Diversity creates business opportunities. Therefore, since the beginning, we wanted the participants of PIRATE Summit to be united in their journey of entrepreneurship but diverse in their backgrounds, nationalities, stories, experiences etc. 

And we didn’t only want to bring entrepreneurs from around the globe to PIRATE Summit, we also wanted to bring the PIRATE spirit to them. What started with a road trip to six countries in Eastern Europe back in 2012 — we love to think back to those nights in Skopje & Prishtina — grew to a tour of 50+ events in 40+ countries (called PIRATEs on Shore and later PIRATE Summit Global). It culminated in the take over of Startup SAFARI and a more sustainable and scalable model to accelerate and open up local startup ecosystems around the world.

We were most surprised by the local startup ecosystems off the beaten paths. That’s why we organized events in cities like Baku, Minsk, Poznan, Tbilisi, Tehran and many others. What we experienced blew our minds. Not only did we meet great people there. We also found that there are a lot of hungry entrepreneurs. However, the ecosystems are — at least from the outside — hard to access and didn’t have the exposure and recognition they deserved.

Many of the entrepreneurs we met had the talent and motivation but lacked the resources to pursue their startup idea. To open up more opportunities, every year we decided to bring the best entrepreneurs from underprivileged countries to PIRATE Summit. On our budget. Since the PIRATE Summit budget has always been fairly tight that effort didn’t really scale. This year we want to change that with the help of you – our community. 

Today we are launching the Entrepreneur Scholarship program.

Entrepreneurship is everywhere and with the Entrepreneurship Scholarship at PIRATE Summit, we create the opportunity for entrepreneurs that lack the resources to participate in PIRATE Summit. It doesn’t only help them, it also increases the PIRATE Summit experience as a whole. PIRATE Summit wouldn’t be the same without them.

For this reason, we decided to make this “program” more visible, allowing everybody that wants to support this to chip in and fund a scholarship for entrepreneurs who aren’t that privileged. If you think this is a cause worth supporting, you can purchase the “Scholarship” add-on during the ticketing process. Every add-on helps us to invite one entrepreneur. And of course, we are also actively looking for talented entrepreneurs that lack the resources and for whom PIRATE Summit can be a real boost on their journey.

Do you know entrepreneurs that should join and participate in PIRATE Summit 2020, but can’t afford it? Send an email to our colleague Adriano: adriano@piratesummit.com.