Entrepreneurship is an opportunity for people excluded from society's formal work to insert in the national or local productive chain, increasing not only the value added of goods and services in the economy, but also the quality of life of its inhabitants by inserting them in the productive chain and thus reducing poverty.

Most programmes and public policies to promote entrepreneurship focus only on the last stage of the entrepreneurial process once the company is set up. Therefore, it is advisable to design public policies that consider business development beyond the development of SMEs, such as, for example, the creation of second-generation business incubators, training, and promotion of business networks, among others.

SELA has come a long way on this issue, conducting for example Courses on Entrepreneurial and Business Development Strategies in Guatemala, at the end of 2011; Cartagena, in 2012; and Caracas, headquarters of the Permanent Secretariat of SELA, and Barquisimeto, where information was provided to representatives of universities and public and private promoters of entrepreneurship on successful methods in some countries of the region.

Studies on entrepreneurship are prepared annually through a methodology called Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), which is used around the world since 1999 and whose results refer specifically to input and output indicators of companies, but also includes indicators of entrepreneurial activity according to motivation. These indicators compare companies that are created to capture an opportunity with those that are established in response to a need or as a means of basic subsistence of the entrepreneur. This comparison is relevant to the countries in the region included in the study, since the percentage of entrepreneurs that respond to a need is very high in several of them. The study highlights some Latin American countries with different activities, including Chile, Peru, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, among others.

In addition, the Kauffman Foundation, based in Kansas City, Missouri, promoted the creation of the Global Entrepreneurship Week, which, through a link by country, stimulates the organization and registration of activities on entrepreneurship during the month of November around the world. These activities include courses, lectures, press conferences, presentation of projects, meetings of entrepreneurs, etc., whose information is collected. Then, a global report on the activities carried out during this week is presented.

Many actions are taken by national and local governments, international and regional institutions, as well as foundations of different types to promote the entrepreneurial culture, stimulate entrepreneurial activities and support entrepreneurs.