A few weeks ago, Lua’s CEO, Michael DeFranco, was invited to speak on a panel named Innovators and Entrepreneurs in The New Normal Economy. The event centered around the current environment for entrepreneurs and initiatives that promote entrepreneurship. Hosted by Bloomberg Government, which is a comprehensive web-based information service for government professionals, the panel of attendees included an all star cast.
Michael was joined on the panel by fellow guest speakers including: Sergio Fernando de Cordova (P3GM), Robert Kahn (International Economics Council on Foreign Relations), Kay Koplovitz (Founder, USA Network, Chairman, Springboard and Chairman, Koplovitz & Company), Pimm Fox (Bloomberg TV), Jon Oringer (Founder, Shutterstock) and moderated by Portugal’s Minister of Economy António Pires de Lima. Together they discussed how innovators are driving global growth.
Following the event, we caught up with Lua’s CEO to glean some insights from the overall experience:
Why was the focus of the event important?
Creating awareness about the global economic environment for entrepreneurs is important, because it highlights the role of early stage technology companies in the economy and how they are driving innovation and job creation around the world. The discussion also underscored how government support for entrepreneurship will foster a more productive society.
What was your biggest takeaway?
The whole experience was very educational, but a key takeaway centered around the increasing power of small businesses. Countries around the world are beginning to understand the importance of an economy driven not only by big business, but by small and nimble companies; ones that are fueled by excited entrepreneurs and next generation problem solving.
What was the most compelling question asked by the moderator and what was your answer?
Portugal’s Minister of Economy asked us how we might grow entrepreneurship within Portugal. In my humble opinion, I think that if the Portuguese government were to publicly list their business challenges and task local entrepreneurs to solve these problems, then not only would job growth be created, but they may also have new or creative approaches to the solutions.
