Local leaders gathered on Tuesday evening (January 20) to announce plans for the 7th annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW), produced by The Idea Village in partnership with many other organizations. NOEW is the annual festival celebrating entrepreneurship, innovation, and advanced thinking.
The festival of entrepreneurship will shift from primarily daytime events to many scheduled for the evenings throughout the week of March 20-27 on Fulton Street downtown. NOEW Director Victoria Adams said the 2015 schedule was created for the expanding entrepreneurial community and incorporates local assets alongside national trends so that the entire community can participate in the entrepreneurial movement.
Organizers expect over 10,000 attendees including entrepreneurs, investors, corporations, nonprofits, students and professional to participate in the 70 scheduled events. Each event is designed to foster discussion, debate, education, competition, and celebration to support new ideas and elevate entrepreneurial thinking in New Orleans, according to The Idea Village.
“NOEW is the platform for the entrepreneurial community to connect, as over 30 partners will have their own “stage” to showcase over 75 new ventures across strategic initiatives in water, energy, arts, healthcare, education, food, women in business, and youth entrepreneurship,” explains Tim Williamson, co-founder and CEO of The Idea Village. “This year, we are also excited to invite other communities to join us at NOEW to learn how we do things differently in New Orleans.”
Other plans for NOEW include the following announcements:
- There is 87% increase in number of entrepreneurs to be showcased
- Energy and Healthcare will be new industry focuses debuting
- @helloNOEW has launched on Twitter and Instagram
- NOEW Investor Pass available to national investors
- 30+ organizations are leveraging the NOEW platform through The Idea Village’s many partnerships
- The LookFar Tent at Manning’s will allow New Orleans entrepreneurs to pay it forward
A full calendar will be released on February 23rd, 2015.