“The other 6 billion” - impact entrepreneurship in developing countries (en)

LizAn Kuster, Rosanna Lopez, Bahar Kumar While the world is still looking at Silicon Valley, the real innovation happens in developing countries. Coworking Spaces, Innovation Labs, Maker Spaces, Incubators are popping up in many of those buzzing cities full of chaos - and innovation. The sheer amount of problems to be solved in these cities and countries leave unlimited opportunities for entrepreneurs. In addition, there is an interesting opportunity that Makerspaces in the developing world can create for women to develop innovative solutions unique to the challenges they face and become active players as entrepreneurs and entering so-called alternative careers. The real life applications and socio-economic benefits of innovation hubs and makerspaces in developing countries demonstrate how this unique ecosystem can become a critical component for building livelihoods.    The challenge to beat, to establish a dynamic and successful ecosystem, is the lack of knowledge and experience in the country. Most of the players, from government over investors to entrepreneurs, don’t have the necessary access to the best practices from other places. That’s where “homecomers” play a significant role: often educated and packed with experiences from developed markets, they make either startups themselves or build incubators to invest their capital and share their knowledge with the talented future entrepreneurs. Three women will share their experiences and learnings from setting up a community innovation space.