On National Entrepreneurship Day, Valor Pyme released data underscoring SMEs' role in Chile's economy. There are 759,320 active SMEs, which alongside micro-entrepreneurs make up 98.3% of the business fabric, though their sales represent only 11.7% of the national total.
Valor Pyme, a platform led by BCI, compiled figures from the Central Bank in May 2025 and the Internal Revenue Service in 2023 to gauge SMEs' impact. These include 759,320 active SMEs and nearly 2 million micro-entrepreneurs.
On employment, MiPymes employ over 6.4 million people, about half the workforce. They generate 46.8% of formal dependent jobs and 58.6% of fees, amid 8.9% unemployment in the first quarter of 2026, per INE.
Challenges remain: microenterprises pay an average of 407,000 pesos monthly, versus 1.17 million for large firms. Moreover, 21% of SME workers lack contracts, with informality at 48% in microenterprises.
"Large companies can no longer grow alone. They need SMEs. It's a win-win chain," said André Cazor, director of Studies at FE Consulting. In public procurement, 35% of ChileCompra goes to MiPymes, varying by region: 54% in Aysén and 25% in the Metropolitan Region.
"The State acts simultaneously as one of the main clients and one of the main barriers for Chilean MiPymes," states the Valor Pyme report.
