National Entrepreneurship Month, 2013

Proclamation 9052 of October 31, 2013

National Entrepreneurship Month, 2013

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The entrepreneurial spirit has always been at the heart
of our Nation's story. With inventions that changed
American life and startups that lifted our economy as
they grew, entrepreneurs helped make our country what
it is today. During National Entrepreneurship Month, we
celebrate America's innovators, support small
businesses, and empower entrepreneurs to turn their
visions into reality.

America is home to a long and storied line of
immigrants who sought opportunity on our shores--from
entrepreneurs of the industrial revolution to startup
founders of the digital age. This June, the Senate
passed a commonsense immigration reform bill that would
provide startup visas for immigrant entrepreneurs;
eliminate backlogs for employment-based visas; and
remove visa caps for those with advanced degrees in
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
These principles are consistent with ensuring our
country remains a land of opportunity while fostering
economic growth and innovation.

For the benefit of our Nation, we must remove undue
barriers that would prevent entrepreneurs from
venturing out on their own. The Affordable Care Act
provides opportunities for those who lack employer-
based insurance to obtain quality affordable care. This
gives aspiring small business owners and self-employed
entrepreneurs the freedom to pursue their ideas and
keep their families covered. This year, I signed an
Executive Order making Government-held data more
accessible to the public and to entrepreneurs as fuel
for innovation and economic growth. Hundreds of
companies and nonprofits are using this data to develop
new products and services. They are creating jobs of
the future in national priority industries such as
health, energy, and education. We have also worked to
support social entrepreneurship at home and around the
world, and in January, my Administration organized the
first-ever White House Tech Inclusion Summit--where
experts launched initiatives to give more Americans the
opportunity to learn vital technology skills.

We continue to build on programs that help
entrepreneurs get ahead. Since taking office, I have
signed 18 small business tax cuts into law, and, as
part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act, I extended
several tax incentives to help small businesses
prosper. Under last year's Jumpstart Our Business
Startups (JOBS) Act, the American people will soon be
able to use regulated crowdfunding Web sites to invest
in promising startups, social enterprises, and small
businesses. The White House Startup America initiative
remains dedicated to cutting red tape and accelerating
innovation from the lab to the marketplace.
Entrepreneurs across the country are receiving vital
information about Federal Government services at
www.Business.USA.gov and are competing to solve
important national problems at www.Challenge.gov.

To promote entrepreneurship throughout the world, I
have called on the international community to increase
transparency and accountability while rooting out
corruption, and in 2010, my Administration organized
the first annual Global Entrepreneurship Summit. During
this year's summit, the State Department announced its
partnership to help double the impact of

UP Global--an organization dedicated to providing
entrepreneurs at home and abroad with the resources,
skills, and connections to thrive. Finally, we will
soon announce the inaugural members of the President's
Committee on Global Entrepreneurship, a group of some
of America's most successful entrepreneurs who will
commit to mentoring the next generation.

Our Nation is strongest when we broaden entrepreneurial
opportunity, when more of us can test our ideas in the
global marketplace, and when the best innovations can
rise to the top. We all have a role to play--from
colleges and universities that cultivate hubs of
innovation, to large companies that collaborate with
small businesses, to foundations that support both
social enterprises and high-impact startups seeking to
solve the grand challenges of our time. As we observe
this month and celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week,
let us come together and help aspiring entrepreneurs
take a chance on themselves and their visions for a
brighter future.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim November 2013 as
National Entrepreneurship Month. I call upon all
Americans to commemorate this month with appropriate
programs and activities, and to celebrate November 22,
2013, as National Entrepreneurs' Day.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirty-first day of October, in the year of our Lord
two thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
eighth.