School for Startups helps Colombian Creative Startups Go Global

SOUTH WEST LONDON, U.K. - June 23, 2016 - PRLog -- School for Startups (www.schoolforstartups.net) hosted a program in London this Spring for young creative companies and representatives of organizations that support entrepreneurship from Colombia. The program was a partnership with Colombia's Ministerio de Cultura (the Culture Ministry) and Innpulsa Colombia (the Innovation Agency).

Eight of the most promising young creative companies in Colombia spent a week in London as part of School for Startups' Creative Colombia Program. In addition, seven representatives of Colombian organizations involved in the support of startups joined the program in London. The two groups received seven days of training and support by School for Startups' founder Doug Richard and site visits to London's best accelerators and a pitch day to investors.

The program had two goals. The first was to help young companies in the Creative Industries supercharge their business model, grow globally and become role models of success for the rest of the creative industry in Colombia. The second goal was to help public entities develop their own capacity to provide support, see how entrepreneurship support works in London and to see the School for Startups model in action.

According to Doug Richard the founder of School for Startups, "Our mission is to drive economic prosperity through entrepreneurship. We recognize that one cannot just import "silicon valley style" programs to emerging countries and expect success. We have to be sensitive to the local context. In fact, the best programs leave behind the capacity for local organizations to support young companies and startups themselves. Our goal with this program has been to help the Colombian government stimulate the creative industries and develop local capacity to do the same after the program finished."

He continued, "We were impressed with the caliber of the entrepreneurs and the folks providing support. It was an amazing week and we are looking forward to continuing our partnerships."

Eduardo Savaria Díaz, Advisor to the Cultural Entrepreneurship Group at the Ministry of Culture, noted that, "For the Entrepreneurship Group of the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, it is very important to participate in programs that encourage the vision of creative entrepreneurship in Colombia. Given the UK's global success in the creative industries and London's role in particular as a hub for Creative Entrepreneurs, we felt that the School for Startups program would open new opportunities for our young companies and would help our own support organizations gain another perspective on how to best support our creative entrepreneurs. That is why we chose to partner with Innpulsa Colombia and the School For Startups."

The companies on the program were:

·       Below The Game - Carlos Augusto Quintero Duque

·       Radio Mixticius -Silvia Ojeda Acosta

·       Domo Animato Sas - Daniel Arce

·       Eulogio: Dibujos Animados - Uldy Margarita Maria Cortes Buriticá

·       Tambora Records S.A.S - Juan Sebastián Bastos

·       Hermanos Brothers - Andrés Felipe Jiménez

·       Efectos Studios -  Eivar Rojas

·       Toquica Estudio -Andres Toquica

The representatives of the support organizations were:

·       Corporación Ruta N - Paula Andrea Roldán May

·       Conexiones Creativas | Corporación CCCreativas  -Conrado Alberto Uribe Pereira

·       Cartagena Chamber of Commerce  - Maria Claudia Paez Mallarino

·       Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá -  Adriana Patricia del Pilar Padilla Leal

·       EAN University, Arts Management program -Juan Pablo García Rodríguez

·       Caja de Compensación Familiar del Valle del Cauca - Comfandi          Diana Marcela Ledesma Gonzalez

·       Macondo Lab -Natalia Muñoz Rozo

Editors Note:

About School for Startups

School for Startups was started by Doug Richard in 2008 to teach entrepreneurship. In the ensuing 8 years School for Startups has taught over 40,000 people on three continents and five countries. Its goals have broadened to helping creating economic prosperity through entrepreneurship around the world, and its current focus is on helping to create local capacity to support entrepreneurship and providing policy advice to governments on how to accelerate the entrepreneurial economy.

For more information about School for Startups visit our website at www.schoolforstartups.co.uk or contact us by email at contact@schoolforstartups.net.

About INNpulsa Colombia

iNNpuIsa Colombia is the national government agency that supports and promotes entrepreneurship, innovation and productive development of the Colombian business ecosystem, through instruments and programs that potentiate the capabilities of our beneficiaries, mobilizing financial resources, technical support and positively influencing the mindset and business culture of the country, in order to contribute to the goal of Colombia as the third most innovative and competitive Latin American country in 2025.

About the Ministry of Culture of Colombia

El Ministerio de Cultura   es la entidad rectora del sector cultural colombiano y tiene como objetivo formular, coordinar, ejecutar y vigilar la política del Estado en materia cultural. Es una organización que actúa de buena fe, con integridad ética y observa normas vigentes en beneficio de la comunidad y sus propios funcionarios. El Ministerio de Cultura propenderá por una Colombia creativa y responsable de su memoria, donde todos los ciudadanos sean capaces de interactuar y cooperar con oportunidades de creación, disfrute de las expresiones culturales, en condiciones de equidad y respeto por la diversidad.

The Ministry of Culture is the governing body of the Colombian cultural sector and aims to formulate, coordinate, implement and monitor state policy in cultural matters. It is an organization that acts in good faith, with integrity and observes ethical norms for the benefit of the community and its own officials. The Ministry of Culture strives for a creative Colombia that is sensitive to its cultural traditions, where all citizens are able to interact and have access to with creative opportunities, enjoyment of cultural expression, in conditions of equality and respect for diversity.