The 2017 Global Entrepreneurship Congress was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, and on the continent for the first time, bringing thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, policymakers and researchers together from 170 countries. As National Lead for the Global Business Angels Network (GBAN), IM Capital was invited to the Congress to take part in shaping and creating one global entrepreneurial ecosystem. Dr. Nicolas Rouhana, General Manager of IM Capital, was a speaker in the Investor Track on March 14 and March 15, speaking of the existing funding and sector gap in Lebanon, and the catering for this gap through the creation of Seeders Masterclass for Business Angels (Seeders MBA), a program managed by IM Capital in partnership with GoBeyond Early Stage Investing. Seeders MBA aims to build a network of qualified business angels who will come of help for early-stage startups to make the leap towards VC funding. The focus of this year's GEC was Digital Disruption — with panelists and keynote speakers emphasizing the importance of private and public sector partnerships, as well as the future of entrepreneurship in the face of constant technical and digital disruption in varying economies around the world. South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa and Lindiwe Zulu, the South African minister of business development, opened the Congress on Tuesday, and welcomed the international delegates to the continent. From sessions including crowdsourced solutions, to masterclasses about the mindset of successful entrepreneurs, GEC 2017 touched on just about every topic in the current global entrepreneurial ecosystem. The Kauffman Foundation powered two targeted design-thinking sessions, as well as a wide-open, interactive "Ideas Studio" for all participants to brainstorm ideas and visualize concepts — looking to crowdsource solutions to #zerobarriers — working to eliminate barriers for any person wishing to pursue their own venture.   To view Dr. Rouhana’s presentation please click here For more details on GEC 2017, please click here