Over the last couple of years few countries have received as much attention for their governments’ efforts to support and build entrepreneurial ecosystems as Chile has, with its most talked about program being Startup Chile. If you’re in Santiago and looking to get involved in the entrepreneurship world there is certainly no shortage of activities, organizations, and people willing to take you by the hand and help you get acclimated to the world of entrepreneurship in “Chilecon Valley.”
As you can see in the graphs below (from the GEM data visualization tool), entrepreneurial activity has basically shot through the roof in recent years in Chile and given its stable economy and government its poised to be a leading entrepreneurship hub. However, it’s still working on finding its own unique style within the entrepreneurship world and is reliant on experts and entrepreneurs from abroad to keep the entrepreneurial ecosystem running as actively as it currently is.
Percentage of 18-64 population who are either a nascent entrepreneur or owner-manager of a new business.
Percentage of 18-64 population who are currently a owner-manager of a new business, i.e., owning and managing a running business that has paid salaries, wages, or any other payments to the owners for more than three months, but not more than 42 months.
Over the next few weeks Startup Nomad will be talking to a number of entrepreneurs (both Chilean and non-Chilean) that are currently working in Santiago to build their businesses about how they see the ecosystem and its growth. Chile has been my busiest stop yet, so we’ll hear quite a range of opinions about what Chile is doing especially well and how they can improve their entrepreneurial ecosystem for the future.
If you have any thoughts about the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Santiago or in Chile as a whole OR if you’re an entrepreneur, investor, or part of a support organization in Latin America and would like to be interviewed for Startup Nomad, please let me know!
It looks like entrepreneurship continues to gain ground in Latin American countries! Do any of the other countries you visited have a similarly high level of early-stage and new business entrepreneur rates?