I met not one but three remarkable social entrepreneurs here in Haiti. The first is a young woman who is leading a local effort to help other entrepreneurs in Haiti, the second a young man who now runs the larges plastic recycling business and the last, a returned political exile from the Duvalier era that now runs a promising hydroponics business off of his roof!

[As a] report by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) suggested this summer, when in a ranking the levels of entrepreneurship in 73 nations, they eschewed popularly acknowledged innovation hubs, like Silicon Valley, crowning an unsuspecting Uganda as the world’s most entrepreneurial nation.

A first of its kind international Women tech entrepreneurship conference was held in Israel last week, as a group of female tech bloggers and entrepreneurs from around the world were invited for a one-week trip to explore the 'Startup Nation'.

For the first time, seasoned entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and Iran will convene to explore and elucidate the opportunities and challenges of high tech entrepreneurship in Iran and its impact on the country’s ongoing economic development. The conference is predicated on the notion that the promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation is the indispensable key to sustainable growth.

Poland is to put $100 million (300 million Zloty) into supporting small Ukranian companies, which will obviously include tech companies by implication, and allow more Ukranian companies to list on its stock exchange.

Successful public diplomacy is based on providing foreign publics what they need, be it information, a vaccination program, or help in securing economic well-being. A good example of working toward the latter can be found in a speech delivered by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Anne Patterson in Jordan on February 25, during which she outlined some of the steps the United States is taking to “enhance regional trade and investment that will spur growth and jobs.” 

On April 12, 2013, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv hosted a day-long conference for Ukrainian women entrepreneurs focusing on business owners of small and medium enterprises. The goal of the event was to promote the importance of Ukrainian women in fostering economic growth, build the confidence of women entrepreneurs to take on leading roles in business and society, provide practical tools for further empowerment, and serve as a platform for networking.

Today, American and French diplomats are preparing for talks with Iran that build on the agreement that has halted progress on and rolled back key elements of the Iranian nuclear program. French and American officials share information daily to combat terrorism around the world. Our development experts are helping farmers across Africa and on other continents boost their yields and escape poverty.