In the framework of the activities that took place during the South by Southwest SXSW 2019 festival, some exponents agreed that Latin America has become less than five years old in a market of opportunities for small businesses.
This is despite the fact that everyone knows that competing against the technological giants of Palo Alto, California is very risky for a startup at an early stage to thrive.
According to the CEO of Bitso, Daniel Vogel, in the case of Mexico, the opportunities in terms of financial services are underestimated. Because although the country lacks sufficient infrastructure to provide access to banking for all inhabitants. There are 110 million telephone lines in the country and 85% of Mexicans has a smartphone.
For its part, the CEO and co-founder of Runa, an HR firm that facilitates and organizes work payroll for companies. Courtney McColgan shared his experience as Cabify CMO and as in five years it was possible that a company that copied the concept of Uber, grew its value in that time from 20 million dollars to 1,500 million dollars thanks to the loyalty of employees and their commitment to the company.
In terms of financing, the co-founder of Platzi, Christian Van Der Herst, said that a world as connected as the digital age, it is possible to get investors even through social networks.
How to open paths despite the barriers
In this sense, the original co-founder of Colombia said that as well as Latinos know how to dance. They also know how to open paths despite the barriers that may arise in the matter of obtaining seed capital to start running their businesses.
“The biggest obstacle between an entrepreneur and his dream is execution,” Vogel said and said accelerators such as Y Combinator, Endeavor and others have created a bridge between Silicon Valley and Latam for small entrepreneurs to receive investment and mentoring.
This is what has contributed to the strengthening of the ecosystem of startups. To these success stories inspire more entrepreneurs to take risks. And in turn, enter more money into the region, concluded the panelists. And assured that like the models of business in Asia. The opportunities in Latin America are in solving local problems.
Also published on Medium.