"The wealth of a country does not depend on its stock of natural resources, but on the ability of its people to generate new ideas," said Michael Porter when I was at the University, more than 20 years ago… and I believed him.
Before I was 25 years old I had tried to start a florist, a bakery and a software for lawyers, failure after failure I concluded that I am half brute.
Years later, looking up, I realize that my schoolmates and acquaintances who achieved economic success were the ones who developed as employees of large companies. The few who started their company were the ones with deep pockets. My friends who tried to be entrepreneurs without enough pockets or without enough dad, ended up suffering horrible. I suggest the reader do the exercise with their acquaintances.
I feel that it is easy to sell the idea that the more companies there are in the country, there are more jobs, more families pay their bills, more money for the CCSS, more taxes for the government, and in general more social stability that makes us all live better..
Due to the above, there is a concern to understand the reasons that make it so difficult to create (successfully) a new company in my country. The following paragraphs are intended to reflect the reader on this topic:
1. It is not enough to have many, many, many desire to have your own business, you must do something special (extraordinary and different) that people need. Scholars in the field call it "competitive advantage." The people of “Facebook” made extraordinary profits because they did something extraordinary for society, they brought us all closer together.
2. It is very expensive to start a new business because at first the entrepreneur (SMEs) makes many mistakes, and must learn all the details of the business. For this reason, only 1 in 5 new companies transcends the first 5 years of life.
3. The bank does not lend money to a person who has no money, and if the idea is original, it is risky for the bank and investors, so without capital we screwed up; even knowing that intelligence is perfectly well distributed throughout society, and the generation of new and good ideas is not a monopoly of people with resources.
4. If the entrepreneur (SMEs) manages to solve the 3 previous points (competitive advantage, beginner mistakes and initial investment), he realizes that in order to be able to understand his company, his client, his competition, he has to develop a strategy and must understand the elements of the marketing mix (product, promotion, distribution channels and price), in short, you must become an expert in Marketing.
5. To make matters worse, once you start selling, you have to design the step by step of the operation, because otherwise it is a mess that is very expensive, so you have to become an expert in processes and industrial engineering, because the competition is.
6. Then, the staff that help are people with desires and insecurities like any human being, who must be constantly motivated, so the employer (SMEs) must become an expert in organizational order, psychology, motivation and labor laws.
7. In addition, the requirements, procedures and collections of the Caja (CCSS), the INS, the municipality and Taxation are so complicated that the businessman (PyMes) has to become almost a lawyer, an expert in laws, to be able to comply with all the requirements that are asked to operate.
8. Not only that, if the internal network, the data, the software and the computer equipment are not ordered, the information is lost and it is very expensive, so the entrepreneur (SMEs) must become an expert in software and technologies information and communication.
9. Finally, the performance of the company, both past and expected future, must be summarized and presented in the accounting. The entrepreneur (SMEs) must understand what the Financial Statements say, in order to correct what is being done wrong, so he must become an expert in Accounting and Finance.
For all of the above, I think it is almost impossible to be an entrepreneur in Costa Rica, the curious thing is that for every job that the government gives a person, a family lives well, but for every entrepreneur that the country has, his family and of all its employees they live better.
I feel that we must all help each other to create new entrepreneurs:
1. Primary and secondary education should educate thinking and entrepreneurial people, rather than employees. Note that students spend all day memorizing things at a desk, very similar to that of an employee, instead of living what they learn and creating new things with what they learn.
2. Universities must understand what the entrepreneur needs and put aside the European and gringo books. Pragmatic solutions that can be used by entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Costa Rica should be sought. Currently there is a huge gap between university theory and the needs of entrepreneurs (SMEs).
3. Banks must provide money at reasonable risk, where innovation and administrative discipline are encouraged, and the need for collateral is minimized.
4. Accountants and administration professionals must function as a link between university theory and entrepreneurs (SMEs).
5. The government must promote and promote all of the above, because this way it will be able to collect more taxes, the Caja (CCSS) will receive more money, also the municipalities and the whole society as a whole.
It is impossible to be an entrepreneur in Costa Rica, unless we do something about it.
