The podcast of EGADE Business School and the School of Business of Tecnológico de Monterrey is available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts and YouTube Music.

By JOSÉ ÁNGEL DE LA PAZ | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Innovation has become a critical goal for many companies in Latin America, but achieving it is not easy.

Episode 171 of the Business Territory podcast, "Overcoming the challenges of innovating in your business," hosted by Eduardo Aguiñaga, National Director of Full-Time Programs at EGADE Business School, explored the internal and external barriers faced by organizations in the region and how to overcome them to cultivate effective innovation.

Guests Alberto Méndez, research professor in the Department of Finance and Business Economics at EGADE Business School, and Claudia Alva, General Manager of Marketplace at Nu, shared their perspectives on how companies can tackle these challenges.

Méndez highlighted that innovation in Latin America often faces resource constraints, forcing companies in the region to focus on non-technological innovation.

"Latin American companies tend to innovate in business models and processes that do not require large investments in research and development but which are crucial for their growth," he explained.

The academic underscored the importance of adapting definitions of innovation to the local context, where resources and business structures differ significantly from those in developed countries.

Alva, for her part, stressed that the company's culture is key to driving innovation.

"At Nu, we have created autonomous innovation cells that work like small startups within the organization, allowing ideas to flow from every level of the company," she said.

Alva also emphasized that innovation should not be seen as an exclusive prerogative of senior management.

"The best ideas often come from the operating personnel who face these challenges every day," she said.

Both experts agreed that risk and error aversion is one of the greatest obstacles to innovation.

Alva argued that allowing and learning from mistakes is essential for innovation to flourish.

"It's all right to make mistakes; mistakes are allowed," she said, noting that companies must shift the cultural paradigm that penalizes errors to foster a more favorable environment for creativity.

You can listen to this and other Business Territory episodes on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube Music.