Events
GPI-BAU Talk Series – Entrepreneurship: A Mindset (Europe vs. U.S.)
On Monday, February 24, 2025, at 3:00 PM (EST) the Global Policy Institute (GPI) and Bay Atlantic University (BAU) will hold a talk titled “Entrepreneurship: A Mindset (Europe vs. U.S.)” via Zoom and in-person at BAU. The focus will be on examining whether entrepreneurship is a bottleneck in Europe, rather than geopolitics, and exploring how the US and EU differ in their approaches.
How to be a Successful Entrepreneur
Capitalism is an economic system that succeeds when risk takers are able and free to engage in an economic activity that will lead to material gains. We call these risk takers “entrepreneurs.” Successful entrepreneurs are at the core of growing economies. They are individuals willing to take chances on new business ideas that may fail. But how does one become a good entrepreneur? Is it all about skills learnt in school, or about having the right mental attitude? Or perhaps about both? And what about the impact of the economic ecosystem? For sure, laws, regulations, permits, and credit availability affect the ability to create and then grow a new business. Many issues, many questions. Please join us for a timely conversation with Professor Rudy Aernoudt, a major expert in this field and author of “Entrepreneurship, a Mindset.”
Speaker
Rudy Aernoudt is a distinguished Professor of Corporate Finance and European Policy with extensive international experience. He has held academic positions at the Universities of Ghent and Nancy and served in senior roles across Europe, including as Chief of Staff at various governance levels and as Secretary-General for Economy, Science, and Innovation. A proven leader in entrepreneurship, Rudy is the founder of EBAN (European Business Angels Network), FREE (Foundation for Research on Education and Entrepreneurship), and the Growth Academy for Enterprises, and currently serves as European Chair of the World Business Angel Forum. An accomplished author and columnist, he has published over 40 books and 500 papers on corporate finance, ethics, politics, and economics. His influential handbooks, including Financial Management in Practice (3rd ed., Intersentia Cambridge) and Entrepreneurship: A Mindset, are widely used in both academic and business circles. Recognized with numerous awards, including the Aron-Condorcet Democracy Award and the WBAIF World Award, Rudy continues to inspire and shape the future of finance and policy across Europe and beyond.
Moderators
Selin Germirli, Ph.D.
Selin Germirli, Ph.D. is a full-time faculty at the Department of Business and Economics at Bay Atlantic University, Washington, DC. She holds a Ph.D. in management specialized in marketing. She has professional experience in marketing and sales management functions of multinational companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, L’Oreal, Intergraph/Hexagon in Turkey, United States, and United Kingdom in addition to her academic experience. She has been teaching management and business classes at Bay Atlantic University since 2022. Her academic research interests focus on consumer behavior, consumer psychology, and marketing communications.
Paolo von Schirach
Paolo von Schirach became President of the Global Policy Institute, GPI, in 2016. He is also Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bay Atlantic University, BAU, in Washington DC. He previously served as Department Chair for Political Science and IR at BAU. Areas of expertise: US politics and economics, international security, NATO affairs, the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, US-China relations, Africa, terrorism, oil and gas and renewable energy.
Paolo von Schirach is the Founder and Editor of the Schirach Report, an online publication focusing on politics, economics and international security. Von Schirach is a frequent lecturer, TV and radio commentator, on US foreign and domestic politics and global issues. He is frequently on Alhurra TV, Asharq News, BBC Arabic, TG5 (Italy), Cairo TV, Sky News Arabia, Newsy, France 24, and other networks.
For more than 25 years von Schirach worked in emerging markets as Team Leader and Senior Expert managing investment and trade promotion programs. Prior to that he was a Research Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, which was followed by filling the role of Director of Communications, and later Senior Research Fellow, at the Atlantic Council. He was Deputy Director of the Global Security Project at Georgetown University, and Vice President for International Programs at Intelx, an institution focusing on international education. He was an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Program of the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, (MSFS). He has been a frequent lecturer at the Foreign Service Institute, (FSI), the U.S. Federal Government’s primary foreign affairs training institution. Von Schirach holds higher degrees from Georgetown University where he was also a Fulbright Scholar and Fellow in the Government Department, the London School of Economics, the University of Pisa, Italy, and the Scuola Universitaria Superiore Sant’Anna of Pisa.