RIYADH: The Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2022, or GEC, kicked off on Sunday in Riyadh amid a boom for startups in the region that is attracing venture capital funds and angel investors. The event will be held between March 27 to March 30 and will focus on making it easier for entrepreneurs to start and scale a business. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Netflix’s first CEO Marc Randolph, and a successful star cast of serial businessmen will speak today to steer entrepreneurs through the onslaught of the business and health issues that have impaired the global economy. Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman is also among the speakers at the event. Saudi Arabia isn"t looking for funding from any country to help it with its energy transition plan, the Saudi energy minister said. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told GEC 2022 in Riyadh that the Kingdom will develop more technologies at home to limit the risk to the planet. "The future of the world and society lies not in us waiting for someone else to build the things we should use, but for us to build them ourselves," he added. The Kingdom is training hunderds of Saudis to lead its nuclear program, he added. Saudi support to SMEs While addressing the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, or GEC, on Sunday, Saleh Al-Rasheed, governor of Monsha’at said the Saudi government encouraged entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic, pushing the non-oil growth forward. The government doled out $80 billion to keep the small and medium-sized enterprises, or SMEs, afloat during the adverse conditions. He further said that the government also spent $900 million on innovative companies last year to sustain this growth. The nation’s digital infrastructure also contributed to the growth by alleviating the onslaught of the global pandemic. “We have a strong digital infrastructure that has contributed to limiting economic damage during the pandemic,” said Al-Rasheed at the GEC. Business is easier today The emergence of entrepreneurship is gaining currency across all sections of society as the entry barriers to running a business is far more accessible and economical. “The world of business has now shaped up in such a way that it is very easy and cheap to become an entrepreneur,” said Egyptian construction tycoon Samih Sawiris. Sawiris, who stepped down as the chairman of Orascom Development Holding last December, built resorts in Egypt, Montenegro, and Switzerland. Digital books Digital version of books are reshaping the educational sector, said Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, while talking at GEC 2022 in Riyadh on Sunday. “I used to think that computers would change education. But eventually, I found out that it was (the) digital version of books,” said Wozniak. Global entrepreneurial ecosystem a necessity: GEN founder Global entrepreneurial ecosystem is very much necessary to rebound economies, said Jonathan Ortimans, founder of Global Entrepreneurship Network, GEN. The organizer of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress, GEC, which opened on March 27 in Riyadh, noted that governments should create environments where companies can develop and evolve. Ortimans asserted that Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in entrepreneurs. Talking about economic rebound post-pandemic, he said, “We didn’t work together to encounter the pandemic, but we must work together to enhance our economies.” He added that GEC 2022 which will run till March 30 will examine the common characteristics shared by vibrant, scalable high-performing ecosystems to provide a roadmap for entrepreneurial recovery from the pandemic. The GEC 2022 will be organized by the Washington-based Global Entrepreneurship Network, or GEN, and hosted by Monsha’at, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises. “We believe there is a sincere and aggressive effort in the Kingdom to allow new value creation and economic growth potential from entrepreneurship and innovation to flourish,” GEN founder and serial entrepreneur Jonathan Ortmans told Arab News while explaining his choice of holding the GEC 2022 in Saudi Arabia.