New Business Incubator in Colombia

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Bearing in mind the leading role that these types of organizations can play in the growth of a country’s economy, the Colombian government has taken actions to take advantage of these opportunities as part of its policy to promote entrepreneurial culture and strengthen of information technologies. One of the most notable initiatives in this field, that has taken place in the country, is the creation and strengthening of Innpulsa, a state agency linked to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies, which since 2012 is dedicated to strengthening entrepreneurship in Colombia.

Innpulsa has received multiple international awards during his years of work. Among these, they have been selected by the Development Bank of Latin America as an outstanding case of flexibility in the development of their work in 2014 and the recognition given by the World Bank to highlight Innpulsa as a key institution and protagonist in the colombian productive development.

Precisely this institution, in coordination with other organs of the Colombian State and with the support of the French government, has initiated a project of large dimensions for the support of entrepreneurship in Colombia. It is about the creation of a new business incubator capable of significantly impacting the entrepreneurial ecosystem, which has an initial investment of $ 400,000 euros contributed by the French government.

The project is inspired and will base its practices on the model of Station F, the largest business incubator in the world that houses more than 1000 start-ups in creation and that has its main headquarters in Paris. The initiative in Colombia will be headquartered in the city of Bogotá, but will also be present in different regions of the country through multiple nodes that will be created in other areas.

Several leaders of Colombian government entities have already shown their optimism about the project and have emphasized that it is State policy to continue supporting this type of initiative. One of the comments worth highlighting is the Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism, José Manuel Restrepo, who said that «The government has a strong commitment to entrepreneurship, the orange economy and innovation as sources of growth for our economy. Thus, with the help of the French government, we will bet on replicating the successful Station F model in a nation with enormous entrepreneurial potential «.

It is another important aspect that should be emphasized of the business incubators as the one that is proposed to be established in Colombia, is its work with other actors in the economy. Although these institutions are famous for their work with start-ups and new entrepreneurs, their task also links established companies and investors, facilitating the achievement of business agreements that would have been impossible without a site of convergence for those interested. An example of how this operates is the case of the mentioned Station F, which in addition to providing space for start-ups, has presence of large companies such as Facebook, Microsoft and L’Oreal, as well as large investment funds. The benefits for everyone involved in these scenarios are enormous. Entrepreneurs benefit from this ecosystem by finding resources more easily for their company, consolidated companies are able to link more quickly with innovative initiatives and investors find in a same place a wide variety of projects among which they can choose for their investments.

It is expected that the project in Colombia will have this dimension and link it to link the different segments of its markets. News like this show once again the intention of Colombia to become a focus of investment in the region and generate an environment conducive to a dynamic economy.

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References:

Dinero. (2019, February 26). Construirán en Colombia replica de la incubadora empresarial más grande del mundo. Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://www.dinero.com/emprendimiento/articulo/station-f-construira-campus-en-colombia/267625 Innpulsa. (n.d.). Quiénes Somos? Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://www.innpulsacolombia.com/es/nuestra-organizacion

Khalil, M. A., & Olafsen, E. (2009, October 16). Https://www.innpulsacolombia.com/es/nuestra-organizacion. Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/Resources/ChapterKhalil_Olafsen.pdf

Portafolio. (2019, February 26). Colombia tendrá una incubadora empresarial para emprendedores. Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://www.portafolio.co/negocios/emprendimiento/colombia-tendra-una-incubadora-empresarial-para-emprendedores-526809

Saiidi, U. (2019, January 10). We went inside the world’s largest start-up campus, located in Paris. Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/01/10/station-f-in-paris-inside-the-worlds-largest-start-up-campus.html Station F. (n.d.). Station F. Retrieved March 19, 2019, from https://stationf.co