Those of us who work in entrepreneurial ecosystem We are convinced that entrepreneurship is a key factor, not only for economic development, but also for social development. In addition to new offers of products and services, job creation or increased competitiveness of a country; the Entrepreneurship has the ability to increase the income level of the entrepreneurthus generating social mobility and therefore improving the quality of life of entrepreneurs.
Of course, all these benefits are obtained when the enterprises manage to overcome the main barriers to consolidate as companies. Entrepreneurship entails a difficulty from its definition.
However, is it possible that entrepreneurship is easier for some people than for others? This is the premise of the study. Advantages and Disadvantages of undertaking in Mexico, which we carried out at Impact Hub Mexico City in collaboration with Meta. The first study of its kind with which we wanted to obtain hard data on how certain aspects or personal characteristics of entrepreneurs impact access to opportunities for their ventures.
Undertaking… does it depend on your skin tone?
Through a digital survey, we obtained information from 1,016 people from all over the country, about their experience of undertaking in Mexico. We asked them if their skin tone, socioeconomic or educational level, age and gender had had any impact, positive or negative, on access to support such as financing, public programs, incubators or accelerators, university programs or points of sale.
In this study we detect that entrepreneurship can be considered a privilege.
It is important to point this out, since the personal characteristics mentioned are not usually considered as determinants of the success or failure of companies; however, to some extent they are.
Skin tone can become an obstacle to entrepreneurshipat least that is how 58.3% of entrepreneurs with dark skin tone and low socioeconomic level shared it with us, who perceive that these factors are negative for the growth of their businesses.
If, in addition to skin tone, we consider the socioeconomic level, the educational level, or the region where it is undertaken, the inequality gap increases. According to the study, the international scope in entrepreneurship is related to light skin tone, while entrepreneurs with brown or dark skin have little chance of transcending outside their hometowns.
Advantages and disadvantages of entrepreneurship
According to our report, 61.3% of entrepreneurs in the country are of medium or high socioeconomic status. This background gives them an advantage, since 3 out of 10 entrepreneurs with a medium-high socioeconomic level recognize that their condition had a considerable influence when starting a business.
On the other hand, 4 out of 10 entrepreneurs in Mexico claim to have been discriminated against at some point in their career due to their income level.
This disadvantage is also reflected when requesting some financing, since 1 out of 2 entrepreneurs with low socioeconomic conditions and a dark skin tone recognize that both conditions have affected them when seeking said opportunity.
A positive note of the study is that it is observed that entrepreneurship improves the economic situation of people. 50% of entrepreneurs with a low socioeconomic level of origin were able to move towards the middle class or upper class after starting their business. Also 20% of entrepreneurs of medium socioeconomic level managed to enter the upper social class. Only 2 out of 10 have not managed to move from the low socioeconomic level.
However, there are opportunities
Without a doubt, there is a great opportunity in entrepreneurship as a mechanism for economic, social and personal development in our country. But unfortunately it is not being used to support those who can most benefit from it. The important thing is not to take these data as a condemnation, but as a call to action for all promoters of entrepreneurship in Mexico.
To know the details of the results on the Advantages and Disadvantages of entrepreneurship in Mexico, I invite you to download it for free from the Impact Hub Mexico City page and share the data that you find most interesting and your opinions about it. The more voices we add to the conversation, the better and more inclusive the Mexican entrepreneurial ecosystem will be.
Mario Romero Mario Romero is Managing Director of Impact Hub Mexico City