Elmira Bayrasli – internationally noted entrepreneur, author, and advocate for giving women a media voice on foreign policy – will speak on replicating the success of Silicon Valley both in the U.S. and internationally, at Farmingdale State College on Thursday, March 31.
The event will be held in Gleeson Hall Room 104, from 10:50 a.m. – 12:05 p.m. Sponsored by Farmingdale’s Artists & Lecturers Speaker Series, the talk is open to the public, at no charge.
Bayrasli is co-founder of Foreign Policy Interrupted, an education and media startup dedicated to increasing female foreign policy voices in the written and electronic press; a Visiting Fellow at the New America Foundation; and a Fellow at Global Entrepreneurial Ecosystems. She worked at the U.S. State Department from 1994 – 2000.
About her lecture, Bayrasli says: “Everyone is eager to replicate Silicon Valley's success. Silicon Valley has succeeded as a startup hub because of certain conditions. What are those conditions? What is the environment necessary to unleash globally competitive startups? Where and how will the next Silicon Valley will emerge?” She will also discuss the complicated dynamics of entrepreneurship and economic development, and the conditions necessary to create globally-competitive companies and industries in less-likely places.
Farmingdale State College has several programs that encourage student entrepreneurship. The Small Business Development Center provides professional business advisement, education, and network resources. It one of the largest and most productive in New York State, and has worked with more than 29,000 businesses, helping them invest in excess of $382 million in the area's economy. The annual DARE competition encourages students to think like entrepreneurs, and provides them with tools and resources to develop their prospective businesses.
The Artists & Lecturers Speaker Series was created to enrich cultural, intellectual, and social life of the campus and the greater community. ALSS sponsors lectures, art exhibits, and performances.
