[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 130, 114th Congress, 2nd Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
Proclamation 9535 of October 31, 2016

National Entrepreneurship Month, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Entrepreneurs in America have long lent their talents and passions to
solving problems, generating growth and prosperity, and turning dreams
into new goods and services for people across our Nation and around the
world. During National Entrepreneurship Month, we celebrate the
entrepreneurs who serve their communities and bolster our economy, and
we pledge our support for them in their pursuit of the ideas and
innovations of tomorrow.

Through their intrepid sense of possibility and resilience, and their
unwillingness to give in or give up, entrepreneurs from every walk of
life make invaluable contributions to the American experience--turning
bold ideas into real progress. My Administration has made it a priority
from day one to support those who take a risk and put in the hard work
required to get a new venture off the ground. In 2010, I signed the
Affordable Care Act, which gives Americans greater opportunities to
start businesses by offering portable and affordable health insurance
plans through the Health Insurance Marketplace. I signed 18 tax breaks
for small businesses in my first term, including tax credits for those
who hire unemployed workers and veterans, and I launched the Nation of
Makers initiative to advance innovation and encourage making, including
homegrown technologies and startups. In 2013, I signed an Executive
Order to make Government data more accessible to the public, and my
Administration has opened up nearly 200,000 datasets on www.Data.gov to
fuel economic growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship. And earlier this
year, I announced the Computer Science for All Initiative--a plan to
give all students in America the chance to learn computer science in
school, which will equip our future entrepreneurs, including those from
underrepresented backgrounds, with the computational thinking skills
they need to succeed.
In the 21st-century economy--where business does not stop at a country's
border and where technological advancements have changed the ways we
engage in commerce and with one another--it is more important than ever
that we give our Nation's entrepreneurs the tools and resources they
need to compete on the international stage. This past summer, I signed
an Executive Order that encourages entrepreneurship in the United States
and around the world, including through the Presidential Ambassadors for
Global Entrepreneurship Program, to promote the sharing of knowledge and
experience with the entrepreneurs of tomorrow. Additionally, as I
attended the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in California in June,
companies across America came together to sign the Tech Inclusion
Pledge: a commitment to making their technology workforces more
representative of the American people. My Administration also used this
Summit as an opportunity to announce an expansion of the National
Science Foundation's Innovation Corps training program for
entrepreneurial scientists and engineers, as well as the Small Business
Administration's Startup in a Day initiative, with nearly 100 cities and
communities across our Nation committed to streamlining licensing,
permitting, and other requirements necessary for anyone to start a
business. At the end of last year, I signed a bipar

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tisan budget deal that made permanent critical tax incentives to help
bolster investment in small businesses and research and experimentation,
including by startups and other innovative companies. And thanks to
another bipartisan bill I signed, entrepreneurs can raise small-dollar
investments from community members, customers, and other individuals
through new and regulated online crowdfunding platforms--because access
to capital should be available to every aspiring entrepreneur no matter
who they are or where they are from.
My Administration has also striven to expand opportunity to those
seeking to utilize their entrepreneurial talents abroad. Following the
beginning of our process to normalize relations with our neighbors 90
miles to the south in Cuba, we made it easier for Cuban entrepreneurs to
import and export. Entrepreneurs flourish when they are surrounded by an
environment that encourages their success--that is true here at home and
around the world. My Administration remains committed to implementing
the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that will have a
profound effect on our efforts to support online entrepreneurs and
enable American entrepreneurs to sell ``Made in America'' products all
over the world. And through our proposed International Entrepreneur
Rule, we are working to ensure the world's best and brightest
entrepreneurs can launch companies and create jobs in the United States.
As we celebrate National Entrepreneurship Month and Global
Entrepreneurship Week, let us resolve to support those budding
entrepreneurs looking to use their ideas and expertise to build a better
life for themselves and their families--and let us tap into the diverse
skills and talents across our country so that entrepreneurs from all
backgrounds can continue creating the businesses of the 21st century.
Entrepreneurship is about the opportunity to forge one's own future, and
an investment in that future can start as something small and turn into
something great. That is the legacy shaped by generations of American
entrepreneurs who, through ingenuity, passion, and self-determination,
have always striven to achieve the next big, unknown thing.
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 2016 as
National Entrepreneurship Month. I call upon all Americans to
commemorate this month with appropriate programs and activities, and to
celebrate November 15, 2016, 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 sixteen, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
first.
BARACK OBAMA