Sebrae Case

The game as a gear of the innovation ecosystem

If innovating is a prerequisite for companies that wish to remain competitive in the market, in small businesses this has an even more strategic role. It is with this north that Sebrae helps Brazilian companies promoting transformative businesses. In Brazil, the institution is responsible for the strategic direction and for defining guidelines and priorities for its state units - today formed by more than 5,000 direct employees and around 8,000 accredited consultants and instructors to transmit knowledge to anyone who has or wants open a business. One of these national guidelines is the promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship with a focus on startups. For this purpose, SebraeLab was born, a modulated space for entrepreneurs to use to experiment with new practices and processes in conjunction with the startup ecosystem. In a wide portfolio of activities, there are games, interactive workshops and hackathons. The objective is to offer continuous learning, stimulate creativity and multiple connections in business. And when it comes to immersion in the startup ecosystem, Sebrae chose to include Startup Mundi's Game Experience in its portfolio throughout Brazil. Acre, Amazonas, Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, Rondônia and Santa Catarina already apply the gamification of Mundi.

Manaus beyond industry

In a city concerned with the dependence on an industrial zone that has reached its peak and with the desire to have new economic sources, Sebrae Manaus works with several local partners to foster the innovation sector and invest in a pole of startups. "We want new ideas to emerge and for these startups to actually stay in the capital generating more jobs. The market is already on the rise and we want to help you develop even more," says Denys. Sebrae Manaus acquired the game from Startup Mundi in 2018 as one of the methodologies added to the local SebraeLab to foster innovation and startups businesses in the region. Initially, the methodology was applied to the pre-acceleration program called Flash Sebrae.

"The result we had with the application of the game in our program was great. We realized that after the application of the methodology, the participants were much more leveled in relation to the main terminologies, thus facilitating the training that would follow", says Denys Santos da Cruz, Technical Analyst at Sebrae Amazonas. For 12 years he has worked at Sebrae, promoting entrepreneurship and innovation. For him, what draws the most attention in the methodology has been the evolution of the startups pitch. "The way this dynamic was developed allows, at the end of the four hours and the three pitch presentations, the participants to present their business idea with certainty, talking about the theme in a more mature way at the end of the game".

With the success of the application of the Startup Mundi methodology in the acceleration program, Sebrae Manaus started the application for entrepreneurs of more traditional companies in the region who had the desire to approach the universe of startups and change their internal processes without having to go through for several months of training. "Mundi fell like a glove for entrepreneurs to get an initial dip in the main terms", he says. Then, they started a sequence for professors at the Federal University of Amazonas with chairs aimed at entrepreneurship and innovation.

Interiorization, disruptive mindset beyond the big hubs

From the experience with the gamified methodology, Startup Mundi allows the construction of bridges between the different actors of the ecosystem, such as the universe of startups and the institutions of promotion and education. And, thus, it trains and empowers entrepreneurs and organizations involved with innovation. This was also the case for Sebrae Acre, the main innovation actor in the region. The knowledge derived from the dynamics of the game permeates both startups themselves, but has advanced to the entire ecosystem, such as universities and entrepreneurs in the region. Initially, the game was used in the acceleration program in order to level the knowledge of participants and generate more engagement.

"Terms such as due diligence, partner agreement, among others. The game transforms complex names into a four-hour experience in a climate of healthy competition among participants who can see in practice the result of the actions", says Fábio Ortiz, coordinator of the Sebrae Lab.

Another use was as a tool to promote entrepreneurship within universities in university challenges carried out by Sebrae to show the experience of startups. In addition to serving as support for local entrepreneurs, mainly with the aim of showing local executives that this market exists as a potential for investment. "Transforming dense information, complicated terms and processes into a playful and interesting experience for the entrepreneur. This is the great asset of the Startup Mundi game", he concludes. In Minas Gerais, the game started as an exclusive training for incubator managers. The aim was to recycle the knowledge of these important players in the region for a more current mindset focused on agile methodologies. "We found that we had to remove managers from the comfort zone to learn about new concepts. While Sebrae, we also did a lot of work applying internal teams showing this culture through the game", says Andrea Furtado, who was in charge of the game application . With a market of innovation and technology extremely heated in cities like Belo Horizonte, Triângulo Mineiro and Viçosa, Sebrae MG saw the need to also take the methodology to cities in the interior.

Disseminating innovation and the culture of error

"To really know a startup journey is super positive. As it is a game, a game, it is much easier to assimilate the concepts because everyone is in that to compete and verifying that the startup culture itself of making mistakes is not a problem. Not necessarily whoever wins all, wins the game. The culture of error is really cool and it's really cool to bring it ", says Andrea after applying the game to different audiences in several regions of Minas. "The purpose of Startup Mundi is to disseminate knowledge. Today, disruption is not restricted to the country's major hubs. With accessible technology, it is possible to recreate processes, services and models anywhere. It is essential that these new creators and entrepreneurs know what the way must go to make the leap forward, that is, to make regional innovation enter the market and find the public to which it is linked. The country's Sebraes are fulfilling this role, and we are very happy to contribute to this task, showing which way to go ", says Antonio Durán Jr, co-founder of Startup Mundi.