Currently, about 70 % of the people involved in any entrepreneurial activity in Chile found that there are good business opportunities. These results are part of the study "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, GEM, Chile National Report 2013", which accounts for the main indicators and evolution of entrepreneurial dynamics in the country in 2013.
The report prepared by the Universidad del Desarrollo, School of Business and Economics -released on 5th June, was commented by the Minister of Economy, Luis Felipe Céspedes, who referred to the policies of the new government in favour of entrepreneurship.
According to the study, Chile has excelled in areas related to public policies and programs for entrepreneurship and in this sense, is above the average of OECD countries. In this regard, José Ernesto Amorós, Director of GEM Project Chile, said - " in recent years has consolidated a series of public programs that have aimed to strengthen the development of an important entrepreneurial ecosystem in Chile. This joined with our society increasingly valuation to the entrepreneurs and their activities." --
One of the main figures estimated according to GEM´s methodology for the 2013 is that in Chile 24.3 % of the adult population between 18 and 64 years is considered an early-stage entrepreneur and 11.6% an established one. --"These data demonstrate that entrepreneurial activity in our country continues rising"-- Amorós said.
With regard to the entrepreneur’s motivations, the study found that 76.6 % of the early stage entrepreneurs said it was for a business opportunity, while 20.1 % reported having done so out of necessity. However, 39% of the initial entrepreneurs and 61% of the established are self-employees, although there is a positive expectation that at least 50% of them expected to hire one to five workers during next 5 years.
Regarding the characteristics of the Chilean entrepreneur, this can be defined as a male person, bordering 40 years, middle class, with higher educational degrees. Furthermore, only 12.7% of early-stage entrepreneurs declare that uses new technologies in their business and almost 60 % say they have moderate market expansion.
The main barriers to the development of entrepreneurship in Chile, according to the report, are " R & D Transference" and " Financial Support". However, an improvement was highlighted by the experts on the work of the government, especially in relation to government subsidies.