Colombia may be associated with violence and drugs in popular culture, but it has recently been strengthening its entrepreneurial base, says the Kauffman Foundation’s Policy Forum Blog. The Colombian government has been removing barriers to starting businesses, educational institutions have been adding more entrepreneurship courses and programs, more business incubators are cropping up, and there is an increased focus on entrepreneurship in the media. Certainly there are still problems with drugs and violence, creating a chaotic environment that discourages many potential entrepreneurs. Nonetheless, some entrepreneurs have found creative ways to respond, such as a company that produces bullet-proof underwear.

Read more at the Policy Forum Blog.

Jonathan Ortmans covered Bolivia in his recent Policy Forum Blog post. “…[I]t is young firms that grow that provide the most benefits to society in terms of job and wealth creation and innovation,” he writes. “Thus, the challenge ahead for Bolivia is to enable more growth entrepreneurs.” the problem, according to Ortmans, is that the Bolivian government’s policies “discourage the participation of entrepreneurs in the economy.”

However, “young Bolivians understand that they can create a “new” breed of enterprise, different from the micro-businesses that have flourished in Bolivia due to necessity. They envision enterprises that capture opportunities for innovation and that generate more employment, more wealth and improved social conditions for everyone in the process.”

Read the full article here.

Two weeks ago, the Policy Dialogue on Entrepreneurship explored entrepreneurship in Turkey. Now Jonathan Ortmans looks at Saudi Arabia and finds a very entrepreneurial country. For example, it is ranked number 13 out of 183 economies for “ease of starting a business” (the U.S. is number 8).

Read more here.