H. Cuenca: "The discourse of entrepreneurship borders on the absurd"

At 21 years old, Hector Cuenca coordinates, as a partner and director of growth, an ambitious project: NewGen (also know as odder). It is a platform born in Barcelona that aims to connect young professionals who have decided to bet on a promising idea.

In addition to trying to discover more about this interesting project in which he is immersed, we wanted to meet with this Administration student and Business Management and Law to talk about the concept of entrepreneurship and the new labor reality of those of us who have not yet overcome the thirty.

Psychology and Mind:We know that lately you are dedicating your time to NewGen, which is a platform to connect entrepreneurs and make things easier for them so that they can develop their project. I'm right?

Hector Cuenca: To that and to try to get two careers out of me, in that order of priorities (laughs).

At NewGen you have also had the idea of ​​offering the possibility for the people signed up to have the support of expert mentors in different areas of work. How did the idea come about?

It is not something new. He mentoring, as it is called today, is an institution as old as humanity. What is new is the desire to create platforms that democratize access to it. In other words, today, if you want to receive mentoring from someone, the most you can do is ask for advice from family, friends, ex-teachers... And be lucky that one of them has enough faith in the project and in you, as well as enough time and resources to help you develop it. What does this mean? That people with a higher social extraction, or with greater networks of contacts, are the ones who really get mentors capable of making a difference. What we propose -and it is something that is working quite well in the US, facilitating the success of innovative, viable and original projects and the social ascent of their creators- consists of creating a completely transparent platform, in which you can see the different mentors who are willing to invest a monthly afternoon in a project, as well as their skills and background professional and academic, and request the attention of those who most convince you, and in which these mentors can also see the profiles of all kinds of young people who apply to their mentoring and select from among these the one who seems most qualified, brilliant, original... It is, in short, a way for talent and originality to prevail over circle and social extraction.

What is an entrepreneur? What is the difference, in your opinion, between plain "entrepreneurship" and "social entrepreneurship"?

Entrepreneur is, in theory, the one who with his creativity idea of ​​a new product (or a variation on a product) that provides added value completely different from those that exist in the market and that is capable of, at least, carrying out the necessary procedures to put the project into operation. he marches Not every businessman is an entrepreneur; nor does everyone who "has an idea"... You have to demystify that "having an idea" thing; There is a joke among entrepreneurs that, like so many jokes, hides a great truth "-I have a great business idea, I just need a willing investor to finance it and an engineer capable of carrying it out -So what do you have? An entrepreneur is not an intellectual who builds castles in the air, but a executor. Another thing is that this is desirable: it could be argued, with good reason, that there should be bodies, state or private, that make it possible for all good ideas (viable, with real added value and with a positive impact on society) had funding and staff to carry them out, and then we entrepreneurs could just be planners, and sure it would be more efficient and fun, but unfortunately that's not the case. reality.

The thing is, to belong to the sector to which I belong, I have quite a lot of ideas… Let's leave it there. For me, there should be no difference between entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship: Neither can a viable economy be based simply on "social projects", which often lack profitability, nor nor is it a society worth belonging to if economically profitable projects are harmful to that same society. There is a concept in economics that, if only taken into account and corrected, would do away with much of the cruelty of market failure: externalities. An externality is a result (generally negative) of the activity of a specific company that, because it does not have an impact on it in any way, is not accounted for. This is the case, for example, of toxic discharges in the event that there is no regulation in the state in question. Since not a single dollar is spent, that activity is not recorded. Only if the States calculate through impartial audits the externalities of each company, and do not allow the existence of projects that - even if it is merely in terms economic-cause more harm than good to society, we would end the need to differentiate between profitable but soulless “Entrepreneurship” and committed but soulless “Social Entrepreneurship”. non-viable. In addition, I believe that precisely this dichotomy is very harmful to our worldview: it bathes everything that has a public utility with a certain patina of insolvency, of utopia, of loss-making.

Do you think that the entrepreneurial discourse is abused? On the other hand, what do you think is the relationship between this new way of understanding labor relations with the phenomenon of the “precariat”?

Of course it is abused. It is a very useful speech in a situation like the current one, of galloping economic and institutional crisis, and of growing disengagement of States towards their citizens, as well as growing flexibility labor. And of course, sometimes this leads to absurd points, in which it seems that you have to become an entrepreneur and freelancer to the unskilled worker in construction or industry. There is a perverse point in that, especially when Spanish legislation makes it so difficult for freelancers (or autonomous, as they have been called all their lives). In addition, we return to that of "What is being an entrepreneur?" and we see that by the very nature of the concept, it is only applicable either to rapidly evolving sectors or to classic professions but of a "creative" type, from Law to Literature or Marketing, in which the personal characteristics of the worker can mark the difference.

From a misuse (and abuse) of the concept is where the failpreneurs, many times simply precarious entrepreneurs/self-employed for whom the company ends up being, rather, a poorly paid job and even more of a slave than if it were employed by someone else. You cannot tell the unemployed from all sectors, regardless of their training, that "let's see if they undertake", because then we have cases like that of Ruby, the commuter town in which I lived for many years, in which the rotation of owners of bars, shops, etc. It is huge, generating even more frustration and poverty for those who have been looking for a source of income and stability in having their own business.

In addition, and as I said before, not even a good idea in a creative sector always allows you to get ahead: There are not enough financing instruments, help for the entrepreneur, etc. In the end, instead of the "creator", you have to be, especially at the beginning, the big boss and the last monkey at the same time. And yes, during that time, you are a “precarious”. And so much.

What is your vision of the current labor market and why do you think that "entrepreneurship" is a good option to give way to so many young people who cannot find work? Is entrepreneurship a kind of 'panacea' to end unemployment?

Well, in the medium-long term it is very different. The way things are, you can't compete to the bottom. The relocation, the increasing mechanization, the technological improvements, make the market demand for unskilled workers go, in Europe and a large part of the Western world, clearly downward. When your job can be done by anyone, in a world with 7,000,000,000 people and counting, they will find someone to do it cheaper than you. That's the way it is, that's why you can't compete from below. Especially when, as Toni Mascaró said at our event on November 13, in a matter of years we can witness the automation of all production processes in the developed world.

In such a world, the only real alternative for the youth of Europe is to provide a lot of added value. Being able to do things that literally no one else is able to do, at least not in the same way. We have the perfect infrastructure: almost universal health coverage; public and free basic education; the best universities in the world and the highest per capita income on the planet... With that base, either we create a society of elites or we are being an idiot. Spain, as a paradigmatic example of being an idiot: we have one of the most educated youth in the world, with a percentage of students in the total population very remarkable, and we are seeing how many have to leave the country or accept jobs below their abilities and qualification. You can't afford it, it's a real waste of talent and public money.

What characteristics do you think define entrepreneurial people? Is your personality or way of seeing life defined by some common characteristic?

I suppose there is a certain mixture between ambition (why are we going to deny it) and independence, a combination, in my opinion, of humanist person, with a certain halo of romanticism, like the Privateer of Byron or the Pirate from Espronceda (laughs). After all, you become an entrepreneur at that moment, what do you think about? And these are the job opportunities that society offers me? I believe that I can do more, so if the job position that I deserve does not exist, I will have to create it myself, and that It has a touch, you won't deny it, of rebellion, of quixotism, of not accepting the status quo preset.

Entrepreneurial spirit is also related to youth and, furthermore, to the ability to be creative. From what you have been able to see in NewGen, do you think that creativity is valued more today than before?

I don't know if it's valued or not yet, but I think it should be as it's bullish. It is the only competitive advantage, at the labor level, that European and Western youth offer compared to other parts of the world. And at other levels, if we stop to think: We are a small part, both geographically and demographically, and not exactly one of the richest in natural resources. In the long run, it's either that or nothing.

since Psychology and Mind is a website dedicated to psychology, I would like to delve a little into this aspect. Do you think that the paradigm shift in the workplace is negatively influencing our ability to develop in this society?

To us perhaps yes, since the crisis has caught us by surprise. We were the most hopeful generation in the history of this country (and surely the same could be said in the rest of the West), and now we have fewer possibilities than those who preceded us... It has been a blow, clearly. It has left many young people, and not so young, without a place in society, and those who are still part of it have been given positions far below what they expected or deserved. Now, I believe that some of us will come out of this stronger, especially those who have grown during the crisis. I think that many of us have an attitude of “If it doesn't exist, if it isn't done, then it will have to be invented” and that can be a very important source of social change. We start with the most basic, work, without which we have no source of livelihood or role in society... But imagine that the same attitude applied to Politics or any other area. That we don't like the parties that exist? Let's create one. That we don't like this cultural system? Well, let's think of a better one. We could be one of the most influential generations in history... But for that you have to understand where the entrepreneurial phenomenon comes from: from the lack of solutions on the part of Papá Estado and Mama Corporación (plus Uncle Gilito from the Bank) and consider that if when they don't give us work we set it up ourselves, well maybe we have to do the same if they don't give us justice or democracy.

What is the merit or value that you found in Psychology and Mind What led you to want to include us as one of the outstanding initiatives within NewGen?

Precisely that, that you have been a "Juan Palomo: I cook it, I eat it"; an example of well-understood entrepreneurship: starting from scratch, with a good idea, a lot of work and without anyone giving you anything. Damn, you guys are pretty cool. In addition, you have experienced that "precariousness" of those who start a project, making it compatible with long hours work in a profession other than the one for which you had studied... You are a paradigm of entrepreneur.