Entrepreneurship is something more

By Hernan Villamizar (Colombia)


The creation of companies and the driving goals of the businesswomen and men behind them is a topic barely addressed in recent economic analyses. At the same time, it is one of the most essential phenomenon of a free market economy and it is what actually brings it to life.


Theoretically, the one and only reason why a firm would originate and the enterpriser be willing to take the risk of financing it, is because there is a market loophole and they expect an economical return on it. That is it.


What amazes me every time I get to talk to company founders, start-up’s managers, self-employees and freelancers, however, is the fact that even if money is an important incentive, creating capital is neither the only purpose, nor is it greatly over proportional in comparison to other objectives they may have.


There is always a bigger reason behind the project façade of profit. Be it social commitment of any sort –with the family, friends or the community– or the hope for further personal development, making some bucks as an end in itself seems to be not enough for even the most conservative business people.


In my view, objectives like time flexibility, economic and creative independence, and the need for challenges are far more urgent necessities for the entrepreneur. They are the exotic spices of that secret recipe which is the start-up company.
That is the story told, not only by the millions of business women and men who have got rid of their employment ties to pursue an own idea, but also by the millions who populate the huge workforce in our informal economies. A story of an ambition that is larger than they are expected to have.


Latin Americans, both in their home and emigration countries, have been driven to take the chances of entrepreneurship for many social and economical pressures. Countries, where they are excluded from the usual labor market or where employment contracts and social security are weak, leave them very often no other possibility than taking the charge for their economic survival into their own hands.


What gives them the power to take the risk and to fight against improbable odds is not only a sense of urgency or survival instinct. Spanish and dance teachers, restaurant and bar owners, hairdressers and shop owners, investors and corporate associates, they all have something in common: ambitioning more!