What are the biggest challenges facing Uruguayan entrepreneurs, according to experts?

Coffee & Business spoke with the heads of three entrepreneurship centers of some of the Uruguay’s most representative universities to see first-hand what their reality is in the current situation.

The differential of the Uruguayan entrepreneur

“A differential characteristic of the successful Uruguayan entrepreneur is his ability to read market trends very well, identify cutting-edge technologies, and apply them in innovative ways. This allows them, with few resources, to launch innovative projects to the world”, said the director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at ORT University, Enrique Topolansky.

“An entrepreneur must have vision, focus, be organized, have a very good self-awareness and, above all, passion for what he does or wants to do, take risks, and be resilient”, expressed, for her part, the person in charge of Operations of the Julio Ricaldoni Foundation, Andrea Solari. This organization, linked to the Faculty of Engineering of the University of the Republic, focuses on supporting “scientific-technological ventures, which are generally entrepreneurs with university education who look at the world and not just the domestic market,” Solari explained. .

For the reference from Ithaka, the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship of the Catholic University of Uruguay, Virginia Cancela, the main characteristic of the local entrepreneur “is that he is prepared to go out into the world, and it seems obvious, but when you come across entrepreneurs from other parts of the world, that is what most attracts their attention”. And he added: “You know that to grow you have to go out into the foreign market. However, for entrepreneurs who live in countries where each city is a market, it is very difficult for them to internationalize”.

Enrique Topolansky, director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the ORT University

The biggest challenges

Asked what are the greatest challenges that the Uruguayan must face when undertakingSolari expressed that, in general, the success or failure of a project is linked to its environment.

“Yes ok In Uruguay there is a strong and consolidated ecosystemwhich promotes and encourages the emergence of companies and ventures, generates synergies, promotes support laws and helps reduce the initial risk of the process, there are always aspects to improve”, developed the also engineer.

“Some of the difficulties that Uruguayans face when starting a business are ignorance of company types, creation and maintenance costs. The rights of the worker do not apply to entrepreneursthey do not have a medical society or unemployment insurance, and with the tax forms, which do not help the initial development or gradual scaling”, added Solari.

Likewise, the referent of the center of the Faculty of Engineering asserted that the access to financing and few initiatives in primary and secondary educationlinked to the area of ​​entrepreneurship or entrepreneurial culture, are also a must for Uruguayan entrepreneurs.

On the other hand, Cancela expressed that, “although in recent years a lot of progress has been made in the Uruguayan entrepreneurial ecosystem and there are many initiatives that make launching an entrepreneurship a little less risky, there are still obstacles, such as the Lack of business contact networks and articulation with the industrial sector”.

“Also there is a business culture that does not always value risk and innovationwhich can make it difficult for new companies to grow and consolidate”, explained the head of Ithaka.

ICU

Virginia Cancela, reference of the Centro Ithaka Center, of the Catholic University of Uruguay

“Uruguayan technology-based entrepreneurs face different challenges depending on the stage of their business,” Topolansky said. The first challenges happen when trying to validate the business idea, in a market that is small, traditional and very competitive without losing sight of the global scenario to which they should aim”, he began.

In a second stage, when the business model is validated, “the challenge is to grow and expand internationally from Uruguay. In this stage, topics such as overcoming the shortage of specialized talent”, added the also businessman.

“The exponential growth of the ICT (information technology) sector has made specialized talent scarce, even though every day there are more students who opt for technological careers. At ORT this year we had a record of admissions of new students in the engineering faculty”, detailed the referent of that university.

The current entrepreneurial ecosystem

“The entrepreneurial ecosystem has grown a lot in recent years and has become more professional,” Cancela said. about the current reality of the current entrepreneurial framework. The referent expressed that the program of Uruguay Innovation Hubwhich is being developed by the Ministry of Industry, is a symptom of that reality and will become an important tool for Uruguayan entrepreneurs.

Likewise, Cancela expressed that it is essential “attract international investment funds that invest in startups and generate acceleration programs”.

For his part, Topolansky explained that The Uruguayan entrepreneurial ecosystem entered “a phase of exponential acceleration” And that this is due to multiple factors. The most transcendental —from his perspective— are the “consolidation of public and private actors that offer high-quality support services to entrepreneurs.”

In second place is “the establishment in Uruguay of world-class companies, mainly from the United States, Europe and Argentina, which lead to increasing this dynamism,” he added.

The third factor is the opening of Uruguay, especially the IT sector, to the world. This is added to the “country’s telecommunications, internet and mobile infrastructure that positions it in the first places in America”, he developed.

Finally, Topolansky highlighted “the high level of training” in the country in terms of human resources.

Faculty of Engineering of the University of the Republic

Andrea Solari, in charge of Operations of the Julio Ricaldoni Foundation

Solari, for his part, highlighted the importance of various organizations and institutions that support and guide different local enterprisessuch as the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), the National Development Agency (ANDE) and the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU).

“Uruguay is an ideal country to test, it is a pilot country, and for this reason many large companies and brands set up offices here. We have the highest GDP in South America and we are the country with the least social inequality in the region. These economic and social conditions constitute a strong and solid foundation for the generation of sustainable ventures based on innovation”, concluded the referent of the Ricaldoni Foundation.