JCI Global Entrepreneurship Week Article

Another article for the Independent on Jersey City's Global Entrepreneurship Week and ArtFest.

Free Events, Inspiration and Art for Budding Business Owners at Global Entrepreneurship Week

Over the past year vacant storefronts in Jersey City have been filling with restaurants, art galleries and other small businesses. Ordinary people with big ideas have been fueling the local economy by adding jobs and increasing consumer business. This week, these and other entrepreneurs will flock to Jersey City to take part in the fourth annual Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW).
Rising Tide Capital, a Jersey City nonprofit specializing in mentoring local business owners, will host the weeklong celebration of entrepreneurship. The organization will throw a series of free events each day, starting with a kick-off today at City Hall and ending with a closing celebration that will include food, music and art.
“Global Entrepreneurship Week presents an opportunity for Rising Tide Capital to spend an entire week reaching out to a wider community of entrepreneurs and those interested in entrepreneurship,” says Rising Tide Capital CEO Alfa Demmellash.
The festival, created by the Kauffman Foundation in 2008, aims to celebrate and inspire small business owners across the world. Rising Tide Capital has hosted the event for the past three years in Jersey City. This year, the celebration will be run under the name “Start Something New Jersey.” Demmellash describes the name as “a call to action” for all New Jersey residents to become innovative entrepreneurs.
Some other changes to this year’s GEW include an expansion outside of Jersey City to Orange, Essex County, and a more streamlined schedule.
“The events are all focused on meeting the goal of inviting entrepreneurs to find local resources, connect to opportunities, and to discover their business dreams,” Demmellash says.
Events include seminars, networking opportunities, and a resource fair for small business owners and budding entrepreneurs in and around Jersey City. Speakers include entrepreneurs of all kinds, from local business owners to government policy makers. The kick-off’s featured speakers include Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Mayor Jerramiah Healy, among others.
Jersey City artists will also have a large role in GEW 2011. Nyugen Smith will be a featured panelist in the “Start Something Green” discussion scheduled for Tuesday at City Hall. Smith has made a name for himself in Jersey City as both an artist and entrepreneur.
“I do consider myself to be an entrepreneur,” Smith says. “Not in the traditional sense, but in a general sense. Prior to teaching art full-time, I was able to sustain myself through art by teaching privately, managing a gallery, and translating creativity in a variety of ways to earn a living, while remaining true to my principles and value as an artist.”

The week will end with ARTfest, a celebration of entrepreneurs and small-business owners focused in the arts. This closing event will feature local artists, musicians, poets, and vendors. It will take place at Art House Productions this Saturday.
“Every year we try to incorporate the arts into Global Entrepreneurship Week because we recognize that pursuing your art or turning your talent into a profitable business is very important in an economy that’s not offering too many jobs,” says Rising Tide Capital Program Associate Mary Sansait, event organizer of ARTfest. “It’s recognizing that the arts are alive in entrepreneurship and that you can make it a business.”
Another Jersey City artist showing her work Saturday is curator and photographer Nicole Koupiaris. Koupiaris just recently launched her website for her studio, Soul Shot Photography, and says she hopes to introduce the site to a larger audience at ARTfest.
“I’m really excited because it’s going to be the first art show I’ve done in Jersey City,” she says.
Other acts at Saturday’s event will include the HBO Def Jam poet Gemineye, underground emcees Silent Knight and Rugged N Raw, and spoken word artist Itsrealight.
Koupiaris, who went to last year’s ARTfest, says the event is a great way for Jersey City artists and musicians to connect with each other and the community as a whole.
“Everyone gets to know each other and make the connection that we all live in the same city,” says Koupiaris.
“By coming out to these kinds of events, community members can contribute to shaping not only their own economic future but that of the people and places around them,” adds Demmellash. “This week is an invitation to celebrate and participate in our own entrepreneurial culture here in Jersey City.”
Details:
For a full list of Global Entrepreneurship Week — Start Something NJ events go to startsomethingnj.risingtidecapital.org/events.html

ARTfest
Saturday, November 19, from 1 to 7 pm
Art House Productions
1 McWilliams Place, Jersey City