Young entrepreneurship is one of the ways to propel a country forward. Here in Portugal, a group of young entrepreneurs decided to put together a conference to talk about and give visibility to issues such as talent, innovation and creativity. I talked to Filipe Castro Matos, Partnership Manager of GO Youth Conference, taking place on 15 and 16 March 2014 in Lisbon. I am going to be there, and will be reporting during and after the event.
What is Go Youth Conference, and how did it come about?
GO Youth Conference is a pioneer event about young entrepreneurship, youth talent, innovation and creativity created by a group of young entrepreneurs in 2012. The lack of events dedicated to young people to start their business led us to create this unique event. We believe in the power of youth to leverage our country economy and innovation scene.
What will be the side events this year?
Besides the talks of our speakers, we’ll have the Founders Insights, a mentorship program for 10 startups where we join them with some speakers to discuss what they’re doing regarding Marketing/PR, Design, Customer Service, Product & Business Development and Venture Capital, having a final presentation at the stage of GYC. We’ll also have a exclusive Founders Dinner and a big party!
Can a conference like GYC bring attention to Portuguese startups?
Yes, no doubt about it. The startups participating at Founder Insights will present at the end of the event for an audience of 400 people and that is a lot of attention. Furthermore, any founder will have the opportunity to reach easily any of the speakers and talk with them. Among the speakers will also be some Portuguese founders and we expect that our event can bring more attention to them in Portugal and abroad.
How are you using Social Media to promote the event?
Our main online channel is our Facebook page but we also have presence on Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn. Instagram will also be especially active during the event! We also have several partners that are helping us with the promotion of the event.
What is the startup that’s currently on your radar and why?
In Portugal, Uniplaces because they’re growing very fast and have an excellent team and great focus on a huge market. In the world, Rap Genius (one of the founders was one of the speakers at GYC ’13) because it’s one of those innovations that I really believe one day everyone will use like we use Google nowadays.
What do you see happening in young entrepreneurship in the next 5 years?
What I’m seeing is that more and more young people, even before going to university, are already thinking in creating their own projects. And so I’m waiting to see interesting results from this way of thinking, where going to work to a big company is no longer the only way to follow.
Entrepreneurship is not for all but it’s one of the best solutions to what is happening in Portugal and all around the world, and so it must be encouraged since very young.
Give our readers an “elevator pitch” to get them to attend the conference.
The opportunities of what can happen during GYC are endless! You can talk with one of our top notch speakers, meet a partner for your future venture or learn a lot of things during the presentations. And at the end, real connections will remain. If you like everything about youth entrepreneurship, technology and startup, you can’t definitely miss GO Youth Conference!
To find out more about the Conference and register, visit http://www.goyouthconf.com/
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