First step to start Spain: Let´s import 5000 qualified "guiris*"
For months I have cursed the day when our dear politicians decided to convert entrepreneurs into pawns for their political campaigns. Based on the logic I´ve seen in the business schools I've been to, what I see on a daily basis in our pan-European startup investment fund, and in the non-profit association that I work in, I´ve come to dread their speeches. They present huge distortions unaligned with market logic and encourage senseless projects that don´t have a future. The result is that unwittingly naive entrepreneurs pay for the misleading messages of these politicians with their time and wasted enthusiasm, not to mention the innocent citizens with their tax money. This is not the path to sustainable growth.
After many meetings with "the enemy", I finally discovered that not all politicians are created equal and it is necessary to collaborate with those few who want to change the system from within; although it may only be because they are even more courageous and idealistic than the most daring entrepreneurs. It is equally as necessary to pass those proposals that help create many companies that hire many employees and pay lots of taxes, which can help to recover our now-forgotten welfare state. Today I have only one recommendation for success, it costs no money, it´s simple, and if someone can convince the Ministry of Work and Immigration of it´s necessity it would achieve a huge impact:
I am convinced that Spain needs to urgently attract over 5000 high caliber professionals, making these foreigners´ visas a priority and bypassing the miserable months it currently takes to complete the exhaustive documentation.
These visas need to be granted to those few who want to commit to helping us move forward here in Spain, and who we need to do so. We need more teachers like Joe Haslam, who came from Ireland after selling his Internet company to the IE Business School to foster disruptive innovation among the international MBA students receiving their degrees here in Spain. Other examples are Nathan Ryan and Chris McCoy, other brave Americans who are trying to renovate our outdated university system from the inside at the Universidad Carlos III and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. We need more managers of large corporations and serial entrepreneurs with international experience from outside of our borders like Argentinean Inés Leopoldo of Mitsue Venture or German Gregor Gimmy of Sclipo. At our company we need Katelyn Melan, a 23-year American who graduated head of her class in a joint business program between ICADE and Northeastern University. After working at JP Morgan and General Electric she told the Washington Post that she preferred to stay here to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem than to earn what would be a very generous salary in corporate America. We need 5000 more names, just like those above, who are currently without a visa. Professionals that would have the perspective to help the next generation of entrepreneurs and those national directives that have so far missed their mark to reach their full potential. Although the ignorant would call them "privileged" for jumping the interminable waits for documentation, many have already been doing that for a long time. It is with their help we could we could finally begin to act as global citizens.
We also need less politicians, especially those who maintain the currently inefficient system and bureaucrats who interfere to the point where Spain is ranked below the Congo on the competitiveness scale. I'll spare you their names with the hope that some may come to their senses and reform, or that someone sensible removes them first. For the challenges ahead it is essential for all those able to fight against the failures of the system from within to unite. After all, what we have to do if we are going to get out of this crisis is to stop avoiding the problem and help all involved to step up to the task. We will not silence those ideas that could improve the situation, as it will take many such initiatives to overcome this crisis.
It was the guiri that pushed us to the moon, who asked what it is you can do for your country rather than what your country can do for you. If you want to know more about what we are doing from here in Tetuan, join the conversation at http://www.StartupSpain.com
*Guiri is a colloquial Spanish name used in Spain applied to foreigners.
For months I have cursed the day when our dear politicians decided to convert entrepreneurs into pawns for their political campaigns. Based on the logic I´ve seen in the business schools I've been to, what I see on a daily basis in our pan-European startup investment fund, and in the non-profit association that I work in, I´ve come to dread their speeches. They present huge distortions unaligned with market logic and encourage senseless projects that don´t have a future. The result is that unwittingly naive entrepreneurs pay for the misleading messages of these politicians with their time and wasted enthusiasm, not to mention the innocent citizens with their tax money. This is not the path to sustainable growth.
After many meetings with "the enemy", I finally discovered that not all politicians are created equal and it is necessary to collaborate with those few who want to change the system from within; although it may only be because they are even more courageous and idealistic than the most daring entrepreneurs. It is equally as necessary to pass those proposals that help create many companies that hire many employees and pay lots of taxes, which can help to recover our now-forgotten welfare state. Today I have only one recommendation for success, it costs no money, it´s simple, and if someone can convince the Ministry of Work and Immigration of it´s necessity it would achieve a huge impact:
I am convinced that Spain needs to urgently attract over 5000 high caliber professionals, making these foreigners´ visas a priority and bypassing the miserable months it currently takes to complete the exhaustive documentation.
These visas need to be granted to those few who want to commit to helping us move forward here in Spain, and who we need to do so. We need more teachers like Joe Haslam, who came from Ireland after selling his Internet company to the IE Business School to foster disruptive innovation among the international MBA students receiving their degrees here in Spain. Other examples are Nathan Ryan and Chris McCoy, other brave Americans who are trying to renovate our outdated university system from the inside at the Universidad Carlos III and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. We need more managers of large corporations and serial entrepreneurs with international experience from outside of our borders like Argentinean Inés Leopoldo of Mitsue Venture or German Gregor Gimmy of Sclipo. At our company we need Katelyn Melan, a 23-year American who graduated head of her class in a joint business program between ICADE and Northeastern University. After working at JP Morgan and General Electric she told the Washington Post that she preferred to stay here to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem than to earn what would be a very generous salary in corporate America. We need 5000 more names, just like those above, who are currently without a visa. Professionals that would have the perspective to help the next generation of entrepreneurs and those national directives that have so far missed their mark to reach their full potential. Although the ignorant would call them "privileged" for jumping the interminable waits for documentation, many have already been doing that for a long time. It is with their help we could we could finally begin to act as global citizens.
We also need less politicians, especially those who maintain the currently inefficient system and bureaucrats who interfere to the point where Spain is ranked below the Congo on the competitiveness scale. I'll spare you their names with the hope that some may come to their senses and reform, or that someone sensible removes them first. For the challenges ahead it is essential for all those able to fight against the failures of the system from within to unite. After all, what we have to do if we are going to get out of this crisis is to stop avoiding the problem and help all involved to step up to the task. We will not silence those ideas that could improve the situation, as it will take many such initiatives to overcome this crisis.
It was the guiri that pushed us to the moon, who asked what it is you can do for your country rather than what your country can do for you. If you want to know more about what we are doing from here in Tetuan, join the conversation at http://www.StartupSpain.com
*Guiri is a colloquial Spanish name used in Spain applied to foreigners.
