About - Global Entrepreneurship Week Penn State

Crowd attending Global Entrepreneurship Week Penn State event

About Global Entrepreneurship Week Penn State

Global Entrepreneurship Week Penn State is a collaboration between the university and local communities. We work closely with Centre, Clinton, Mifflin, and Lycoming counties, as well as Penn State campus communities. These partnerships provide educational and experiential opportunities for professionals and participants interested in engaging with local businesses. Our events offer a vast range of workshops and networking opportunities to help small business owners and entrepreneurs advance their companies or innovative ideas.

As one of the largest Global Entrepreneurship Week events in the United States, we operate independently of the Global Entrepreneurship Network, the worldwide organization that established Global Entrepreneurship Week. The Penn State Small Business Development Center (SBDC) manages our planning, organization, and execution. Like other Global Entrepreneurship Week initiatives, we are responsible for creating our own events and managing our own organization.

We partner with Invent Penn State to help further its mission of economic development, student career success, and job creation.

Our History

Global Entrepreneurship Week Penn State was first held on the University Park campus in 2009, the year after the international founding of Global Entrepreneurship Week. During our first year, we hosted five events, engaging 48 students. Since then, we have continued to grow exponentially. In 2017, we organized 105 events at 16 different Commonwealth locations, drawing 4,816 students, faculty, staff, and community participants.

In 2015, The Pennsylvania State Employee Credit Union (PSECU), a longtime community sponsor, endowed an internship specifically to assist our team in its mission to extend the reach of engagement for entrepreneurial students and community members.

About Penn State SBDC

Funding support and resources are provided through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration; by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania through the Department of Community and Economic Development; and in part through support from Penn State and with assistance from Lock Haven University. All services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. SBDC services are not available to individuals or entities that have been debarred or suspended by the federal government.

SBDCs are hosted by leading universities, colleges, state economic development agencies and private partners, and funded in part by the United States Congress through a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration. There are nearly 1,000 local centers available to provide no-cost business consulting and low-cost training to new and existing businesses. The Penn State SBDC services Centre, Clinton, Lycoming, and Mifflin counties in central Pennsylvania.