Today in Global Small Business: European Union (EU) Small Business Export Report (eBay)

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• eBay publishes a new report on European Union (EU) small business exporting.  Direct access to report can be found here.
• How weather and other factors are impacting fruit exports from Peru.
• Quote of the week: “When I returned to the United States after three years of World War II service, my total assets consisted of one wife, one small daughter, $276 in the bank, and an idea. The idea was for an export business to supply items badly needed everywhere in Europe." – E. Joseph Cossman
• Every G20 economy's top export market.
• Amid the global green goods boom, India is yet to jump on the bandwagon.
• Innovation linked to international exports for both rural and urban firms.

Without Internet Connectivity, Global Small Businesses Miss Out

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Digitalization opens new possibilities to connect, engage and share with others, to earn, learn and socialize, to find solutions that can reduce our climate impacts.

Without connectivity people miss out on access to education, jobs and social activities, while micro, small, and medium businesses lose their competitive edge. 

The B20 Digitalization Taskforce will focus its message to G20 leaders on universal connectivity, digital skills and the digitalization of businesses of all sizes. To accomplish these goals, networks need to be put in place at scale, fast and affordably.

Learn more on why we must drive universal connectivity and extend digital to global small businesses, without delay.

You've Heard of the G20. How About the G20 SME Conference?

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The G20 comprises of 19 member states plus the European Union and was established in 1999.  The purpose of the G20 SME Conference is to convene a meeting of local and international experts to discuss key challenges relevant to Australia’s G20 agenda for the SME sector in Australia and the wider international community.

The G20 SME Conference held June 20, 2014 drew together around 117 delegates representing a wide cross-section of the business, government and not-for-profit community with specific interests or roles in small business and entrepreneurship.

This enthusiasm for the G20 was evidenced on Friday 20 June at the “G20 Agenda for Growth: Opportunities for SMEs Conference."  The event was organised by the Australian Minister for Small Business, the Hon Bruce Billson and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI). It was held in Melbourne at the Victorian Parliament House’s Legislative Assembly Chamber.

Primary focus for the G20 SME conference:

1. Role of SMEs in helping to meet the G20's target of 2% higher growth over the period to 2018.
2. How to enable growth among SMEs.

Learn more:  Growing the global economy through small to medium enterprise:  The G20 SME conference

Saving the World

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Can the G20 do it:  Save the world?  

The Group of Seven, formed in the 1970s by the world's leading countries in response to the energy and economic crises of the time, played a positive role in coordinating global economic policies. But the influence of the organization began to decline in the late 1990s — coincidentally, about the same time Russia joined the organization in 1997. The G8 turned into a series of PR events devoid of any real substance.

Read the entire article here:  How the G20 Can Save the World

Much more hope is vested in the G20 as a body capable of filling the global-governance vacuum. This organization includes 19 countries, not all of which are the world's mightiest economically, plus the European Union.

Global Unity

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At the very least we will establish global unity amongst the world's 20 biggest economic powers at the G-20 Summit but let's also hope for and expect the creation of a very specific global economic recovery plan (e.g., actionable must-do-list).

Stay up to date on what takes place here and here.