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Ayman El Tarabishy
Dr. Ayman El Tarabishy is the deputy chair and teaching professor of the Department of Management at the George Washington University School of Business.
Navigating “Permanent White Water”: A Resilience Agenda for Nonstop Turbulence
ICSB framed today’s environment as constant whitewater—demanding agility, adaptability, coordinated teams, and stronger community ties. Programming and publications challenged leaders to standardize definitions, raise research integrity, and equip MSMEs with the capabilities to thrive amid continuous change.
Geneva Sets the Pace: UN partners and global institutions align on action
Hosted in Geneva with UN system partners, the day elevated practical, SDG-focused collaboration—pairing case studies with tools countries and founders can use now. The momentum reinforced MSME Day as a platform where policy, research, and entrepreneurship meet.
Inclusion That Delivers: Women, Youth, and Resilient Supply Chains at the Center
The UN-aligned theme galvanized support for women and youth entrepreneurs and for strengthening supply-chain resilience. Dialogue and programming focused on turning MSME Day visibility into measurable, SDG-linked progress across sectors and regions.
Trends Into Tools: Turning global insights into near-term steps
This year spotlighted the “Top 10” shifts shaping MSMEs, return-to-work practices, digital adoption, women’s entrepreneurship policy, and ecosystem building, and translated them into actionable guidance. Leaders were urged to move quickly from diagnosis to implementation with a practical dashboard of priorities.
Recovery, Designed: Locking in Digital Capability, Finance Access, and Ecosystem Support
As economies reopened, MSME Day 2021 shifted the conversation from emergency triage to building durable systems. The emphasis: accelerate digitization, widen capital channels, and strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems so the smallest firms can grow with fewer barriers and more inclusive opportunity.
From Awareness to Action: A Call to Protect the Smallest Firms
Held at the height of COVID-19 disruption, MSME Day 2020 rallied governments, multilaterals, and the private sector around urgent measures, keeping micro and small businesses solvent, connected, and included in relief. The accompanying ICSB materials captured on-the-ground realities and highlighted finance access and inclusion as immediate priorities to sustain jobs and communities.
Building a Global MSME Movement:
From the UN to Big Tech
As Dr. El Tarabishy and ICSB collaborators continued to build momentum strides in regards to MSMEs Day, more organizations joined, including the UN DESA and high-level organizations, for example, Google, FACEBOOK, and Amazon. The Global MSMEs Report has more contributors and Dr. El Tarabishy has begun to push the idea of developing the MSMEs Guiding Principles. These principles will aim to support all people in their right to support MSMES. This very idea was discussed at the UN. Aside the advancement of MSMEs Day, Dr. El Tarabishy is still able to continuously reach higher and higher in his role as a George Washington University Professor.
The Next Step After MSME Day:
High-Impact Insights from ICSB
Building on the successful of MSMEs Day for 2017, Dr. Tarabishy created the ICSB Global MSMEs Report. This report compiles the most compelling research from major institutions and nation-states and centers around how they might best support MSMEs. The report along with the MSMEs Day makes a powerful combination. Now, we can build on the day with high-impact knowledge.