Startup Nations delegates, on their way to Monterrey, made a stop at the Startup Mexico (SUM) campus today. A true “campus” that combines the best elements of co-working spaces, accelerators, services to startups, investor funds, SUM impressed members for its feel of a planet made for and built by entrepreneurs.
Marcus Dantus, CEO of SUM, travelled around the world last year with architects who captured the best elements they discovered, and added a local flavor in the three SUM campuses now in place.
A key supporter of this campus project, Mexico’s National Institute of the Entrepreneur (INADEM), and co-host for the Startup Nations Summit (SNS) 2015, took part in the visit to SUM. INADEM President Enrique Jacob personally welcomed SNS delegates on their first stop in learning about the ecosystem.
Not long ago, Mexico was not thought of as a “startup nation.” The fact that the country is convening this week with more than 100 leaders of Startup Nations, reflects the strides the country has made to position its ecosystem globally.
Few countries can relate their improvement in global positioning to the public sector. In Mexico, INADEM, created by the Mexican president in 2013 to tailor instruments according to entrepreneurs’ needs, is an undisputed contributor to the strengthening of the national ecosystem.
Mr. Jacob, described INADEM’s strategy to build partnerships with the private sector and to take a value-chain approach to ecosystem building -- from fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and co-investing in early stage funds, to engaging with the global entrepreneurship community through Startup Nations and the Mexico-United States Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council (MUSEIC).
The Mexico City preamble to the Startup Nations Summit, to be held this weekend in Monterrey, has already made it clear: Mexico is confident that innovative entrepreneurs can find world-class resources here to start and scale.