To explore the feasibility of corporate partnerships for entrepreneurial ventures, this report investigates
the experiences of entrepreneurs who have successfully secured corporate procurement contracts in
various country contexts. Their journeys, best practices, and actionable strategies can serve as a roadmap
for entrepreneurs aspiring to navigate the complexities of corporate procurement. These case studies
not only highlight the innovative solutions these entrepreneurs have developed but also underscore the
importance of building strong relationships with corporations and understanding their procurement needs.

Mexico is a burgeoning economy, ranking as the second largest economy in Latin America. According to the OECD, there are at least four million SMEs in Mexico, most of which are microenterprises. However, both culturally and politically, Mexico is making efforts toward encouraging more growth-oriented entrepreneurship, with Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara becoming known as entrepreneurial hubs.

There is also a focus on entrepreneurship outside the major cities, with rural areas in Mexico increasing in employment opportunities and entrepreneurship rates. However, South and Southeast Mexico still lag behind the northern and central areas of the country.

There has been less research conducted specifically on entrepreneurship in South and Southeast Mexico, defined in this study as the states of Campeche, Chiapas, Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, Veracruz, and
Yucatán. A significantly greater proportion of the population in these southern states live in poverty compared to the rest of the country,7 and thus, how entrepreneurship may contribute to local economic growth in these regions is of interest to the international development community. A first step to understanding the current
support available to entrepreneurs is to identify the various actors in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

"We make a comparison of microfinance banks (MBs) and commercial banks (CBs) in terms of efficiency, business orientation, stability, and asset quality by analyzing a large sample of banks from 60 countries around the world. Our findings indicate that microfinance banks have higher intermediation, non-interest income, wholesale funding and liquidity, but lower efficiency and asset quality. These significant variations are influenced by smaller microfinance banks and are driven mostly to African and Latin American microfinance banks."

"To gain a fuller picture of how MSMEs are using digital tools, DAI’s Center for Digital Acceleration partnered with survey firm Ipsos and Meta to administer a large-scale survey across 13 countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, our researchers took a face-to-face approach allowing us to compare responses from MSMEs operating both online and off. The country briefs provide an overview of each country’s digital ecosystem and MSME sector, followed by a summary of findings regarding the impact of digital tool usage on MSMEs and economic growth, highlighting differences in the responses among key segments of the surveyed business population within each country."