2022 Year in Review – Highlights

ISM Programs & Services

We continued to offer our exclusive Resilient Entrepreneur Program. ISM Founder/CEO Faris Alami developed the Resilient Entrepreneur© Canvas based on meetings he held with small businesses. This canvas is designed to prepare leaders and entrepreneurs with a foundation in business sustainability and best practices during and post-crisis. Today, the Canvas is ready to upload via our website. You can also attend the monthly educational Entrepreneurship Resilience Zoom webinars.

ISM Programs & Services

In collaboration with AAST Entrepreneurship Center at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, Maritime Transport / Google / and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism – we deployed the Resilient Entrepreneurship Program in Egypt along with several workshops on vital topics, such as Effective Communication, and Exploring Entrepreneurship.

ISM Programs & Services

We continued to offer our signature Train the Trainer Program via a two-day boot camp for 14 weeks in several new countries. Hundreds of potential facilitators, trainers, incubators coordinators, and program administrators of educational businesses/projects celebrated their completion of the ISM Train the Trainer Program. We cover key topics, including Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development, SME Development, Coaching, Advising, Facilitating, and/or Mentoring.

ISM Programs & Services 

We hosted three cohorts through our Capacity Building Tours Program in various cities across the US. Examples of our partners include INJAZ EGYPT (Egypt), and MOST Ventures Fund Kazakhstan. This program offers a unique opportunity to build the capacity of hundreds of entrepreneurs worldwide through our FastTrac, Resilient Entrepreneur Program, and Business Coaching services we offer in each tour. 

ISM Programs & Services

We continued to offer various training, along with Education for Employment Global, as part of our successful Women Empowerment through Entrepreneurship Program in Jordan and Palestine. We hosted the Palestinian Women LIVE Virtual Marketplace. This event provided a unique opportunity for Palestinian women entrepreneurs to network and explore innovative ways to scale up their businesses. 

ISM serving Youth

We continued our commitment to empowering the youth community worldwide via different initiatives. ISM Founder/CEO Faris Alami and one of our 2021 Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative (YLAI) fellows launched Roadmap to Entrepreneurship-Based Teaching, a course designed to support educators in learning essential entrepreneurship tools that can be applied to the classroom. The online course was packed with case studies, tools, and resources that helped hundreds create entrepreneurial projects related to the school curriculum. The course was offered in Spanish and English. 

Global Partnerships

We proposed over 30 million USD for multilateral projects on current topics, including women entrepreneurship, youth development, digital literacy, STEMpreneurship, developing business plans, and other technical assistance services.

International Conferences

ISM Founder and CEO Faris Alami presented 18 keynotes in 2022. Faris addressed vital topics; some examples include:

  • Creating a Resiliency and Continuity Plan – TrustFund Financial Services, Inc. – Florida, USA

  • Resilient Entrepreneurship Campus – Global Entrepreneurship Congress – Saudi Arabia

  • Digital Storytelling: Beyond the Basics – Global Ties 2022 National Meeting – Washington D.C., USA

  • Mediterranean Chambers Facing New Realities – ASCAME 40th Annual Conference – Alexandria, Egypt

  • Growing the Innovation Hub-Tech and Place-based Entrepreneurship – Michigan Economic Developers Association (MEDA) –  Lansing, Michigan, USA

  • Digital and Innovation Forum – MEDAWeek 2022 – Barcelona, Spain

  • Talent for the Mediterranean: Youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship – BNEW2022 – Barcelona, Spain

  • Best Practices in Approaching Entrepreneurship – FIN2022 – Portugal

Other virtual representation 

ISM Founder and CEO, Faris Alami, presented a virtual program on Entrepreneurship for the American University of Iraq in Baghdad and American Spaces. He also presented keynotes at MSU for German Fulbright Fellows on the topic of How to be a Resilient Entrepreneur and at the Microloan Conference in Detroit on topics such as How to Hire a Small Business Consultant and Learning How to Pitch Your Business –  he also attended a roundtable discussion with 5pie. The ISM team ran two of our Ignite cohorts with ACCESS in Detroit and completed a Cross-Cultural & Resiliency Workshop with GlobalTies Detroit.

ISM Cover Story

ISM Founder and CEO, Faris Alami, the Cover Story on Diversity Professional. Read more about his article “When Adversity Becomes an Advantage” here.

 

ISM 2022 Activities in Numbers

  • Total number of programs delivered (virtually, in hybrid mode, and in person):  17

  • Total number of workshops delivered: 25

  • Total number of hours for virtual business advising: 156 hours

  • Total number of conferences attended, including panels and pitch judging: 18

  • Total number of participants: 320

  • The ratio of Female to Male Participants: 70% females

  • Total number of organizations touched: 20

  • Total number of countries we worked in: 21

ISM non-profit arm  

Our non-profit arm – Connecting Dots Globally engaged with youth in global trade and high-tech industries.  In June 2022, we brought STEM Education and global leadership training to youth when we delivered the Global Trade Mission in two communities across two states. In July 2022, we hosted K-5 students who wanted to learn more about technology and entrepreneurship. We also hosted college students at Lawrence Technological University interested in global business. 

ISM Virtual

We continued to offer our exclusive Finjan Show podcast, discussing Entrepreneurship with key experts in the industry, and presenting insights to entrepreneurs worldwide. Further support is offered to entrepreneurs and the communities that support them in our weekly blog. We continued to offer our online e-learning portal with one million average annual viewers.

Global Entrepreneurship Week

Once again we hosted Global Entrepreneurship Week in Southeast Michigan. We have organized Global Entrepreneurship Week for the last three years and plan to continue our commitment to the local community in Southeast Michigan in 2023 and beyond.