Barack Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, Sundar Pichai preach entrepreneurship at GES 2016 in Stanford

Saturday June 25, 2016 , 3 min Read

US President Barack Obama not only shared a stage in Silicon Valley with Mark Zuckerberg and Sundar Pichai on Friday, but a similar mindset- 'Entrepreneurship is hard, but essential in an increasingly globalised world'. At the Global Entrepreneurship Summit at Stanford University, Obama said according to USA Today,

The world has shrunk. It is interconnected. It promises to bring extraordinary benefit, but it has challenges and can sometimes evoke fears. Entrepreneurship remains the engine of growth.

Image credit- FSI Stanford

The president's second trip to Stanford in a year — he attended a cybersecurity conference last year — marked his first comments on the United Kingdom's decision to leave the European Union. Obama said he was 'confident' the U.K. was in an orderly transition from its 43-year membership in the union. USA Today noted that Obama said he had spoken with British Prime Minister David Cameron, who announced his resignation after the vote. While the UK's relationship with the EU will change, Obama said, "our relationship with the U.K. will endure."

The president's comments on Brexit were a rare detour from a laser-focused agenda on budding entrepreneurs that highlighted celebrities (the cast of Silicon Valley), tech royalty (the heads of Google and Facebook) and politics (Commerce Secretary Penny Prtizker). Obama briefly touched on the importance of diversity, and the importance for tech companies to offer annual progress reports on their hires.

"This spirit of entrepreneurship also speaks to something deep within us." —@POTUS at #GES2016 https://t.co/KK7L9oHGtO
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) June 24, 2016

Obama took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and moderated a panel with Mark Zuckerberg and a trio of young entrepreneurs from around the world.

Image credit- GES 2016

For Mark Zuckerberg, the single-biggest obstacle to connecting the world and feeding entrepreneurship is making the Internet available to the 4 billion people who don't have it. He said,

Personally, the biggest thing I’m concentrating on is connectivity. For most folks, this is a blocking factor. Without access to Internet, it is hard to imagine what you are missing out on.

.@facebook's Mark Zuckerberg at #GES2016: "Entrepreneurship is about creating change, not just creating companies." pic.twitter.com/fwdRD0bCpo
— FSI Stanford (@FSIStanford) June 24, 2016

Tech continues to be a prime mover in the U.S. economy, earning greater attention from government regulators and policy makers.Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a brief keynote before the president went on stage.

The Internet is arguably the greatest economic engine of all time.

.@google CEO @sundarpichai, MS '95, to entrepreneurs at #GES2016: It doesn't matter where you come from; it's the idea that matters.
— FSI Stanford (@FSIStanford) June 24, 2016

AOL co-founder, Steve Case, who appeared earlier with young entrepreneurs, took the analogy further. "Silicon Valley rose from orchards more than 40 years ago to the epicenter of innovation today," he said.

Obama's trip comes as presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is entangled in a war of pointed words (and tweets) with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman and Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. Trump and his surrogates have also leveled broadsides at Apple and Facebook. Progressive tech leaders have distanced themselves because of Trump's anti-immigration policy and his comments about minority groups.

Obama's presence "demonstrates our enduring commitment to entrepreneurs who are building their communities against all odds," said conference participant Dilawar Syed, president of Freshdesk, a maker of cloud-based customer-engagement software.