The Origin: 
 

“Darwin, in his work, showed evidence that species undergo change over time and that they arise through a succession of ancestors. He used the expression "descent with modification" to explain this idea. According to Darwin, species therefore have common ancestors and undergo modifications over time that lead to the emergence of new species based on those ancestors."

- Theory of Common Ancestry, Charles Darwin

 

Many consider a "startup" to be a company in its early stages, others argue that it is an innovative company with low maintenance costs and a propensity to achieve high profits.

Me, I prefer to say that it is a being (society), belonging to a group, governed by rules and laws of the country where it was born, modified, or differentiated in its essence by an idea, that distinguishes it from all others.

The realization of startups depends on the ecosystem in which they were born. Among several points, highlighting public sector policies and actions oriented to the development of the entrepreneurship sector such as: tax incentives, modernized and facilitated business creation environment, attractive financing programs, stable economic environment, an educational system that already takes into account in the curriculums soft skills and encourages entrepreneurship.

Cape Verde being a young nation, with more than half of the population under 40 years old, carries by itself, the opportunity for startups or innovative companies to emerge.

The public sector has invested in creating a favorable environment for the emergence of startups. Institutions such as Cabo Verde Digital have numerous programs to support the creation of ideas or training for the conversion of professions more adapted to our days and that can provide the emergence of innovative startups.

As an example, the "Re-Inventa Turismo" program, developed by Cabo Verde Digital and the Accelerator Lab, promoted a Hackathon in 2019 intending to generate ideas and solutions to lift the main sector of Cape Verde's economy, tourism. Preparatory work was carried out of mapping the sector's problems and needs, followed by a "call for solutions", culminating in a 72-hour session to develop solutions.

Natural Selection
 

"Because of limited resources, organisms with heritable characteristics that favor survival and reproduction tend to leave more descendants than others, which causes those characteristics to increase in frequency over generations." 

-    Theory of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin

 

However, the country's challenges, such as low population density per 9 islands; banking institutions with unattractive credit programs, high electricity costs, scarce natural resources, high dependence on foreign aid, and difficulty in shipping, show that we are still far from achieving a sizeable sample of startups. Leaving little room for a relevant number of successful companies in the future and a greater private sector contribution to the national economy.

Pro-Empresa, is the Cape Verdean institution responsible for policies and actions to support small and medium enterprises in Cape Verde. It created the "Fomento" program, which allows companies already in operation, but experiencing financial difficulties, to benefit from a bank credit with interest rates never practiced in Cape Verde, namely 5.5% rates and up to 5 years for payment. The program has already assisted 1,000 beneficiaries and has 3,000 processes under analysis. The demand shows the needs of the market, however, makes believe that the Companies are transforming.

The process from ideation to realization or putting the product on the market depends on the ecosystem, but of course on the "quality of the idea" and the performance of the entrepreneurs. No science that has defined the exact time of this path and it is also risky to consider the entrepreneur as a Hero.

The Adaptation

"Natural selection causes populations to become adapted, or increasingly well integrated, to their environments over time. Natural selection depends on the environment and requires the existence of genetic variation in a group."                                  

 -  Charles Darwin

Technology has changed the relationship of time with the maturity of companies and their lifetime, as well as the way they operate. The transformation that sectors such as tourism, commerce retail, and transportation have been through in the last 5 years is a classic example. I list Amazon, which is the leader in sales without owning stores, Airbnb which is the leader in the accommodation without owning hotels, and Uber which is the leader in passenger transportation without owning cars. What is traditional, ceases to be so in a short time and failure to adapt kills companies.

The innovation component adapted to its environment, that is, to its reality, is the key to survival and evolution. But how can one innovate?

The key to triggering innovation is found in the leader.
 

The leader of today's era needs to possess not only the "hard skills" that allowed him to consolidate the company in the sector in which it operates but also the "soft skills" to create an ecosystem of innovation:          

Question, Observe, Network and Experiment.

It is necessary the constantly search for new ideas and solutions in a cycle where they are tested with a view to a transformation of the company. This cycle must therefore be composed of a portfolio of innovation that will allow the company to be constantly transformed.  

To facilitate and reduce the costs that any transformation requires, modern techniques such as Prototyping or MVP (Minimum Viable Product) can be used to test ideas and solutions.

The Cape Verdean company iFome (food delivery), was recently forced to transform, with the risk of "falling behind" with the emergence of competitors offering the same service or even restaurants that created their own delivery services to maximize revenues. The transformation came with the product iMarket, where besides selling and delivering restaurant products, it starts serving other sectors such as pharmacy, supermarkets, electronic products among others, that is, a "national Amazon".

Conclusion
 

Natural selection takes place in the business world allowing those who integrate into their environment over time to grow.

We are facing a new set of social and environmental challenges. These challenges are more interconnected and in motion than ever before. Yesterday's approaches are not enough against today's challenges.

The characteristics of individuals and their variations are today in companies, the ideas, and solutions that allow them to adapt to the emerging situations that the world is going through such as the emergence of new technologies, climate change, the emergence of diseases, and other challenges that will arise today at midnight.