Message from ICSB President

Dear ICSB Family,

We would like first to wish you all a Happy Holiday Season! We hope this time of year has gifted you and your family the time to rest, reflect, and recharge after this year’s challenges and uncertainties. As an organization built on a community foundation, we want to thank you for choosing to be a part of ours. Through this support, we can lead as an organization and propel our mission further together. 

Reflecting on 2022, I acknowledge the hardships, challenges, and recovery needed in SMEs, entrepreneurship, and personal lives. However, I also commend and appreciate how we have rejoiced together as a community. We found solace in this community which has continued to advance us forward. From our ICSB 2022 World Congress (being delivered in a hybrid format to promote global inclusion) to the ICSB100 Pledge (a pledge to respond to the need for transparency and swift communication in the professedly opaque publication process), together, we have continued to make this year count.

I like to specifically mention five critical accomplishments for 2022 that we should all celebrate:

– ICSB on Capital Hill:  The 66th ICSB World Congress was held during the American Independence week celebration in Washington, DC. A significant part of this year’s event enabled MSME advocates, professors, business leaders, United Nations officials, and student leaders to make their voices heard. The venue for this forum was the United States Congress Ways and Means Committee Room on July 6, 2022.
– ICSB at the United Nations: ICSB was the first organization to hold an in-person event since Covid-19 at the United Nations on June 27, 2022, as part of MSMEs Day. ICSB’s message is clear, MSMEs are the first to move after any pandemic or war, and we need to support them more.
– ICSB’s JSBM Journal Impact Factor rises to 6.881. In 2020, the JSBM impact factor was only 3.4. Yet, with new leadership since 2000 of Drs. ElTarabishy Eric Liguori and Katia Passerni, JSBM flourishes. We expect more growth and impact.
– ICSB’s JSBM’s Female composition of Associate Editors is number one across all academic management journals. In addition, ICSB’s JSBM has the highest female entrepreneurship research faculty percentage than AACSB averages and most academic management journals. We are now the leaders in this area, as we should be. Thanks again to the leadership of Drs. Katia Passerni and Eric Liguori.
– ICSB returns to Argentina (Rosario), ICSB’s last event in Argentina was in 2017, and we returned after five years as part of the SME World Forum under Dr. Ruben Ascua’s leadership. ICSB, with the support of Argentina, created MSMEs Day in 2017.  Argentina and ICSB will always be connected because of our historic accomplishments at the United Nations.

We have achieved monumental tasks through education, engagement, and resilience together. Thank you all for the inspiration you have gifted us to continue moving forward. We will carry this as guidance for the new year and look forward to strengthening our relationship with every one of our ICSB Family members in 2023.