The International Council for Small Business (ICSB) has announced the finalists for the 2025 ICSB Global Entrepreneurship Awards, recognizing outstanding educators, programs, and entrepreneurship centers that are shaping the future of human-centered entrepreneurship worldwide.
This year’s selection process was one of the most competitive in ICSB’s history, with exceptional nominations received from the United States, Germany, Australia, Egypt, Italy, India, and the Arab region. Each finalist demonstrated remarkable innovation, measurable impact, and commitment to empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Collectively, the finalists bring over 280 years of combined experience in entrepreneurship education, training, and ecosystem development.
ICSB 2025 Entrepreneurship Center Global Impact Award Finalists
This prestigious award honors entrepreneurship centers that exemplify excellence, innovation, impact, and scalability in advancing entrepreneurship globally.
The Dakri CEI champions inclusive entrepreneurship and economic empowerment through its hands-on SURE℠ Program. For over 20 years, Dr. Khumawala has trained thousands of underrepresented entrepreneurs, combining academic rigor with real-world business creation and community transformation.
The center’s groundbreaking work demonstrates how entrepreneurship education can serve as a powerful vehicle for economic inclusion, breaking down barriers that have historically prevented underrepresented communities from accessing entrepreneurial resources and opportunities. Visit Website
With hubs across six locations spanning Egypt and Syria, AAST’s Entrepreneurship Center has become a regional leader in entrepreneurial education and innovation. Over the past decade, Dr. Al-Ashry and her team have built an extensive ecosystem linking students, startups, and industry partners across the Arab world.
The center’s remarkable geographic reach and sustained impact across diverse cultural and economic contexts demonstrates the power of scalable, adaptable entrepreneurship education models.
Impact Recognized: Both centers have made lasting contributions to entrepreneurship ecosystems, demonstrating how education and inclusion can serve as engines for sustainable development.
ICSB 2025 Entrepreneurial Educator Excellence Award Finalists
The Entrepreneurial Educator Excellence Award honors educators who redefine entrepreneurship education through creativity, empathy, and measurable impact on learners and society.
This year’s six finalists represent a truly global field—spanning Germany, Australia, Egypt, Italy, and India—and collectively bring over 150 years of teaching and entrepreneurial education experience.
Innovative Approaches: Each finalist demonstrates pioneering approaches—from experiential and AI-integrated learning models to social entrepreneurship and design thinking frameworks—that embody ICSB’s human-centered philosophy.
ICSB Global Entrepreneurship Education Excellence Award Finalists
This award recognizes exceptional academic programs that push the boundaries of entrepreneurship education at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Undergraduate Program Finalist
The Orsù Innovation Lab empowers students from all disciplines to transform knowledge into meaningful action. Through its SustainAbility Framework, Orsù integrates creativity, empathy, and social responsibility into entrepreneurship learning, preparing students to lead change in their communities.
Rooted in Southern Italy yet globally relevant, the program bridges academia and society through human-centered entrepreneurship education, demonstrating that meaningful innovation can emerge from any geographic context when the right educational framework is in place.
Graduate Program Finalist
This innovative master’s program teaches entrepreneurship as a practice to be lived, equipping creative professionals to launch sustainable, ethical fashion ventures. With over 15 years of academic experience, the program’s leaders have cultivated one of the world’s most dynamic and socially conscious fashion entrepreneurship curricula.
The program addresses one of the world’s most challenging industries—fashion—by integrating sustainability, ethical practices, and entrepreneurial thinking into a comprehensive educational model that prepares graduates to transform the industry from within.
A Global Celebration of Human-Centered Excellence
This year’s finalists embody ICSB’s mission: to place humanity at the center of entrepreneurship. Their work demonstrates that entrepreneurship education is more than theory—it’s about empowering people, building communities, and creating lasting impact.
The judging panels unanimously noted how exceptionally high the quality of submissions was this year, making the selection process both inspiring and challenging.
Final judging will take place during the ICSB 2025 World Congress in Cairo, Egypt, where global winners will be announced and honored.