TiE Promotes Mentoring as an Essential Part of Building an Entrepreneurial Culture

Billing itself as the world’s largest non-profit fostering entrepreneurship, TiE (short for The International Entrepreneur) came to Dublin this week for an informational meeting and membership event.  TiEOhio, headquartered in Cleveland, is the state’s chapter of this international organization that has 56 chapters in 13 counties.  Founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley, TiE is a membership organization for immigrant entrepreneurs and those who want to do business in international markets. 

TiE was founded on the belief that nurturing entrepreneurs, through education, mentorship and networking, will lead to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation.  Founders believed this to be the true spirit of giving back to the community and the late C.K. Prahalad, chief mentor of TiE, is credited with saying, “mentoring is an essential part of building an entrepreneurial culture.”

More than 150 entrepreneurs and business leaders were in attendance at the Dublin event where TiEOhio leadership outlined the benefits and programs of the organization and the steps to membership in this prestigious, global network.

A few of the interesting facts shared during the evening’s presentation included:

• Immigrants are twice as likely as native-born Americans to start a business.

• Immigrants founded more than half the high tech companies in the Silicon Valley including (among others) Google, Intel, Yahoo, PayPal and Ebay.

• Immigrants are more likely to earn an advanced degree, invent something and be awarded a US patent.

TiEOhio is actively accepting Charter Members interested in helping foster and mentor the next generation of technology entrepreneurs.  For more information, visit http://www.tieohio.org/.