LA CREACIóN DE EMPRESAS POR GRADUADOS/AS DE LA UNIVERSIDAD ESTATAL A DISTANCIA DE COSTA RICA

In 2008, we interviewed 19 graduates of the UniversidadEstatal a Distancia of Costa Rica who had started theirown business, to learn about their experience during thefirst years of the company. The interviews were based ona questionnaire. Most had had created micro-enterprisesin the Trade and Services sector, and had faced weakknowledge of business management, little integrationto business networks and insufficient support from theUniversity. Also, they did not have enough funds to becompetitive in the market. They principally used own andfamily savings, and rarely access to the financial market.This implied the reduction of the scale of the project, in thegrowth rate of the company and the entrepreneur dedicationto additional projects to get liquidity and capital.During the first years, get customers and appropriate supplierswere significant difficulties.