According to Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter, the engine of economic change is innovation, and the entrepreneur is its main agent. Innovation ranges from the introduction of new products or production methods to the opening of markets and the creation of new industrial or service structures. It is not enough to invent; inventions become innovations only when they are applied to productive processes and adopted by consumers.
The entrepreneur is the one who implements these innovations. Not every businessman or manager is an entrepreneur, since many limit themselves to managing what already exists without exploring new ways of doing things. At the same time, entrepreneurs are not necessarily financial risk-takers; that role belongs to shareholders. What distinguishes entrepreneurs is their ability to create opportunities or detect those that others overlook, using their boldness and imagination.
Without innovation, the economy would stagnate in a static equilibrium, where the accumulation of wealth would come to a halt. The entrepreneur, by seeking profits through innovation, breaks this inertia and transforms the economy into a dynamic process. But what happens in a country where the market, the rules, and the government make success even more difficult for that creator who, by breaking molds and schemes, tries to conquer the market with his innovations? Uncertainty grows, and the resilience of these fighters begins to weaken.
In Guatemala, the innovation process faces major obstacles. Dutch sociologist Geert Hofstede points out that we are one of the countries with the highest aversion to uncertainty in the world, a barrier that prevents the advancement of innovation. Innovation requires a culture willing to accept failure as part of the process. As Thomas Edison said after one thousand failed attempts when inventing the incandescent light bulb in 1879: “I discovered 999 ways not to make a light bulb.” How much resilience is needed not to give up in the face of difficulties and to get the market to adopt a new way of doing things?
To Guatemalan consumers, entrepreneurs, and politicians, I say: let us appreciate these heroes who, despite adversity, dare to innovate and conquer markets. Let us value their products and ingenuity, because they are the promise and the light at the end of the tunnel for a country seeking to develop and compete on the global stage.
According to the World Economic Forum, Guatemala is at the same level as Tanzania, Nigeria, and Senegal in innovation capacity, and shares educational levels with Cameroon and Rwanda. This adverse context limits critical thinking in our educational system, but despite everything, heroes emerge who, against all odds, launch revolutionary products. Examples include the “Happy Meal” and the “McCafé,” inventions by the Guatemalan Cofiño family; BDG, a leading company in software robot services; IUNGO, specialized in process robotics; and Yalutec, the first Guatemalan unicorn dominating the Latin American digital payments market.
That is why it saddens me to see how many entrepreneurs feel abandoned and sometimes even harassed. Recently, an entrepreneur friend wrote to me: “Personally, as a businesswoman, I feel like I’m going backward… I’m exhausted, I don’t even feel like importing products anymore because it offends me that I have to prove to the SAT that I’m not cheating, and even so, pay whatever they say. In the end, they win the battle, even when my argument is fair. It is a fight against power, and I end up letting myself be defeated. I no longer even want to educate the next generation to continue, because the fight is not fair.”
Shouldn’t we ask ourselves what we are doing to support these heroes who continue betting on innovation and the development of our country?
To Guatemalan consumers, entrepreneurs, and politicians, I say: let us appreciate these heroes who, despite adversity, dare to innovate and conquer markets. Let us value their products and ingenuity, because they are the promise and the light at the end of the tunnel for a country seeking to develop and compete on the global stage.
