Think Big” meeting gathered more than 500 entrepreneurs to advise them on sales, finance and digitalization

After the closing of the Impulso Chileno call, to which more than 22,600 entrepreneurs applied, the Luksic Foundation held the Piensa en Grande meeting in the Metropolitan Region, a day that brought together more than 500 entrepreneurs and was designed so that they could acquire new tools to boost the growth of their businesses and generate contact networks.

During the activity, participants had access to personalized advice and informative modules on topics such as value proposition and business model, strategy, sales, finance, digitalization, among others, from companies and institutions such as Mercado Libre, Cencosud, Starken, Transbank, Buk and the Taxpayer Ombudsman’s Office, together with organizations such as Corporación Simón de Cirene, Nubox, Bsale and Kodea, which offered practical tools and advice to attendees.

Also participating were Natalia Duco and Stefan Kramer, who shared their trajectory and reflections with the entrepreneurs. The sportswoman, and today also an entrepreneur, spoke about the value of learning from mistakes: “There will be falls and doubts, but the ability to tolerate failure is what makes you grow”. She also invited to think big: “Chile has a lot of talent; we can contribute to the world”.

“It became clear to me that you always have to put the numbers in the balance and keep control of costs. I also learned the importance of doing simple, cheap and quick tests to know what works,” said Romina Moya, the entrepreneur behind Dolce Mito pastry shop, with five years of experience and three years with an open store, who participated in the meeting.

More and more people seek independence and work-family balance

Currently, the unemployment rate reaches 8.6% and micro, small and medium-sized companies generate more than half of the formal employment in Chile. According to data from the Ministry of Economy and INE (Radiografía de los Microemprendedores, 2023), people in Chile undertake entrepreneurship mainly for reasons related to labor flexibility. Among men, the main reasons are linked to lack of employment: 25.4% did so because they were unable to find work and 19.1% after being laid off. In the case of women, 39.7% decided to become entrepreneurs in order to have flexibility and thus make their business compatible with caregiving tasks.

“Supporting entrepreneurship can not only boost the economy, it also strengthens the well-being of thousands of families in Chile. Behind every business there are people who seek stability, independence or to reconcile work with care roles. It is important that both the private and public worlds strengthen their efforts and resilience, because when an entrepreneur grows, he or she improves the life of his or her family and also dynamizes his or her environment, creating opportunities and services that did not exist before,” explained Macarena Cea, general manager of Fundación Luksic.

Cencosud pointed out that many entrepreneurs believed that entering retail was impossible. They explained to the entrepreneurs that the first step is to comply with basic sanitary protocols and that, with the right support, their products can be sold in large stores.

For its part, the Simon of Cyrene organization’s network of mentors worked with entrepreneurs to prioritize and evaluate their business strategies: defining the right segment, planning how to scale the venture, deciding when to charge for their services and projecting growth to reach more users.

Stories that inspire

Paola González, an entrepreneur from Ovalle with an empanada business, shared how her family business became an engine of opportunities: “Since we have had the business we have been able to move forward, improve our quality of life and contribute to the city, so that people do not have to leave Ovalle to access these types of services”.

After taking over her father’s business after his death, Paola kept the family recipe alive and today has plans to expand first regionally and later nationally. Today, thanks to her efforts, her daughter was able to study a university degree in Santiago, demonstrating how entrepreneurship can open doors for the whole family.

Alejandra Andrea Caliche decided to transform her passion into an enterprise that is reaching more and more people. After working for 20 years as a cleaning lady and watching her children grow up, she began to create rag dolls, inspired by the Christmas nights when her mother embroidered gifts for her siblings due to lack of resources.

What started as a gesture of affection became a business that is growing by recommendation and is now looking to expand beyond its community.

Launching of the “Entrepreneur’s Compass”.

Within the framework of the meeting, the Entrepreneur’s Compass, a new digital tool developed by the Luksic Foundation that provides personalized information and content to entrepreneurs according to the level of progress of each business, was officially unveiled.

“Many times entrepreneurs are so focused on the day-to-day that they fail to review the organization of their business. With La Brújula del Emprendedor we invite them to pause, plan and think big again,” said Cristián Schalper, director of Entrepreneurship at Fundación Luksic.

Through a brief diagnostic form, people can learn which areas of their entrepreneurship need to be strengthened, as well as access specific content and tools to enhance it.

The objective is to accompany entrepreneurs, providing useful guidance tailored to their current challenges. As the foundation explains, “there are no right or wrong answers: the more realistic the diagnosis, the greater the value of the support that the platform can offer”.