Santiago Government creates the first Metropolitan Entrepreneurship Hub that will support more than 21 thousand MSMEs

The beneficiaries will be micro, small and medium-sized companies in the Metropolitan Region that are seeking support services to improve their businesses.

The initiative, which was approved today by the Metropolitan Regional Council, will be implemented by Fundación Chile and will be located in the center of the capital.

The Metropolitan Entrepreneurship HUB is an initiative of the Government of Santiago, which seeks to promote the sustainable and inclusive economic development of regional entrepreneurship. The objective is to support more than 7,000 entrepreneurs per year, focusing on boosting new economies and adapting SMEs to future markets, with the focus on facilitating a space where ideas come to life, democratizing access to innovation and entrepreneurship.

This space for entrepreneurship and innovation was approved this Wednesday by the Metropolitan Regional Council, executed in partnership with Fundación Chile, and has funding of more than $4 billion.

The focus will be on the articulation of services and institutions, both public and private, for the guidance, attention and referral of entrepreneurs; and the development of specialized services to generate capacities and create instances of collaborative work and coordination with the rest of the actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The Hub will also provide quality infrastructure for entrepreneurs in the Metropolitan Region, and will be located in the centre of the capital, with a focus on reactivating the sector.

The governor of Santiago, Claudio Orrego , said that “This project comes to support middle-class entrepreneurs, those who are on everyone’s lips, but in no one’s hands. We will give them comprehensive support, through a customer service office, entrepreneurship clinics, technical talks, workshops, a coworking space, among others.” He added that “this is an initiative that was born from the different Advisory Councils and that had a long design and study process of more than two years that was led by the Government of Santiago together with the Universidad del Desarrollo and that has ended with a robust proposal.”

Meanwhile, the executive president of Fundación Chile, Pablo Zamora , highlighted the economic and social results of the project: “We expect an impact in the generation of new jobs, 21 thousand entrepreneurs served and at least 1,300 MSMEs to increase their productivity. We are very happy to assume this responsibility and we will put all our experience, our knowledge and our capabilities at the disposal of this important project that will strengthen the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem.”

Gaps identified in the RM entrepreneurial ecosystem

At the national level, it is estimated that 26% of the working-age population self-identifies as entrepreneurs, with this sector generating nearly 28% of jobs (GEM, 2020). However, in recent years the growth rate contributed by the Metropolitan Region to GDP has been below the national rate, with 1.9% compared to 2.1% nationally.

Among the gaps that were diagnosed in the design process of the Metropolitan Hub, it was identified that there is a significant concentration of resources to support entrepreneurship in the eastern part of the region, where 83% of the coworks, 77% of the incubators and accelerators, and 66% of the HUBs are located. (Universidad del Desarrollo, 2023).

Furthermore, today MSMEs in the RM face low productivity, difficulties in technological adoption and lack of access to training and other specialized services to improve their products or services, especially in areas outside the high-income cone. (Radiografía del Emprendedor Regional, UAI, 2019).

Finally, the service offering in the current ecosystem is divided into three main areas: capabilities and training, financing, and infrastructure. Although there are multiple services available, these are segmented for different levels of sophistication or stages of development, leaving significant gaps for intermediate startups.

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