{
  "id": 19574,
  "title": "Lessons in resilience: What Europe can learn from emerging markets",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/07/31/lessons-in-resilience-what-europe-can-learn-from-emerging-markets",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-07-31T09:55:47.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "EU-Startups",
    "slug": "eu-startups",
    "url": "https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/07/lessons-in-resilience-what-europe-can-learn-from-emerging-markets/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Europe boasts many advantages that attract entrepreneurs, such as robust institutions, cutting-edge infrastructure, a focus on research and development, access to top-tier talent, well-established investors, and stable markets. However, the lessons of resilience should flow in both directions. As Europe faces challenges like slower growth, cautious funding, geopolitical uncertainties, environmental pressures, and technological disruptions, emerging markets provide invaluable insights into how startups can thrive under adversity.\n\nEntrepreneurs in emerging markets frequently operate amidst currency fluctuations, limited access to finance, infrastructure deficiencies, policy uncertainties, and evolving consumer behaviors. Undeterred by these obstacles, they swiftly test, adapt, and scale their ventures, even when conditions are far from ideal. While hardship should not be romanticized, as it can cripple businesses and exhaust founders, this experience cultivates qualities that are increasingly valuable across the globe: discipline, adaptability, resourcefulness, local expertise, and the capacity to create value under pressure.\n\nResilience commences with addressing genuine problems. Many startups in emerging markets are born close to pressing daily needs, ranging from access to finance, healthcare, education, mobility, agriculture, logistics, energy, payments, and productivity for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These challenges are tangible, visible in everyday life, homes, shops, farms, and the informal economy. This proximity instills a powerful sense of purpose. A product's success cannot hinge solely on investor appeal or impressive demonstrations. It must address the genuine needs of customers who may have limited incomes, low trust, weak digital literacy, or numerous competing priorities. Building trust, affordability, timing, distribution, and cultural relevance are crucial for adoption.\n\nSome European startups, especially in mature ecosystems, may become overly focused on pitch decks, funding narratives, or product aesthetics before thoroughly validating the necessity of their offerings. Emerging-market entrepreneurs, however, teach us that the most successful companies are not merely technology introducers; they become indispensable to their users. Effectively doing more with less has evolved from being a mere survival tactic for underfunded ecosystems to a global requirement. The changing funding landscape now demands that founders demonstrate clearer paths to revenue, stronger unit economics, and disciplined growth. Many founders from emerging markets, who have never experienced easy capital, learn early on to stretch resources, generate revenue quickly, build lean teams, forge partnerships, and test business models with constrained budgets. This fosters innovation under constraint, compelling founders to prioritize what is truly essential. By compressing the distance between the entrepreneur and the customer, they rely on rapid feedback from the market, essential for survival.\n\nEurope does not need to abandon ambition; it requires more disciplined ambition. While capital remains vital, particularly for deep tech, biotech, climate technology, and research-intensive innovation, it should not replace commercial discipline. Emerging markets demonstrate that resilience flourishes when founders treat cash as a scarce strategic resource to be converted into learning, traction, and trust. The real strength of an ecosystem lies not just in the number of initiatives but in the quality of connections among them. In emerging markets, formal support systems may be fragmented, but entrepreneurs often rely on informal networks, such as mentors, diaspora contacts, business associations, university professors, chambers of commerce, community leaders, peer founders, and even informal digital groups. These networks, though not always prominently featured in ecosystem reports, often form the backbone of trust, information exchange, and opportunities.\n\nEuropean ecosystems, while more formalized, can still be fragmented, with founders potentially facing a bewildering array of grants, regional agencies, EU programs, national regulations, investors, sector initiatives, and support organizations. While assistance exists, navigation can be challenging. Emerging market experiences remind us that ecosystem strength transcends mere initiative count; it hinges on the quality and accessibility of connections between those initiatives. In Europe, adopting a mindset of adaptability is crucial. While the single market offers a powerful opportunity, startups cannot assume it functions as a seamless whole. Language barriers, differing regulations, complex procurement systems, varying tax rules, diverse customer behaviors, and distinct business cultures across Europe necessitate a more nuanced approach. Scaling across the continent requires more than ambition; it demands localized intelligence. Emerging-market entrepreneurs understand that scaling is not about replicating a model from one location to another. Instead, it entails preserving the core value while adapting the pathway to market. Ultimately, resilience is a collective endeavor, not solely reliant on the determination of individual founders. While personal perseverance is vital, it is insufficient. Founders thrive when their ecosystems themselves are resilient, fostering an environment where perseverance can flourish.",
  "summary": "Europe offers many advantages entrepreneurs admire: strong institutions, advanced infrastructure, research excellence, deep talent, sophisticated investors, and stable markets. But learning should not flow in only one direction. As Europe confronts slower growth, cautious funding, geopolitical uncertainty, climate pressure, and technological disruption, emerging markets offer a vital lesson in…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": "https://urgent.news/ill/19574.png",
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}