Usually success and failure stories are written when we talk about entrepreneurship, let´s talk about the impact that have been the entrepreneurial programs, camps and the startup lab community to build an entrepreneurial community in the city of San Luis Potosí.
The city of San Luis Potosi has pioneered to be one of the first municipalities in Mexico that have taken to become a solid entrepreneurial city steps. This has been possible thanks to the efforts of the Economic Development Department, and the incubator Startup Lab which has implemented two major initiatives to strengthen the competitive position, sustainability and the economic viability of the region, The San Luis Entrepreneurial Institute (SLEI) is an organism created in July 2013, which come up from the formation of a special Council which also collaborate with Universities, Research Centers, Business and Government Organizations, and seek to strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the city through implementation of initiatives to encourage the business creation, in particular those based in knowledge.
Altogether, these initiatives aim to strengthen the business structure of the San Luis Potosi city to attack two important fronts. First, the San Luis Entrepreneurial Institute performance aims to strengthen the skills and capabilities in strategic citizen groups (students at high school level and above, entrepreneurial women and vulnerable groups), from various programs, courses (My First Business, Incubated your Incubator) and events hosted by Startup Lab (Startup Weekend, Startup Cup, Startup Weekend NEXT, Startup U) as well as the entrepreneurship sensitization (Entrepreneur Day).
With the initiative to launch a new program like Startup Grind provides to local people share their experience to new entrepreneurs and inspire in a different way, giving them the real view about the challenge they had to face every day in their entrepreneurial way. We believe this program can be easily adapted to our city. One of their main strengths is that this program provides support at different stages of the entrepreneurial journey, from the development of intention and favorable perceptions until the creation of companies, creating opportunities for collaboration and discussion about different aspects of entrepreneurship, to build ecosystems where entrepreneurs engage government, educational institutions and industry. One of the most important things we have learned is that the coworking spaces have an important role for the initiatives entrepreneurial business strengthening and networking.
We are excited about launching and hosting Startup Grind, and we hope we can deeply touch all the local entrepreneurs to join us and share with us the amazing new experience for San Luis Potosí and all the community from Startup Lab.
Jimena Gallegos