The "genetic" venture that led Guatemala to lead the region

In the DNA of Guatemalans "there is an entrepreneur there asleep", since 8 out of 10 citizens of the country define themselves as such, the Deputy Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises told EFE Company of the Economy portfolio, Ezrra Orozco.

Guatemala, Nov 17 (EFE) .- In the DNA of Guatemalans "there is an entrepreneur there asleep", since 8 out of 10 citizens of the country define themselves as such, he told Efe Deputy Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises of the Economy portfolio, Ezrra Orozco.

Any country in the region would say that it is a leader in entrepreneurship, but none has the advances that Guatemala has reached, such as a bill to strengthen entrepreneurship that is already discussed in Congress, or a Vice-Ministry of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, such as the one directs Orozco, says the official.

Other Central American countries have support or programs that seek to encourage future entrepreneurs, but with the Vice Ministry "we take advantage", which can be strengthened by the law that would leave a seed capital fund institutionalized "so as not to depend on the personal will of the investors or on the plans of Government ".

Entrepreneurs are already born in Guatemala, they bring it into their genes, despite the fact that according to official figures in Guatemala there are 59.3% of people in poverty and a 23.4% in extreme poverty.

But the difference is that an entrepreneur "does not necessarily have to have a lot of money or little", but needs the spirit of "want and power" undertake, warned the official moments before awarding 15 winning projects of the Emprende GT contest with $ 2,000 each.

The contest was part of the Global Week of the Entrepreneurship, channeled in Guatemala in the Heroes Fest held on November 10 and 11 and attended by more than 2,000 people to listen to speakers of the stature of the Spanish Alberto Levy or the Guatemalan filmmaker Jayro Bustamante.

Anyone looking to undertake, says Orozco, "should not acquire loans for any reason", as it is "the least recommended", but instead, "the gap that exists to promote entrepreneurship is precisely in the seed capital. "

It is not a donation" as a gift of assistance nature ", but the seed capital is "a non-reimbursable investment" that is granted through a jury and methodologies applied in the "entrepreneur ecosystem."

And whoever waters the entrepreneurial ecosystem "are the people who they will have obstacles, limitations, problems in many areas, but like water, they look for the way out. "

Ezrra Orozco is an entrepreneur from the western part of the Central American country, department of San Marcos, where his grandfather started in the textile business.

There was forged this official who knew that nothing would be given away, but he learned to save and manage "capitals risk ", a little money that always saves either to invest or for any eventuality.

Thousands of things can happen that prevent investment or entrepreneurship and in Guatemala there are flagella like that of extortion, which in 2016 affected a rate of 43.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, with 7,125 total complaints, according to data from the National Civil Police.

But, according to Orozco, not even that should prevent it.

In Guatemala, he concludes, "the entrepreneur starts," because "real poverty is not financial but mental".

Those who suffer from hunger do not You can talk about entrepreneurship, he explains - for that you need other types of programs - but "I can talk about entrepreneurship to an illiterate" and, in fact, "to anyone who does some productive activity ", which in Guatemala is 3.6 million people according to the Global Monitoring of Entrepreneurship (GEM, in English).

Emiliano Castro Sáenz