Kronenberg Foundation at Citi Handlowy honored for supporting entrepreneurship

Kronenberg Foundation at Citi Handlowy won the “Faces of Entrepreneurship” competition organized by the Global Entrepreneurship Week Foundation. It came in first in the “Institution supporting entrepreneurship” category. It competed among 10 state institutions and NGOs supporting the development of entrepreneurship, innovativeness and broadening economic knowledge.

The “Faces of Entrepreneurship” competition is held as part of the 7th edition of the Global Entrepreneurship Week. It is a continuation of a social campaign started this July under the same title. Awards are also granted in two other categories: “Young Entrepreneur” (business owners aged under
30 who have been conducting business activity for less than 6 years) and “Company Supporting
the Young” (businesses which employ and provide development opportunities to young employees
aged under 30).

Kronenberg Foundation at Citi Handlowy, which was honored in the competition, has been working
to support entrepreneurship for the last 10 years. It runs 5 projects related to this theme, reaching 22,000 people from different target groups every year. Its operations include transferring knowledge
on entrepreneurship, promoting microenterprises, creating new jobs and supporting both startups and companies expanding into foreign markets.

We are proud of this award. Entrepreneurship is a key aspect of the economic growth of our country.
The potential of Polish people is huge and has been proven in each edition of the event and through the success of our projects, said Krzysztof Kaczmar, President of the Management Board of the Kronenberg Foundation at Citi Handlowy.

The “Microentrepreneur of the Year” is the Foundation’s flagship project, currently celebrating its 10th anniversary. Over the last decade, more than 2,000 companies competed in the contest and 103 of them received awards. They include entities which also enjoy international success. One such example
is the winner of the 9th edition - Digital Core Design, which specializes in designing modern central processing units and integrated circuits which can now be found in more than 270 million devices
all around the world.

Moreover, during the two years of the “Be Entrepreneurial” program, co-organized by Junior Achievement Poland, we have shared knowledge and practical tools related to managing an independent business. The project is addressed to almost 20,000 students from middle and secondary schools. Every year, almost 500 students and graduates of universities participating in the “Business Startup” project have the unique opportunity to test their business ideas. The program has been implemented for three years in cooperation with Academic Business Incubators to enable young people from all over Poland
to establish their own company and face market competition. This year, two new projects joined
 the Foundation’s portfolio. The first edition of the “Business in Women’s Hands” program, organized
in cooperation with Foundation for Women’s Entrepreneurship, brought together 200 ladies. The project
is intended to provide its participants with material support to set up their own business, but also to create a cluster of companies run by women within the Warsaw agglomeration. The crowning element of the activities undertaken in the field of entrepreneurship is the “Emerging Market Champions Award”, which promotes Polish companies expanding into foreign markets.

The organizers of the “Faces of Entrepreneurship” competition, the Global Entrepreneurship Week Foundation, seek to support the development of entrepreneurship and enhance the business knowledge and skills of Polish people, while also supporting local communities and improving the situation of the young and people excluded from the labour market. Global Entrepreneurship Week, celebrated 

in 143 countries of the world, was the driving force behind the creation of the Foundation.
It is an international event organized since 2008, which was established to ensure a positive climate
for entrepreneurship and to build a social environment friendly to young, creative people.