Colombia has a National Entrepreneurship Policy (the so-called CONPES POLICY 4011 of 2020). The purpose of this policy is to generate conditions that facilitate, in the entrepreneurship ecosystem, the creation, sustainability, and growth of any startup that contribute to the generation of income, wealth, and increases in productivity and the internationalization of Colombian companies and enterprises.
This policy includes precise measures established to accomplish the following goals:
- To strengthen the development of strengths and abilities, and foster a entrepreneurship culture.
- To improve access to and the sophistication of financing mechanisms.
- To strengthen marketing and sales networks and strategies.
- To facilitate technological development and innovation in startups.
- To strengthen the institutional architecture that provides enabling conditions for the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
This policy articulates with Law 2069 of 2020 (or Entrepreneurship Law), which establishes the regulatory framework for startups and the consolidation of sustainable companies and enterprises in the country. These provisions of the law provide leverage for the needs of small and micro companies, especially for them to increase productivity and growth, to remove red tape, add strengths and abilities to them, generate innovation and strengthen the ability to create business associations so that they may articulate into the main value chains.
The measures adopted by this Law include the following:
- The establishment of different rates/fees for the initial registration and changes, renewals, and updates of registration with the national medications and foods oversight agency, INVIMA, being the micro-companies and small farmers exempted from paying these rates/fees.
- Changes in departmental registration tax rates and the removal of certain paperwork red tape requirements that increase costs.
- Fostering the access of micro-companies to the public procurement market, by special conditions and criteria that apply to them and that enable them to participate more actively in the market. This they would do by making ‘minimum quantity contracts’ with state companies.
- The strengthening of INNpulsa, for this agency to become the only agency managing public resources for startups, to increase the effectiveness and access to financing and improve articulation with the private sector. Besides, a new income tax credit is established for donations made to this agency.
- The strengthening of financing alternatives such as angel investor networks and risk equity funds. Some of the funds that are being promoted by the law are the so-called Fondo Mujer Emprende, which is earmarked for women’s startups and enterprises; the so-called Special Fund managed by ICETEX, designed to provide economic, assistance, and formation benefits to entrepreneurs who have obtained credits with this agency; and the so-called Fondo Nacional de Garantías (FNG), which is modified to secure risk investments made in startups and the securing of funds through soft loans, investments and innovative mechanisms such as FinTech and crowdfunding.
- Specific measures for cooperatives and solidarity economy companies; programs to identify, give formation, support, and promote social startups; and the various actions made to promote farming startups.
- Elimination of the grounds for dissolution of companies because of losses, which is replaced by a new condition which is failure to comply with the ongoing concern hypothesis at the close of any given fiscal year.
Promoting the implementation of surveilled experimentation environments (or sandboxes) to facilitate the development of business models with high value-added components, and special rules for “digital nomads”.