25 May 2020 The Conductor’s Rains and Henry appointed as state’s lead organizers

Global Entrepreneurship Network announced a collection of individuals to serve as the lead organizers in 18 states to drive engagement in thousands of activities in November to help start and grow startups around the world. Known as Global Entrepreneurship Week, the large-scale campaign is active in 170 countries with roughly 9 million participants in 35,000 activities – ranging from small, casual meetups to massive events and competitions.

The Conductor’s Grace Rains, director of operations, and Tiffany Henry, rural director, will serve as the GEW state organizers for Arkansas and lead the GEW Arkansas campaign.

“Global Entrepreneurship Week magnifies our resources and global voice as we celebrate entrepreneurs, small businesses and innovation,” said Rains. “GEN has given us a fantastic opportunity and we can’t wait to collaborate and connect with organizations across Arkansas as we celebrate GEW this year”.

Rains and Henry have begun recruiting statewide community organizers to host events during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

“The state organizer role emphasizes the Conductor’s regional approach to ecosystem building,” said Henry. “As the Conductor’s Rural Growth Initiative spans regionally to connect with communities, we will extend those efforts by collaborating across the state for Global Entrepreneurship Week.”

The state coordinators tapped by GEN will encourage hundreds of organizations throughout their state to plan and conduct activities during GEW USA. They will also play a role in connecting those organizations and other key stakeholders to expand awareness and enable the participation of communities not traditionally engaged in entrepreneurial activity.

“Each year, Global Entrepreneurship Week amplifies the great work being done to support entrepreneurs across the country while connecting them to more opportunities to start and scale in their own communities,” said Ellen Bateman, director for U.S. ecosystems at the Global Entrepreneurship Network. “Conductor has been a strong supporter during previous GEW campaigns and GEN is excited to have them coordinate the initiative statewide.”

GEW 2020 will be hosted Nov. 16-22. The four global themes of GEW 2020 will focus on Ecosystems, Education, Inclusion and Policy. Event organizers are encouraged to consider these themes but have the flexibility to plan their activity as best they see fit to suit their individual community needs and interests.

Any individuals or organizations interested in getting involved in any capacity can connect with the Conductor by visiting arconductor.org/gew or connect via social media with the hashtag #GEWArkansas.