Today more than ever, being an entrepreneur in Costa Rica requires courage, resilience and, above all, creativity. The context of crisis and pandemic have forced Tico entrepreneurs to use all their resources to avoid letting their companies die or to start a project from scratch.
Entrepreneurs bring great value to a country. In Costa Rica, micro, small and medium-sized companies support 99% of the economy, generate 78% of jobs and contribute 42% of the Gross Domestic Product.
However, they are also the economic units that present the most difficulty in training, accessing financing and scalability opportunities. These factors, as well as the fear of failure, complicate the survival of companies and generate fear among those who intend to be an entrepreneur.
Being an entrepreneur is more than becoming an entrepreneur and running your own company. It is above all a mentality that looks for a need that is not yet met and satisfies it, in a way that not only has a social impact but can generate profit.
In Costa Rica, 45% of the economically active population sees opportunities to start a business in the next six months, few will be able to materialize and succeed. To support entrepreneurship projects, there are different government agencies, accelerators and incubators, as well as organizations that, with different programs, seek above all to support young people with limited resources to develop an entrepreneurial culture.
To achieve your goal you have three fronts: training, linking to financing and linking to markets. The first, it is fair to “insert” the idea that undertaking is possible regardless of age, schooling or socioeconomic level.
The entrepreneurial culture is key as an agent of change, as a vision of how we are transforming ourselves as a society in terms of our needs and the technological changes that also make us transform the way we consume, which is why we think that this culture also creates a distinction because it does not necessarily means that people become entrepreneurs.
It doesn’t matter if they go for a job or create their own company, but they go with the mentality of being agents of change. The key is to detect a need that sometimes not even the consumer has realized they have.
These five keys can help you prevent your project from failing:
Bet on innovation
SMEs are the ones with the greatest possibility of innovating, since they are more flexible and it is easier to design and implement ideas, as well as constantly generate value, unlike large companies.
In fact, most small and medium-sized businesses have survived thanks to some kind of innovation. Why? Because innovation is creating new ways of generating value based on a product or service, in the business model or in a new way of reaching consumers.
Don’t be afraid of training
Being an entrepreneur does not mean being an all-rounder. Accompaniment to grow your company is very important, especially in the initial stages. There are mechanisms that have contributed to the strengthening of SMEs due to their link to the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
For each stage of your project, there are organizations specialized in growing your company according to your needs. Mentors, accelerators and networking networks offer tools to facilitate and promote the emergence and growth of businesses.
Look for capital alternatives
One of the challenges that SMEs face is the lack of capital for the development of their business. Only 1 in 4 small and medium-sized companies manage to access some type of financing.
Little access to capital is one of the reasons that slows down growth, or even closes companies. There are various alternatives such as seed capital, Venture capital, Crowdfunding that can help you avoid failure.
Open new communication channels
In recent years, the incorporation of new communication channels has transformed the way of providing customer service. This is possible thanks to Artificial Intelligence that has opened the door to new care strategies.
With the Covid-19 pandemic, online purchases experienced tremendous growth that accelerated the use of an omnichannel strategy capable of improving communication between a company and its remote customers.
Find your digital transformation
During the pandemic, 8 out of 10 workers in the country adopted a new labor scheme, based on this experience, the way in which we carry out our activities changed, therefore, adopting digitization to strengthen companies has become a task essential. It does not only mean selling on the internet, it is also relevant to the operation and internal administration of companies.
Entrepreneurial culture is a fundamental aspect in the development of a country, and the entrepreneurial spirit is linked to it. The entrepreneurial culture is a fundamental aspect in the development of a country, and the spirit…
Entrepreneurial culture
The entrepreneurial culture is born from a creative, bold attitude and willingness to take the risk of starting and managing one’s own company. It implies having a great personal energy to materialize what in your mind has led you to take new goals independently.
It is a talent that every government should promote and develop through national policies that help encourage the business sector; Policies such as: flexible government financing for new entrepreneurs and businessmen already established in the market, design of business education programs, lowering legal barriers to entry into the world of entrepreneurship (constitution documents, permits, licenses, insurance, etc).
The training of entrepreneurs is very important for the growth of a nation, due to the benefits that this activity produces in the economic field and in the generation of jobs. For an entrepreneur to have an impact on the economy of his country, he must create a business that has an impact on the multiplication of job offers and offer innovative products or services.
The act of undertaking implies the existence of many challenges
It is no secret to anyone that undertaking is complicated. Many projects are not successful or have a short duration due to the lack of information circulating among entrepreneurs about financial support, training, technology, and administrative services from some government institutions whose task is to support the consolidation of ideas.
On the other hand, education is a key factor in leading people with remarkable entrepreneurial talent on the right path. It is necessary to train as an entrepreneur. There is no age limit to polish yourself as an entrepreneur, you never stop learning on this path.
Some reasons why an entrepreneur is vital for the progress of a country are:
- Create sources of work and wealth.
- Its activity allows to implement better living standards.
- It establishes business models that originate quality processes and technologies and gives added value to society thanks to its products or services, facilitating the lives of the individuals that make up its environment.
- He/She seeks the well-being of his community.
- Promotes competition in the market.
- Motivates and inspires other dreamers, that is, promote the establishment of new businesses.
Equal opportunities
It is a reality that many entrepreneurs want to be more prosperous, even when the country’s political and economic conditions have become increasingly difficult. To achieve this, we must prepare and take advantage of the opportunities that come our way.
We must be in constant learning, establish alliances with other colleagues, be constant, modernize our companies, make decisions based on prior analysis and have the courage to cope with many situations that are out of our reach and, above all, we must not give up in the face of adversity.
The entrepreneurial population that our country needs, has to start with the individual transformation of each entrepreneur, to later transmit it to their collaborators, colleagues and institutions dedicated to this area of the economy.
Keep in mind that “whenever you see a successful entrepreneur, it is because someone once made a brave decision.”
