Starting a new business, bringing a new proposal to the market, is a difficult and risky task. But, for an entrepreneur who has the courage to do it, it represents an opportunity to create their own career and business path. At the country level, although it is true that our economy has continued to grow, the only way to continue this trajectory is through innovation and entrepreneurship, which is why it is also a national priority.
We must highlight the recent relaunch of the National Entrepreneurship Network (RD Emprende), with a new directive headed by the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE), as well as the CONFIE Fund.
Let’s look at some of these aspects and how they can serve as catalysts for the national entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Few people are aware of Law 688-16 on the promotion of entrepreneurship, a very interesting piece of great value that is being tried to be put into practice on a larger scale. One of the aspects that it develops is the creation of RD Emprende, an organization attached to the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Mipymes (MICM), which is open to private institutions and with an honorary character, and which will develop policies and actions for the promotion of entrepreneurship in the country.
RD Emprende has a public-private nature, with the purpose of identifying improvements in bureaucratic procedures and other related elements to promote entrepreneurship. Likewise, it is in charge of promoting programs for the promotion and technical improvement of entrepreneurship, that is, educating entrepreneurs so that they can develop their projects to a successful end.
The functions of RD Emprende can be of great importance in helping to create and improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Dominican Republic, since it can adopt policies and offer education, guidelines, and other assistance that entrepreneurs require. While it is true that the Network has been in existence for a few years, it has been given further impetus by some recent efforts, and we hope that it will continue to develop.
Hand in hand with RD Emprende there is also the Financial Counterpart Fund for the Development of Entrepreneurship, better known as the CONFIE Fund, which existed prior to the Network (although only for a few months). CONFIE is a financing instrument that grants loans through calls in different productive sectors of the country. This loan is approved by reviewing a business plan and consists of a 48-month term where the first 18 are totally free of payments, both interest and principal.
In this sense, the Fund is an excellent tool to promote entrepreneurship, offering soft financing that these new businesses require. What is interesting is that the Fund received, for the first time in its history, a batch of already available funds, so now it will also be given the task of starting this task of project evaluation. It is another impulse for entrepreneurship, an essential key to national development.