Peru and Paraguay are set to promote technological development through entrepreneurship due to its potential for employment creation and contribution to GDP growth.

Daniel Sanchez, deputy Minister of Employment and Social Security of Paraguay, met with representatives of City Incubators in Lima. City Incubators is a Peruvian startups incubator that the government chose to implement the program “ADN del Emprendedor”.

During the meeting, the parties analyzed the results of the first generation of the program, pointing out the launching of products in 24 hours, the fast growth of sales among certain startups, and the recognition gained in contests.

The most important considerations to promote economic development through entrepreneurship and innovation are the following:

1. Technical Education vs University Education: The program is promoted by the National Service of Professional Promotion (SNPP), which delivers courses and technical careers on a national level. Graduates are a source of projects for the program to develop new startups or promote innovation in existing firms. Representatives from both countries agreed on the fact that more technical people, and not business people, are needed to develop startups. “I have seen people with no postgraduate degrees develop businesses ten times better that people with MBA’s”, said Álvaro Zárate, founder of City Incubators. “I am glad that Paraguay is starting to appreciate technical work as places like Silicon Valley already do. In Peru, we tend to admire certain university degrees, when the actual fact is that, when it comes to entrepreneurship, a college degree is not as important as we think”, he said.
2. Innovative startups have a double impact on employability: the creation of startups provides work for their founders, but also brings along opportunities for users, such as new and innovative collaborative business models that help people generate additional sources of income (Uber drivers, or Airbnb house owners).
3. The importance of monitoring entrepreneurs: there are excellent initiatives in both countries to train entrepreneurs, but there is a lack of proper monitoring to check out whether the content learnt helps them to become sustainable or grow. “It is not about organizing events and waiting for things to happen”, says Luis Zavaleta, Program Manager at City Incubators. “Proper support includes challenges such as meticulous control of metrics and flexible follow up of the entrepreneur’s reality”, he explains. Both groups agree on the fact that resources are wasted when there is not a proper monitoring of whether there is added value in the mid and long term.

Álvaro Zárate of City Incubators is completely open for Paraguayans projects to be evaluated by their incubators and investors, and to access development opportunities beyond their borders.