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Tsunami Global BrainTrust Members Help Plan Programs for Istanbul
The 30-country OECD in Paris is planning an 83-
country Small and Medium Enterprise (SME)
Ministerial Conference that will take place in
Istanbul, attended by SME ministers and
ministers of industry. Parallel OECD private-sector
events also taking place there from June 2-6,
2004, include a Business Symposium and Global
Marketplace.
Four Global BrainTrust members--Jackie Brierton of
Scotland, Danièle Rousseau of France, Tamara
Underwood of the U.S. Department of Commerce,
and Tsunami CEO Virginia Littlejohn--serve on the
15-member High Level Consultative Committee
that is planning private-sector programming for
Istanbul. The HLCC met in Paris on July 3.
Littlejohn, who has been Senior Advisor to the
OECD for Women-owned SMEs for 8 years, was
asked to chair the Women Entrepreneurial
Best Practices Forum that is part of the Global
Marketplace. While in Paris, she met with
other members of the Steering Committee for this
Forum, and with OECD, Turkish and
American officials.
Ingrid Andersson (left), President of PREFO in Sweden;
Danièle Rousseau (center), President of Dirigeantes, a
network of French-speaking women entrepreneurs based
in Paris; and Littlejohn (right) met to plan the Women
Entrepreneurial Best Practices Forum and signed a Road
to Istanbul Cooperation Agreement.
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Tsunami also met with Global BrainTrust and HLCC
member Tamara Underwood (left) of the U.S.
Department of Commerce, and Marie-Florence Estimé,
head of the OECD’s SME Unit, to discuss programming
for the Global Marketplace. The Marketplace
will include an expo and business matching, plus
programs on finance, globalization, eCommerce and
women’s entrepreneurship (the same 4 themes that the
ministers will address).
The first meeting of the HLCC, conducted in English,
French and Turkish. (Left to right) The OECD’s Marie-
Florence Estimé, Ahmet Yorganci of Turkey, and HLCC Co-
Chair Peter Fritz of Australia.
Mapping the History and Economic Impact of Women’s Entrepreneurship
Project Tsunami has just announced the
publication of its Timeline mapped against past,
current and future women entrepreneurial
milestone events from 1995 through June 2004.
The Timeline is designed to document
some key milestones that led to the demand for
Tsunami's creation.
It also serves as a template that can be adapted
by countries and organizations to outline the
growing understanding of the economic
contributions of women’s entrepreneurship by
policymakers, researchers, the mainstream
business community, and women entrepreneurs
themselves.
This Timeline can be downloaded from
http://www.projecttsunami.org.
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Monica Fong, the OECD’s gender
mainstreaming specialist, who has
recently joined Tsunami’s Global
BrainTrust.
About Project Tsunami
Project Tsunami, Incorporated
(www.projecttsunami.org), is a non-profit
corporation based in Atlanta, Georgia,
USA, that is a global accelerator for
women’s entrepreneurship. It was
designed to help create a tidal wave of
economic opportunities in the U.S. and
abroad, by identifying and connecting key
women entrepreneurial leaders,
facilitating the sharing of best practices
across countries, and helping to link
effective programs with resources. It uses
21st Century technology to make a
clearinghouse of resources and best
practices available to its powerful
global network of leaders and multipliers,
who then disseminate this information
widely to their members and stakeholders.
The organization began its work with a
major seed grant from the Ewing Marion
Kauffman Foundation, which funds
innovative programs that foster
entrepreneurship.
Tsunami is an outgrowth of two major
international conferences on womenowned
small and medium enterprises
(WSMEs) put on by the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) in Paris in 1997 and 2000, for
which Tsunami’s CEO Virginia Littlejohn
served as Senior Advisor. Project Tsunami
influences policies, practices and
programs that expand the WSME sector by
concentrating on 5 core strategies--
1) WSME research, data and statistics;
2) Entrepreneurial education and training;
3) Access to finance; 4) Access to
networks and to corporate, government
and international markets; and
5) Technology as an entrepreneurial
enabler. We also are analyzing how these
five areas impact high-growth women
entrepreneurs.
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