Colombia is a diversified economy with good growth prospects. It has a strong enabling environment for starting and growing a business along with an entrepreneurial culture. However, stark inequality may be one of the biggest impediments to its future security and stability as it enters into a new era of peace. Inclusive development for rural and vulnerable populations will be crucial to enabling peace and security. This type of development can be fostered through entrepreneurship and enterprise growth that reaches marginalised communities. In contrast to other countries in Latin America, access to finance is not perceived as the biggest barrier to growth. Nor is corruption. The practices of the informal sector are considered the biggest inhibitor. Greater formalization and development of the informal sector thus should be a priority for ecosystem interventions.

 

Key findings

The entrepreneurial ecosystem as it currently stands is driven by the government and implemented in regional urban hubs by local chambers of commerce. It is a fragmented ecosystem that lacks diversity, sustainability and reach. The growth of the ecosystem is evolving to serve tech and digital opportunities and it may leave the marginalized rural populations behind. There are high quality organisations in Colombia that are supporting different types of businesses. These organisations have the potential to grow their offering, connect more with each other through collaborations, and prepare enterprises for investment. An active impact investment community is ready to offer financing if they can find the right investable businesses. Funders and organisations need however to fill gaps to ensure a holistic approach to SME growth.

Other resources

  • ANDE's ecosystems mappings library contains other useful resources, indexed by region and country.

About Argidius’ mappings

We regularly commission SME ecosystems mappings in our target geographies. These studies are intended to give contextual overview and shed light on the challenges and opportunities for SME development and poverty alleviation. They include an inventory of service organisations and an analysis of the services landscape including areas of unfulfilled needs (gaps) Argidius use these maps to help identify organisations positioned to address these gaps.