INICIA: “For Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneurs”

Once a year, Inicia, an Argentine entrepreneurial community, awards a prize to the entrepreneur with the business that has the greatest potential impact on society. The prize? An all expense paid trip to Europe, The States or any country of the winner’s choosing, to meet potential clients/alliances, build ideas and speak with advisors on the business. Last year’s winner was Totebag - a manufacturer of totebags with an environmental sustainability vision. Totebag entrepreneurs and sisters, Lorena and Natalia Nunez traveled to Paris where they had the opportunity to meet with and learn from top executives in the Paris fashion industry.

Inicia started twelve years ago during an Argentine Economic Crisis. “When the economy crashed,” says Patricio Sworn a board member of Inicia, “Argentines were laid off and turned to entrepreneurship as a way to create livelihoods. Inicia became a gathering of executives to help these forced entrepreneurs navigate the business environment.”

One of the things that separates Inicia from other organizations is that they push entrepreneurs to think in terms of social and environmental responsibility. “We love sustainable enterprises that contribute to economic, social, civic and environmental value for the community.” To further promote that value, they offer their entrepreneurs courses on sustainability and other important values and entrepreneurial skillsets. “Each course, little by little modifies the mentality of the entrepreneurs in Argentina,” says Patrico.

Inicia’s plan for the future? To be 100% run by entrepreneurs. “For entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs,” exclaimed Patricio. It will be exciting to see the impact inicia has on Argentina’s entrepreneurial community.

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The graph below was created by Patricio's consulting company. The graph depicts the frequency which the term "business plan" was searched on Google in five South American countries. 

ASEA: "We are an ecosystem of entrepreneurs!"

“We believe that the next economic revolution will come from innovation promoted by the entrepreneurs,” says Ezequiel Calcarami, a mobility/transportation entrepreneur and the Vice President of non-profit, ASEA (The Association of Entrepreneurs of Argentina). “But in Argentina’s government instability, lack of funding, societal attitudes and mountains of red tape are getting in the way.” ASEA saw this as an opportunity to gather all entrepreneurial communities and entrepreneurs – no matter the industry or stage, to act as one-voice and address government issues. “The only way we can change circumstances in Argentina is if we join together,” affirms Ezequiel.

ASEA is a quasi-entrepreneurial lobby started in September of 2014. Already, they’ve gathered 1,200 entrepreneurs and by year-end they expect to reach 10,000. By joining together, ASEA hopes to show the value of entrepreneurs to the Argentine community and economy. In Chile, ASEA’s sister organization ASECH, has already cut down red tape and increased funding for entrepreneurs. For example, in Chile you can now open a business within 24 hours (as opposed to several months). Here in Argentina, ASEA is still young but is looking to make a huge impact fast.

For example, they’ve created the ASEA Bill that addresses barriers to entrepreneurs in Argentina including a simplified model for limited companies, the entrepreneurial corporation that can be created with one partner and the endorsement of limited taxation for the first five years of the company’s existence. “We’ve had meetings in government to get it passed and have been discussing our cause with all presidential candidates (general elections occur in October 2015),” notes Francisco Torres Vidal, COO of ASEA. “We are trying to generate value for entrepreneurs and Argentina as a whole.”

While Ezequiel notes that Argentina is an important country in terms of generating new and creative entrepreneurs, “it’s not pro entrepreneurship.” Bureaucracy is a huge problem. For example, to form a company, the government makes entrepreneurs jump through hoops to receive clearances and some activities are double or triple taxed. “It could take months to form a company,” says Ezequiel. “It’s tough and it’s distracting for an entrepreneur who needs to focus on his business.” Furthermore, lack of available funding from both private investors and the government makes it difficult to accelerate or even start a company. “Just getting a credit card or checking account at a bank as an entrepreneur can be tough. The banks don’t want to take the risk,” states Ezequiel.

And it’s not just the red tape and lack of funds that inhibit entrepreneurial growth; it’s also the society’s attitude towards failure. “In the US, failing in business is part of the entrepreneurial process,” says Ezequiel. “You still cheer for failures because you know that the entrepreneur will be better prepared for success next time. But in Argentina, that’s far from the case. Argentines love to flock to the winners but run away at the sign of failure. To fail is to also fail socially.”

Over the next five years, ASEA hopes to be at 100,000 members. “At 10,000 members the government and the people might listen to us. But at 100,000 members the government and people MUST pay attention,” says Ezequiel. “We are an ecosystem of entrepreneurs. We are trying to change Argentina for the better. It is not going to be easy, but together we can change things.”

Enablis & Pigmalion Studios: Creating an entrepreneurial movement

With 2,400 entrepreneurs in their worldwide network (70 in Argentina), Enablis is a nonprofit organization geared towards serving entrepreneurs in developing countries to create wealth through job creation. “We focus on innovative entrepreneurs with existing or early stage businesses that have the potential to expand internationally,” says Rose Vervenne, Director of Enablis Latin America.

Rose Vervenne, Director of Enablis Latin America

Originally focusing on South African entrepreneurs, Enablis has quickly expanded to six different countries (five in Africa and one in Latin America). They offer several programs to support their members including peer support groups (known as Enablis Circles or E-Circles), mentoring by successful entrepreneurs from around the world, coaches that meet with entrepreneurs to discuss their top two priorities for the quarter, and several other business improvement programs.

Marcelo Klein, CEO & Co-Founder of Pigmalion Studios 

For Marcelo Klein, Enablis member and CEO of Pigmalion Studios, it was the Enablis Circles that first caught his attention. “The E-Circles are a place of trust where you can tell fellow entrepreneurs what you are thinking, feeling and going through, both as a company and personally,” says Marcelo. “We call our E-Circle: Vegas. That’s because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas and it’s the same for what is said during E-Circle peer support meetings.” Marcelo also credits his Enablis mentor as one of the biggest influencers on his business life. “He has experience taking a company from 2 people to 250 in under two years. We meet every two weeks to discuss what’s going on in Pigmalion Studios. It has made a huge impact for me and Pigmalion.”

With a focus on mobile applications and services, Pigmalion Studios develops technology solutions for clients like Visa, Forbes Argentina and others. They’ve been in business for four years. “When we first started out in mobile, our clients just didn’t understand the power of mobile technology for business. Now mobile technology is huge and we’re growing fast and steady!” In addition to their early start in mobile technology, “another big differentiator is our people,” says Marcelo. “I have two clients: our consumers and our employees. Our people are our key to success. We focus on hiring not only key techs, but good people.” Because of connections formed through Enablis, Marcelo expects to expand operations to the rest of Latin America, Europe and the U.S. over the next five years.

But, Pigmalion Studios isn’t the only organization looking to expand operations. “Five years from now, I’d love for Enablis to be in Chile, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and maybe even start our first chapter in Asia,” says Rose. What’s holding Enablis back from growth? “Because we are a non profit we have to figure out how to make a big impact with small resources,” cautions Rose. “We have to stay lean and we have to be super focused on creating an entrepreneurial movement from the base. We have to become an exponential organization.” Rose believes that if Enablis can stay lean and think exponentially, the organization will expand rapidly and continue to influence entrepreneurial growth in the developing world.