I had the opportunity to participate in the first faculty campus of the Chair of Business Culture at the University of Valencia. A luxury experiential program in which a group of professors have visited and met first hand five companies of the 53 that make up the Chair. We had the opportunity to share a morning with very enterprising people but, at the same time, clearly businessmen and businesswomen.

If you look back ten years, these companies were mostly medium-sized enterprises. Thanks to the effort and work of their business leaders and their teams, they have reached important positions in various and varied sectors, have internationalized and have generated a good amount of wealth and employment.

First of all, S2, founded by Miguel Juan and José Miguel Rosell, has been able to become a benchmark in cybersecurity, in a knowledge-intensive services sector, and is now a large company with an international presence in more than 15 countries. In the service sector, also, Global Omniun, a company that, coming from the classic sector of water supply and distribution, took the step towards a high value service of knowledge that is embodied in the GoLab facilities oriented to R&D around water. GoLab is Global Omnium’s Technology Center and operational base for water services, where more than 250 specialized professionals work. From my point of view, it represents a clear exponent of the so-called Twin transition of the EU thanks to the joint effect of digitization and environmental sustainability, obtaining important synergies between the two. Health in Code is another benchmark in the service sector with high knowledge value; from what was a small, almost micro company ten years ago to a large company that was boosted a few years ago. Thus, in 2019, Imegen merged with Genycell and Health in Code and created the Spanish leader in genetic diagnostics.

Three companies, three sectors, one common DNA, the commitment to innovation in knowledge-intensive service sectors.

In the industrial sector, RNB and Helados Estiu are exponents of the importance of continuing entrepreneurship. The former, driven since 1989 by two pharmacists, Romualdo Bertomeu and Vicente Ruiz, who decided to make their dream come true: to create unique cosmetic formulas. RNB began with its own brand Babé with dermo-cosmetic products sold in the pharmacy channel, and later grew exponentially with the distribution chain Mercadona. But it has not stopped there, in recent years they have opened up to internationalization, diversifying markets and opening new projects. Lastly, Helados Estiu, created by Federico Félix and Paco Pons and currently under the management of Mª José Félix. It also had an exponential growth thanks to the distribution chain Mercadona. But it has not stopped there either and, in recent years, they have opened up strongly to internationalization and the launching of new products.

Are they entrepreneurs? Yes, they certainly are. But, more importantly from my point of view, they are, above all, entrepreneurs.  I will try to share why this nuance is important.

For some years now, a good part of the final projects presented by my students at the university have been focused on the analysis of new business ideas and their feasibility plan. The increase of the entrepreneurial spirit in the university environment is good and desired news. However, and this is the other side of the coin, most of them think about how to make that idea scalable, get funding through private funds that finance startups, and quickly sell the company obtaining significant profits. In other words, their goal is to become entrepreneurs, but the idea of becoming entrepreneurs is not part of their plans. In this group, the group of entrepreneurs who do not plan to become businessmen and women, the desire to obtain short-term profitability can reduce or even cause the project they have created to fail in the long term. In the group I have described first, the entrepreneurs, the idea is clear: think big, start small and grow. The objective is to turn the business idea into something big and to do it with constancy; creating wealth for the promoters themselves, for other investors, for employees, customers and suppliers and often for the local environment in which they are located, in this case, the Valencian Community. The horizon is long term with a relevant link to the project undertaken, to its development and growth.

In my opinion, betting on entrepreneurship and institutional support for the thousands of programs that have arisen is fine, but it is not enough. We must make the leap from supporting the entrepreneur to supporting the entrepreneur. And that is why programs such as “I want to be an entrepreneur” or “Who can be an entrepreneur”, under the auspices of the Chair of Entrepreneurial Culture, are so welcome.

Another factor in this process of consolidating a solid and stable business structure would be to create and encourage an “entrepreneurial middle class”. The aids to entrepreneurs and their micro and small businesses are diverse but they are. But who is betting on the “entrepreneurial middle class”? My perception for some time has been that the volume of requirements that accompany it is growing exponentially, which results in a leap in regulatory and legal complexity when one reaches the magic figure of 50 workers. I put on the table some of these regulatory issues that have existed for years as the obligation to have a works council or to audit the accounts deposited in the commercial register and some more recent, such as the need to have an equality plan, to comply with the law on protection of informants and anti-corruption or from 2026 the sustainability directive and its transposition to our environment. It is not that I am against this greater transparency and submission to regulation, mostly of European origin. It is not that. It is the perception that these entrepreneurs who are already clearly businessmen should have more support and accompaniment in these growth processes. Perhaps “the entrepreneurial middle class” is the great forgotten of the institutions. The visits I have made have confirmed to me the importance of accompanying the step from entrepreneur to entrepreneur, from micro to small business and to consolidate its growth as a medium to address the leap to the big company.

In conclusion, I have enjoyed the course, each of the visits and the entrepreneurs and/or managers who have shared their experiences with us. They have reaffirmed to me that the Chair fulfills a differential objective by promoting and supporting the entrepreneurial culture. Thanks to them and their involvement, I believe that new links have been created and consolidated between the company and the university. I believe that all of us who have participated in this initiative are now ambassadors of the Chair of Business Culture. Congratulations!