GEM Chile 2011 Report Published

14-May-2012

About 24% of the Chilean population is currently involved in early stage entrepreneurial activity

The report was launched on 10th May 2012 in SOFOFA (the National Society of Industry) and was introduced by the Sub Secretary of Economic Affairs, Tomás Flores, who talked about government policy towards entrepreneurship and how GEM deals with the national entrepreneurship ecosystem. 

Also present at the launch were the General Secretary of SOFOFA, Cristóbal Philippi, Rector of Universidad del Desarrollo, Federico Valdés and president of Movistar Chile, Claudio Muñoz, among other researchers, academics and key figures in the world of entrepreneurship.

GEM estimates that in Chile, 24% of the adult population between 18 and 64 years is considered an early stage entrepreneur - an increase of over 7 percentage points on 2010.

About 50% of Chilean entrepreneurs are motivated by opportunity, while 33.2% do so out of necessity. "There is a significant increase in entrepreneurial activity in the country. Many people are getting involved in the creation of new companies, which is very positive. The challenge is to refine both the supply and demand for innovative entrepreneurship” says Jose Ernesto Amorós, research director of the School of Business and Economics at UDD and the coordinator of GEM Chile.

This report includes a special topic on entrepreneurial employee activity (EEA) or intra-preneurship. In Chile this phenomenon is not widespread - it is estimated that only about 3.5% of the adult population between 18 and 64 is an entrepreneur who works within an organization. Of these, 70% of the EEA comes from private companies for profit and the remaining 30% of the public sector or NGOs.

According to the report, the main barriers to the development of entrepreneurship in Chile are "transfer of R & D" and "Financial Support". However, the report notes that local entrepreneurship experts perceive an improvement in government support for entrepreneurship, both in terms of policy and pro-enterprise programs. The same experts also highlight the economic climate in 2011 as a strong driver of entrepreneurial activity.