Economic reactivation is not possible without entrepreneurs: President of ASEM
This Thursday, October 22, Juana Ramírez , founder of the company of the health accompaniment company Sohin , took the residence of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Mexico (ASEM) for the period 2020-2022 in replacement of Ulrick Noel.
This entrepreneur faces the difficult task of leading one of the most representative organizations of the national entrepreneurial ecosystem in the midst of one of the strongest crises on record due to the COVID-19 pandemic .
We spoke with her to find out what her perspectives are for ASEM and the importance of entrepreneurs for today's economy.
Entrepreneur en Español (ENT): It is very important for a woman to hold this position, especially since it is going to be a difficult couple of years. What is it like for you to have this responsibility in ASEM?
Juana Ramírez (JR): It is a huge responsibility in several ways. We are going through a conjunctural moment in which the whole country wants economic reactivation, but this is not possible without entrepreneurs. Without the people who founded and run more than 90% of the productive units in Mexico; They represent 70% of jobs as well.
To speak of economic reactivation today is to speak of the work of Mexican entrepreneurs represented in the country's Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and of a sector that needs support and support, because although we represent 70% of the jobs, we barely reached a just under 40% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
ASEM represents the people who created these companies and is an organization that has supported the formalization of MSMEs since its inception. The first thing we did was the Law of Business Creation in a Day and at Zero Cost, because if we want to undertake formally, we also have to create facilities for this to happen. It is in the formality that the country can collect more taxes and finance social programs.
ENT: Yesterday at the Entrepreneurs Forum you said that it is necessary to strengthen the bond between entrepreneurs and the government. What is the most urgent thing to promote entrepreneurs?
JR: I think that you have to create bridges of communication between the government and also the Private Initiative and the entrepreneurs. That the conversation is not polarized where some groups seem to declare themselves in opposition. We believe that the way is, of course, to encourage critical thinking, openness to the exchange of ideas.
In this sense, ASEM is an expert in entrepreneurship because it is an organization founded by entrepreneurs; for those of us who kill our heads seeing how we generate employment, how we pay taxes, how we comply with our worker-employer quotas, etc. This knowledge of what entrepreneurs experience makes us a perfect ally, both for the public and private sectors, in the development of initiatives and even their implementation.
ENT: What does it mean for you as an entrepreneur and as a woman to be in charge of ASEM?
JR: Since the founding of ASEM I have been a very active participant because I believe very deeply in the cause, but the Association is the result of the efforts of many people like Carmina Navarro, who has been a great leader in the Public Policy Committee.
For me it means maintaining the continuity of what we as a team have been defending. It is not really about someone who governs, but about a work plan with an extraordinary Board of Directors. So, of course, a challenge is to continue and energize that momentum. But it also means increasing the participation of women entrepreneurs in ASEM because they barely represent 35% of affiliates.
As a union leader it is a double responsibility because "we are very few" and generating confidence in assigning women this type of roles depends on the good role that those of us who are developing.
I believe that a personal task in addition to those already defined by the ASEM is to improve the environment in which women undertake and generate a good reference for those who come along the way to do so more easily. Not just laying a ladder for others to climb, but laying a LOT of ladders so that everyone can achieve their goals in an easier way!
We have advanced in the tremendously precarious ecosystem that we had 10 years ago, but we still lack the conditions to truly consider Mexico as an entrepreneur-friendly country.
