National Entrepreneurship Month, 2014

Proclamation 9205 of October 31, 2014

National Entrepreneurship Month, 2014

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Across our Nation, in laboratories and around kitchen
tables, passionate and creative entrepreneurs are
developing new sources of clean energy, cures for life-
threatening diseases, and inventions that will
transform the way we see the world. America has always
been a country of risk takers and dreamers--where
anyone who is willing to work hard can turn a good idea
into a thriving business--and our spirit of ingenuity
remains a powerful engine of growth, creating jobs and
bolstering our economy. This month, we recognize the
grit and determination of American inventors and
innovators and their many contributions to our Nation,
and we reaffirm our commitment to support these
entrepreneurs as they develop the products, services,
and ideas of tomorrow.

Our country seeks to empower a rising generation of
talented and striving innovators and to ensure they
have opportunities to pursue their aspirations and take
the risks that make America great. That is why my
Administration has expanded grants, tax credits, and
loans to help more families afford a college degree. We
are investing in programs that encourage science,
technology, engineering, and math education, especially
for traditionally underrepresented groups. We have
given nearly 5 million Americans the chance to cap
their student loan payments at 10 percent of their
income, freeing them to pursue new ideas and unsolved
problems. And the Affordable Care Act enables
entrepreneurs to set out and build the future they seek
by providing the security of quality, affordable health
care.

As we work to create a new foundation of growth and
prosperity, my Administration is taking action to
ensure startups and innovators have the resources and
access to capital they need to take ideas from the
drawing board to the factory floor to the store shelf.
Now in its fourth year, our Startup America initiative
has brought the Federal Government and private sector
partners together to cut red tape for entrepreneurs,
speed up innovation, and help get businesses off the
ground and scale up more quickly. We are redoubling our
support for an open Internet and open data as
fundamentals of innovation. We have committed to
investing billions of dollars in our small businesses
and startups, and we are accelerating the transfer of
federally funded research from the laboratory to the
commercial marketplace. We have made new efforts to
welcome entrepreneurial companies as customers of the
Federal Government, and since taking office, I have
signed 18 tax cuts for small businesses into law, as
well as bipartisan legislation that has helped enable
more emerging growth companies to access public capital
markets. And because many of the highly skilled workers
and talented thinkers on whom our startups depend are
first-generation Americans, I continue to call on the
Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform--and
I am prepared to address our broken immigration system
through executive action in a way that is sustainable
and effective, and within the confines of the law.

Bringing together America's best and brightest
innovators creates important opportunities for
mentorship within the startup and small business
communities, and it allows policymakers to hear
directly from entrepreneurs. This

year, we launched the Presidential Ambassadors for
Global Entrepreneurship. A first-of-its-kind
collaboration between successful American
businesspeople and the Federal Government, this group
is helping to cultivate startup communities and
champion entrepreneurship both here at home and
overseas. We also hosted inventors from around the
country this year at the first-ever White House Maker
Faire. And later this month, my Administration is
supporting the 5th annual Global Entrepreneurship
Summit in Morocco, to foster entrepreneurial success
and prosperity around the world.

When we encourage entrepreneurs and the ideas they
introduce to the world, we strengthen our communities
and help secure America's promise for future
generations. As we observe National Entrepreneurship
Month and celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, let
us continue our work to ensure America remains home to
the best minds and the most innovative businesses on
earth.

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 2014 as
National Entrepreneurship Month. I call upon all
Americans to commemorate this month with appropriate
programs and activities, and to celebrate November 18,
2014, 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 fourteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
ninth.