Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Issues Statement of Support for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009

WASHINGTON, DC and KANSAS CITY, MO, Nov 02 (MARKET
WIRE) --
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a public statement
of support for Global Entrepreneurship Week 2009, a world-wide
celebration of creativity and innovation taking place Nov. 16 - 22.
Secretary Clinton praised Global Entrepreneurship Week as a way to create
new opportunities and businesses, encourage youth to pursue fresh ideas,
and improve the global economy.

Quoting President Barack Obama's Inaugural Address, Secretary Clinton
reconfirmed the administration's commitment to boosting entrepreneurship
both in the United States and in other countries, where talent is
widespread, but opportunity often is not. Secretary Clinton also praised
the Kauffman Foundation, a co-founder of the Week, for its efforts to
foster growth and opportunity during a difficult economic time.

"The Kauffman Foundation is committed to fostering growth and innovation
through entrepreneurship," said Carl Schramm, Kauffman's president and
CEO. "Secretary Clinton's support for Global Entrepreneurship Week sends a
powerful message to the world that entrepreneurs are key to creating the
innovations, jobs and growth that will lead us out of this recession and
on the road to economic recovery."

As the world's largest foundation devoted exclusively to entrepreneurship,
the Kauffman Foundation co-founded Global Entrepreneurship Week along with
Make Your Mark, a business-led government-backed campaign in the United
Kingdom, to harness the power of entrepreneurship in young people and
prepare them to be innovators, business owners and skilled workers through
various initiatives, events and competitions. This year, Global
Entrepreneurship Week will be celebrated by more than 3 million people and
8,800 organizations in 85 countries.

A video of Secretary Clinton's testimony is available here:
http://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/global-entrepreneurship-week-2009.aspx.

Secretary Clinton joins an impressive list of world leaders and successful
entrepreneurs who support the Week. Notable supporters include: Charles,
Prince of Wales; Yukio Hatoyama, Prime Minister of Japan; Sir Richard
Branson, founder of the Virgin Group; Prince Abdelaziz Ben Abdullah, Saudi
Arabia; Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister; Nicolas Sarkozy, President of
France; John Atta Mills, President of Ghana; Mohammed VI, King of Morocco;
and, Princess Maxima, Netherlands.

Organizations supporting Global Entrepreneurship Week include Global
Sponsor NYSE Euronext; Global Partners Endeavor, Junior Achievement
Worldwide (JA), Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO), DECA, the Prince's Youth
Business International, Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), UK
Department for Business Innovation and Skills, MIT Enterprise Forum, the
European Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs, and Youth Enterprise and
Sustainability.

To view a complete list of participating countries and organizations, or
to learn more about the Week, visit www.unleashingideas.org.

About Global Entrepreneurship Week

With the goal to inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination
and creativity, Global Entrepreneurship Week will encourage youth to think
big, turn their ideas into reality, and make their mark. From Nov. 16-22,
2009, millions of young people around the world will join a growing
movement to generate new ideas and seek better ways of doing things. Tens
of thousands of activities are being planned in dozens of countries.
Global Entrepreneurship Week is founded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman
Foundation and the Make Your Mark campaign. For more information, visit
www.unleashingideas.org, and follow @unleashingideas on Twitter.

Kauffman Foundation

The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private nonpartisan foundation
that works to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to grow
economies and improve human welfare. Through its research and other
initiatives, the Kauffman Foundation aims to open young people's eyes to
the possibility of entrepreneurship, promote entrepreneurship education,
raise awareness of entrepreneurship-friendly policies, and find
alternative pathways for the commercialization of new knowledge and
technologies. It also works to prepare students to be innovators,
entrepreneurs and skilled workers in the 21st century economy through
initiatives designed to improve learning in math, engineering, science and
technology. Founded by late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion
Kauffman, the Foundation is based in Kansas City, Mo. and has
approximately $2 billion in assets. For more information, visit
www.kauffman.org, and follow @kauffmanfdn on Twitter.

Make Your Mark

Make Your Mark is a national campaign to create an enterprise culture
among young people in the UK. It does this by giving people in their
teens and 20s the inspiration and opportunity to turn their ideas into
reality, whether through starting businesses or social enterprises or by
making an idea happen at work. It is funded by the Department for
Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and was founded by the four
main UK business organizations -- the British Chambers of Commerce, CBI,
Federation of Small Businesses and Institute of Directors. Make Your Mark
leads a campaign coalition of 25 national organizations from education,
the voluntary sector, business and government.

Contact:

Barbara Pruitt
Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
(816) 932-1288
bpruitt@kauffman.org

Nova Halliwell
M Booth & Associates
(212) 539-3277
novah@mbooth.com

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