Papua New Guinean entrepreneurs are being invited to enter the Entrepreneurship World Cup (EWC) to connect to a global community of entrepreneurs and for a chance to pitch for a share of US$1 million (over K 3 million) in prizes plus additional investment opportunities and in-kind support. The Kumul Foundation Inc is the official lead partner and organizer in Papua New Guinea for Entrepreneurship World Cup Papua New Guinea which will feed start-ups into the global competition, through a partnership recently forged by Chairman Anthony Smaré at the Global Entrepreneurship Conference in Saudi Arabia in March this year. The EWC will be contested by 400, 000 entrepreneurs from idea stage to growth stage across 200 countries with an aim to strengthen start-up eco-systems across continents. “Papua New Guinea is an emerging start-up entrepreneurial ecosystem and to grow, PNG entrepreneurs need to connect with international entrepreneurial networks to learn, to form connections for ideas and investment, and to validate their start-ups. So I encourage as many start-up entrepreneurs who have exciting start-up companies in PNG to apply!” “We will have a national pitch competition, where winners will share in K30,000 in prize money, and get a chance at advancing further into the international competition, and hopefully we will have a Papua New Guinean start-up or two considered for the final list who will go to Saudi Arabia to pitch for the global prize in November later this year”. But EWC is not just a global pitch competition with a shot at life-changing prizes. It elevates entrepreneurs from all stages—idea-stage, early-stage, growth-stage or beyond— by providing them with tools and resources to grow their venture. All applicants will receive access to EWC Accelerates, a virtual training program that helps entrepreneurs hone their skills and increase their chances of winning their national competitions and advancing to the Global Finals. The EWC online platform also offers all contestants who start an application access to $1,000 worth of perks. All founders who complete an application will receive access to more than $25,000 worth of perks. PNG applicants will apply through the global website www.entrepreneurshipworldcup.com . Applicants will be on-boarded and segmented into categories according to their stages; idea, early and growth, and will be invited to participate in Accelerate 1 to learn from a series of virtual training opportunities and sharpen their skills at pitching. The National Finals competition for PNG will be held in September in Port Moresby. National winners will then move onto a boot camp and are considered EWC Group Stage contestants. The top 100 global winners will then advance through to further training sessions and eventually have the opportunity to network directly with potential investors. The top EWC100 will receive $100,000 in in-kind services from partners such as AWS, Freshworks, Google Cloud, Hubspot, Stripe, Zoom and more The EWC100 will also be enrolled in the GEN Starters Club, providing a global peer network, mentorship and other support services to help members reach their full potential. In October, all global finalists will be invited to participate in an intensive, virtual start-up boot camp and the top EWC100 will advance to pitch live at the EWC Global Finals held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in November 2022. The Entrepreneurship World Cup is hosted globally by the Global Entrepreneurship Network. There will be several information seminars held over the course of the next month for those who wish to find out more in person about EWC. The Kumul Foundation is currently putting together the panel of judges from investors and stakeholders in the PNG ecosystem as well as recruiting partners for sponsorship, prizes and investment in the start-ups. The judging panelists, sponsors, media partners and investors will also go into the global network and benefit from the opportunities to access training and investment opportunities globally. Companies and investors that are interested to become partners with EWC Papua New Guinea can email nedi@kumul.org for more information. The Entrepreneurship World Cup is produced by the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), backed by a broad collection of entrepreneurial support organisations and strategic partners. As a supporter of GEN and national host of the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW), the not-for-profit Kumul Foundation is creating a pathway for local entrepreneurs to access to a global platform with world class opportunities to take their entrepreneurial journey to new heights.