As global economic growth falters, there is a growing desire for a thriving entrepreneurial spirit. The World Economic Forum’s 14th Annual Meeting of the New Champions recently held in Tianjin, resonates strongly with current realities. In his opening speech, Premier Li Qiang argued that in an era filled with uncertainties, the market insight and understanding of entrepreneurs is crucial for injecting a greater degree of certainty. Indeed, infusing more certainty into uncertain times is an unequivocal social responsibility of global entrepreneurs. Concurrently, governments worldwide should provide a conducive, stable, and predictable macro-environment that mitigates systemic uncertainties and allows the entrepreneurial spirit to flourish.
Currently, as the impact of the pandemic recedes and more and more people are against meeting in person, large conferences like are taking place. An intriguing phenomenon has emerged: despite the commercial nature of these forums, guests often turn their attention to geopolitics in their private discussions, speculating on potential flashpoints and hot topics, only to remain perplexed after anxious exchanges. As one entrepreneur lamented, "Even bad certainty is a form of certainty” — an indication of the intense difficulty they have in dealing with uncertainty. The reasons for this phenomenon are clear. The past few years have seen dramatic changes worldwide: the Covid-19 pandemic has jolted economic and social development; sentiments of unilateralism, protectionism and anti-globalization have spread; great power relations are murky and unpredictable; geopolitical crises have appeared one after another. So much so, that leaders seem to have little energy to focus on once hotly debated global issues such as climate change and the aging population.
