INSIGHT: The number one ICSB trend for 2019 is broadly captured as the POWER OF BELIEF. For many years, the question around entrepreneurship was, nature vs. nurture. It was argued by many that to be an entrepreneur was something innate. There are others who argued that entrepreneurship was a learned behavior. In 2019, those arguments have gone by the wayside once and for all. Everywhere you go, from the favela to the refugee camps, to remote villages, to our large urban areas, the belief that a person can create something of economic and social value is real. Entrepreneurship is no longer the domain of the rich, well-connected or gender specific. Women, youth, families, and the disabled, particularly, are transforming their societies and using the POWER OF BELIEF in themselves to energize their economies.
ICSB RECOMMENDATION: Encourage the creation and sustainability of MSMEs, by not just starting businesses, but creating and maintaining adaptable and vibrant ecosystems. It starts with a belief, the POWER OF BELIEF, and leads to meeting the challenges represented by the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. To have a meaningful impact, all of us must engage our POWER OF BELIEF to continue the effort to create, grow, and sustain our economic and social enterprises.