NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are legendary American entrepreneurs. These giants’ success stories might make it seem as if the United States owns the market when it comes to the secrets of commercial success.

I would argue the opposite is true: Developing nations and emerging markets have important entrepreneurship lessons to teach more affluent counties. Programs within Chile, India and Brazil, for example, have encouraged economic growth and entrepreneurship. These same efforts and principles could be applied to advance the United States even further.

Government Initiatives

Government initiatives in emerging markets have played a crucial role in allowing entrepreneurs to flourish, whether those innovative risk-takers are home-grown or lured from abroad. This state assistance has taken various forms. In 2010, Chile created the first publicly funded startup accelerator in the world. Start-Up Chile attracts budding business innovators by offering $30,000 USD in equity-free funding and a one-year temporary visa along with opportunities for mentoring and coaching. To date, the project has assisted more than 1,400 startups and 4,000 entrepreneurs from 79 different countries — earning Santiago the moniker “Chilecon Valley.”

Photo courtesy of David Weekly.