Transforming entrepreneurship in Latin America and the Caribbean

Hasan Tuluy

By Hasan Tuluy

 

Creative entrepreneurs are not byproducts of development. They are job creators and critical drivers of it. For Latin America, where productivity growth has remained lacklustre even during the recent commodity boom, encouraging the rise of a dynamic entrepreneur is essential to sustain and expand the economic and social gains achieved in the past decade.

Hasan Tuluy
Hasan Tuluy

The good news is that Latin America and the Caribbean is a region of entrepreneurs. Indeed, the share of entrepreneurs, employers, and formal businesses is larger than other regions at similar income levels. Nearly one of every three workers in Latin America is self-employed or a small employer and, contrary to popular belief, the share of formally registered firms is also comparably large.

But not all entrepreneurs are created equal. According to a new World Bank report,