Fernando Moya offers the conference “Innovation in the development of competencies for entrepreneurs” in the ninth virtual edition of the entrepreneurship festival organized by Tecnológico de Monterrey.

By INSTITUTIONAL COMMUNICATION | EGADE BUSINESS SCHOOL

Innovation in the development of competencies for entrepreneurs was addressed by Fernando Moya, Director of the Department of Entrepreneurship and Technological Innovation at EGADE Business School, during INCmty 2021.

In his conference, the academic addressed the extent to which innovation and entrepreneurship education has evolved in business schools.

He commented that a couple of decades ago there was little knowledge on the subject and the belief was that an entrepreneur and an executive needed similar competencies.

“What we believed before is very different from what we know today, since entrepreneurs and executives in established companies actually live in very different worlds and, hence, need very different competencies and skills," he explained.

Moya mentioned that far from what is usually believed, a startup is not, in fact, yet a company, and therefore an entrepreneur needs to feel very comfortable in turbulent, uncertain, novel and ambiguous (TUNA) environments.

He went on to say that entrepreneurs must be able to navigate uncertainty, seeking opportunities and experimenting with new technologies and business models.

The world of the entrepreneur is uncertain, unchartered, while the world of the executive is the complete opposite - predictable and familiar. Entrepreneurs navigate with new, unknown products, technology, markets, business models, and competitors. Uncertainty can’t be calculated on a spreadsheet,” the professor added.

Therefore, it is currently known that the main competencies entrepreneurs must develop are:

· Be explorers

· Detectives, constantly looking for new evidence.

· Know how to talk to other human beings, to determine whether the value proposal truly resolves a real need.

· Detect problems and needs in their stakeholders.

· Deliver effective presentations to transmit their value proposal.

· Form teams of founders, which are multidisciplinary and can be complemented.

· Resilience, so as not to become frustrated by any inconveniences that occur.

Regarding the question of how to develop this group of very specific skills, the most effective trends are currently based on experimental immersion, which allows entrepreneurs to build their product while socializing it with potential clients, rather than waiting to sell a product until it is perfect and finished. Moya stressed that, precisely, EGADE Business School’s MGMT Business Skills focuses on generating these skills in entrepreneurs by providing basic skills in flexible, short formats.