Mercator XXI, LLC to Sponsor Global Entrepreneurship Week and Announces Firm Expansion

WASHINGTON -

Mercator XXI, LLC, a professional services firm helping clients engage the global economy, is announcing that it is an official sponsor of Global Entrepreneurship Week in Egypt and will also be assisting with its activities in Poland and the United States.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is taking place November 16-22, 2009. Co-founded in 2008 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in the United States and Make Your Mark, a business-led government-backed campaign in the United Kingdom, Global Entrepreneurship Week will connect young people through local, national, and global activities designed to help them explore their potential as self-starters and innovators. Students, educators, entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees, non-profit leaders, government officials, and others will participate in a host of activities that include virtual and face-to-face events, large-scale competitions and intimate networking gatherings.

In 2009, Global Entrepreneurship Week is estimated to exceed the 3 million people and 8,800 organizations around the globe that participated in the previous year. Already, more than 650 organizations in more than 80 countries have signed up.

“Global Entrepreneurship Week will make an important contribution in creating a culture of entrepreneurship in Egypt. It will also encourage enterprising Egyptians to think about the market in a global way. Mercator XXI takes a special interest in supporting initiatives like Global Entrepreneurship Week because it makes a strategic and positive impact on Egypt’s economy”, says Hesham Wahby, Principal, Mercator XXI, Egypt and Middle East.

Mercator XXI, LLC is also announcing today that James F. Whittaker has joined the firm as Principal.

“We’re excited to have Jim join our team,” said Christopher G. Caine, President and CEO of Mercator XXI, LLC. “He brings with him deep experience and expertise from the marketplace that will be of great value to our current and future clients. With over 10 years of business experience in South and Central America, not to mention his five languages, Jim will help Mercator XXI extend its three skills-based practice areas.” Whittaker’s previous experience included senior leadership roles at Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corporation, and Data General, Inc. where he was responsible for managing corporate and industry policy interests in Washington, and across the Western hemisphere.

In his previous positions, Whittaker focused on team building and leadership for cross-cultural, multi-country teams. While at Intel, he built and led its regional government affairs and education programs. At HP he also built and led an international public policy team while advising its top executives on business and government influencing strategies. At Data General he drove corporate international market access projects and headed up Data General Brazil during a time of severe market protections and regulation of foreign IT products.

Whittaker is a well respected member of the international business community in Washington, D.C., California and Latin America. He has chaired the Commerce Department’s federal advisory committee for IT trade as well as various industry task forces, committees and congressional campaigns dealing with international business and trade.

About Mercator XXI, LLC

Mercator XXI is a professional services firm helping clients engage the global economy. Drawing on over 30 years of business and marketplace experience in government and public affairs, Mercator XXI, LLC provides insights and support to seize opportunity in all four hemispheres.

Source: Mercator XXI, LLC

Monica Debban of Mercator XXI, LLC, +1-202-349-2906