.com)

The Soho Loft Capital Creation Events ("TSL") is a global events and corporate strategy and advisory services platform that strives to promote and advance strategic and diligent mainstream and alternative investing for start-up entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises. TSL seeks to provide relevant education and visionary leadership training in the areas of capital formation, crowd funding, angel networking, non-conventional funding, eb5 green card programs, micro-finance, venture capital, private equity and hedge funds. All creative investing solutions are focused in allowing the start-ups and SMEs to optimize all opportunities to grow their business through product/service/market/human resource innovation while seeking to do so in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. All of which are directed to creating a new path to socio-economic prosperity.

David Drake, founder and CEO of TSL, a subsidiary of LDJ Capital, has founded the Crowdfund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates (CFIRA) to further these goals.He was also a member of the U.S. Commerce Department's delegation to Brussels and Rome where he met with European Ministers and national legislators at the Transatlantic Economic Council forum last July 2012. Overall, TSL's mission is to educate about and develop infrastructure to facilitate capital formation, innovation and job creation. As such, The Soho Loft operates as the leading global corporate strategy advisory.

For Press inquiries, contact Donna@LDJCapital.com.

Follow us on Twitter @TSLCCEvents and like us on www.facebook.com/TheSohoLoft

--- End ---