From the hoe to the global market: The business alchemy of El Hueco

Abstract

The commercial sector of "El Hueco" in downtown Medellín is a living laboratory of social innovation that invites us to rethink Latin American business history from its margins. The story of "El Hueco" proposes an alternative paradigm in organizational history by shifting the focus to grassroots actors and informal settings. By reclaiming social capital as an engine of development, it dismantles the belief that only large industrial elites generate economic growth.