Professor Yipeng Liu delivers keynote speech at United Nations Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) Day 2020

Professor Liu's talk was titled 'Chinese Youth Entrepreneurship after COVID-19: Opportunities and Challenges'. The opening plenary session on 'Humane Entrepreneurship and the Youth' was presided over by session chair Dr Winslow Sargeant, President-Elect at the International Council for Small Business and Former Chief Counsel for Advocacy at the Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Advocacy, USA. The other speakers included Ki-Chan Kim (former president at the International Council for Small Businesses and Professor at the Catholic University of Korea), Norris Krueger (expert entrepreneurship developer and senior subject matter expert for Entrepreneurial Ecosystems and Learning at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Union), Rosangela Feola (Technology Transfer Manager and Research Fellow of Lisa Lab at the University of Salerno), Adriana Sierra (Refugee Livelihoods and Women's Entrepreneurship Development Officer at the International Labour Organisation) and Ahmed Shalaby (President and CEO of Tatweer Mismr).

The UN General Assembly set up MSME Day to raise public awareness of their contribution to sustainable development and the global economy, celebrating and honouring the successes of MSMEs globally whilst recognising the ways in which these enterprises employ, care for and support people across the world. With many small businesses hit hardest by the economic fall-out of the pandemic due to supply chain disruptions and a massive drop in demand in most sectors, the day had an additional purpose this year: to highlight the need all small businesses have for a business environment that enables them to achieve, including support for access to finance, information, and markets. More information about the UN's MSMEs Day can be found here.