Thank you for bringing to the attention of your readers the dire need in Spain to open up its economy and social mindset to its entrepreneurial population. While you state unfairly that Spaniards are “risk averse” (an over-statement), there is indeed a need for governments, universities and businesses to come together and make funds and grants available (and not through “small credit”–a seeming cop-out that only hits the surface and has zero impact) to our brilliant entrepreneurs who want to launch in Spain and internationalize, in particular in the US. We are a company specializing in bringing Spanish high-tech and green-tec companies into the US market; daily we see the brilliant businesses, ideas, and products Spaniards are producing but daily we see the lack of understanding of the importance in investing in these companies by the “Spanish system” in general and lack of easily accessible and understandable funds to help support them. Many Chambers of Commerce in specific regions are coming around, however, and quickly. It’s due time that Spain as the 8th largest economy in the world recognized its entrepreneurs and made a concerted effort to support them as a priority in order to boost the Spanish economy and create thought-leaders in this country that can and will have an impact throughout the world.
Jennifer Aquino
CEO, StepOne Ventures
Madrid, Spain and Silicon Valley