Global Entrepreneurship Week
Today marks the start of Global Entrepreneurship Week, which is being promoted by 123 countries around the world. More than 25,000 partner organizations are hosting over 40,000 events and activities in a weeklong celebration that will drive awareness for the world’s leading economic driver—entrepreneurship.
This is the third-annual Global Entrepreneurship Week, and more than 10 million present and aspiring entrepreneurs will participate in events during the week of November 14-20, 2011.
Anyone, anywhere can participate in wide-ranging activities that includes virtual and face-to-face events, competitions, and intimate networking gatherings. In the U.S. alone, 1,400 organizations will be hosting 3,500 events across most of our states. For information on entrepreneurship activities wherever you live in the world, click here.
Global Entrepreneurship Week is an initiative of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Entrepreneurial Activity, the world’s largest foundation of its kind. Here is what Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the foundation had to say about this special week:
“For one week each November, students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and government officials come together to pursue one cause—to spread the power of entrepreneurship. It’s during this time that we celebrate the innovators who bring ideas to life, drive economic growth, and expand human welfare.”
Although supported by dozens of global leaders and well-know entrepreneurs, the mainstream media seems to have totally ignored the significance of the events of this special week. In the long term, these events could be much more significant to global economic stability and growth than all the G-20 meetings combined.
How many of you are participating in a Global Entrepreneurship Week event near you?
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Facebook Ambushed
I periodically take exception to the laws and regulations the federal government throws up to thwart small businesses…but the real culprit today appears to be state and local government. Here’s just one example:
There is a small town in Central Oregon called Prineville. It is a nice little town in an idyllic setting, with a lot of nice people living there. Unfortunately, it also has an unemployment rate that hovers between 17% and 18%. So, the city and the county got together and developed an “enterprise zone” that offered industrial land with a 15-year moratorium on property taxes.
At the same time, Facebook was looking for a place to locate their new data center, and found that the Prineville location would fit their needs.
Facebook signed an agreement with the county and built the first of four large facilities—which became operational this past summer. The second building was also recently started.
Following Facebook’s lead, three other high tech companies are in the process of negotiating to build in Prineville’s “enterprise zone.” This is the way jobs are created, and it looked like Prineville was going to lick their unemployment problem.
That is…until the Oregon Dept. of Revenue decided that Facebook was a good source of money for the state. As a result, they recently declared Facebook’s data center a “utility,” and therefore it didn’t fall under the auspices of Prineville’s “enterprise zone” agreement (in Oregon the state assesses taxes on “utilities” without any involvement of cities or counties).
The annual minimum tax bill to Facebook will now be $390,000 per year. Sure, that amount is not going to break Facebook, but what does this whole scenario say to their mangagement about building the other three buildings and filling them with servers—and hiring people to run the operation. As Facebook management said in a recent email—”…the state has effectively rewritten the agreement between the county and Facebook.“
An Oregon state senator recently said, “It doesn’t make any sense to me, it’s like being ambushed.”
Worse yet, what about the other companies interested in building in the “enterprise zone?” According to an Oregon state representative; “It repels those other data centers that are circling right now.” Oregon’s reputation as a business partner is now totally shot at this point. Even written agreements cannot be trusted.
Very Important—Don’t Skip This!
Oregon lawmakers say that this move creates a much greater concern—the taxing of “intangibles,” such as brand loyalty and, what Facebook called in one of their emails, “world-wide goodwill.” Oregon does consider “intangibles” when they calculate the value of a property, and it is this value that taxes are assessed on.
This action in Oregon could certainly increase the “taxing frenzy” of other cities, counties, and states all across the U.S.
Do you think it is fair to tax brand loyalty and goodwill of Facebook? What would you think if your “intangibles” were taxed?
What is the attitude in your city, county, or state regarding support of new (or old) businesses? I would like to hear from anyone who has a comment about their local government’s attitude toward private business.
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