Working towards building a truly inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem is what has driven Aliança Empreendedora for 20 years. Including people at the base of the pyramid is not a simple task, but the organization highlights some guidelines that allow greater participation of these entrepreneurs. The proposals emerged during the Aliança Empreendedora Summit – A Brief History of the Future of Entrepreneurship, which took place in Brasília in early June.
The event, which is part of the celebrations of 20 years of impact by Aliança Empreendedora, brought together hundreds of entrepreneurs, leaders, and government officials who presented the challenges and discussed solutions to boost this field of the economy. This meeting is an initiative of Aliança Empreendedora and the Empreender 360 Program, in partnership with Bank of America, Instituto Assaí, Fundação Arymax, Coca-Cola Brasil, Mercado Pago, Fundação Grupo Volkswagen, Instituto Lojas Renner, Itaipu Binacional, and Caixa Econômica and Mercado Pago. The discussions resulted in a document outlining the main challenges and potential solutions for each scenario. The full document can be accessed here.
The equitable access to capital and resources is one of the points raised in the document and perhaps the most critical and urgent challenge. ‘For innovation to flourish across all social layers, it is imperative that funding, mentorship, and infrastructure are equally available, breaking barriers of location, gender, ethnicity, or social class,’ comments Lina Useche, co-founder and head of institutional relations at Aliança Empreendedora.
Additionally, creating and making accessible personalized training and development programs and the establishment of support networks and communities were also listed and are essential for the project’s success. ‘These issues are indispensable, first and foremost because no entrepreneur—nor any person—can grow alone, as we live in society,’ explains Lina. It is necessary to develop safe environments, especially for those who feel marginalized, for exchanges and learning.
Finally, the document also points to two paths to overcoming obstacles, which are also prominent social issues: promoting diversity and representation and removing systemic barriers and biases. Both are closely related and concern the plurality of Brazilian society. Creating public policies and eliminating biases that disadvantage certain audiences and groups is urgent to make the entrepreneurial ecosystem more inclusive.
The Brazilian Forum on Microentrepreneurship, an event that was part of the Aliança Empreendedora Summit program, showed that people reinvent themselves, resist, and show solidarity to overcome entrepreneurial challenges. However, this creativity alone is not enough to change the scenario. For that, concrete support, institutional articulation, and public policies are needed—ones that, instead of stifling, cultivate more potential, which is one of Aliança Empreendedora’s missions.
