It’s easy to understand the importance of innovators and entrepreneurs to the economy, but it’s much harder to figure out the best ways to encourage more entrepreneurship. In an article for TechCrunch, Vivek Wadhwa explores Start-Up Chile, a program that he calls “Chile’s Grand Innovation Experiment.” Most initiatives to create the next Silicon Valley have failed, Wadhwa argues, because they use a top-down approach that fatally leaves out the most important ingredient — the entrepreneurs themselves. Start-up Chile is therefore unique because, rather than building office parks and partnering with VC’s and universities, it focuses on attracting innovators and entrepreneurs from all over the world to Chile, where they will start their own businesses.

Learn more about how Start-up Chile plans to achieve this goal and watch a video about its first crop of participants here.

Reena Kapoor is the principal of Conifer Consulting, a marketing consulting firm based in Silicon Valley. A native of India, Ms. Kapoor came to the United States in 1988 to attend graduate school, received her Master’s degree from Northwestern University, and went on to work at Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods before starting several businesses of her own. We met with Ms. Kapoor in Los Altos, California to explore her thoughts on culture and entrepreneurship and marketing strategy for entrepreneurs.

Kaizen: It is a long way from India to Silicon Valley. Where in India did you grow up?

Kapoor: Yes, it definitely is a long way. I actually grew up all over India. My father was a doctor in the army, so I had the typical nomadic army life growing up. So when I think about India—I’m from India, but sometimes it’s hard for me to pinpoint an exact region, because some of my formative years are not from my hometown, which is New Delhi, because I didn’t spend a lot of time there.

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