THE GENESIS AND EVOLUTION OF PUERTO RICO’S ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM AND WHAT’S NEEDED TO CHARGE AHEAD
Few people know that in 2010 Puerto Rico pioneered the first multistakeholder entrepreneurship ecosystem project in the world. Led by the Island’s most successful entrepreneurs in partnership with the Department of Economic Development, the Puerto Rico Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project tapped the world’s experts in entrepreneurship to help strengthen its entrepreneurial ecosystem with the goal of spawning high growth entrepreneurs on a sustainable basis and igniting economic growth in a much shorter time frame than would otherwise occur naturally. Despite significant early wins, the project didn’t go on to a second phase; in many ways, our ecosystem at the time was too nascent.

Fast forward 12 years, and today, our entrepreneurship ecosystem looks nothing like it did in 2010. We have more ecosystem support organizations than ever before working together to fill gaps in entrepreneurial programs and services, world-class accelerators and programs attracting talented entrepreneurs from all over the world, and local startups raising millions of dollars in venture capital to fuel their international growth.

However, we still have a lot of work to do to reach that 2010 goal. If we want to become a world-recognized hotbed of entrepreneurship, then we must produce more high potential entrepreneurs, generating larger and more visible exits that can in turn trigger a virtuous cycle of repeat entrepreneurs starting up again and investing in other startups.

Although there is no silver bullet, there are at least 3 strategies that could help us move the needle:
1. Push our leaders to create a more entrepreneur-friendly business environment with less red tape, faster permitting, simpler tax codes and more stability and support in the existing tax incentive program;
2. Create an ongoing and world-class mentorship program for high potential entrepreneurs; and
3. Work on our tech talent pipeline to fuel fast-growing startups by supporting local coding bootcamps and creating incentives to attract world-class technologists to the Island.

Sofia Stolberg is the CEO of Piloto 151 coworking spaces and PilotoMail. She has worked alongside Babson to strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems internationally and co-founded Colmena66, a program that connects entrepreneurial support organizations in Puerto Rico with each other and with entrepreneurs at all stages.