This paper identifies the main characteristics of a subset of Chilean firms that has
the potential to positively impact the economy through employment generation.
The study also verifies whether their traits systematically differ from those of
other firms. Based on a mean comparison exercise, the results show that this
particular business population is rather heterogeneous in nature and in terms of
the impact it has over the economy⎯at least in terms of job creation. The
entrepreneurs within this subset exhibit some varying traits, with education being
the most important. Overall, this paper demonstrates that identifying highly
potential ventures is as difficult as locating Wally in a flea market: they do not
represent more than 15 percent of the business population, implying that
horizontal policies to promote business development may be diluted within a
population of low-performing businesses.