Transformational entrepreneurship in post-conflict economies: ex-combatants doing business (as unusual) in Colombia.

This chapter contends that entrepreneurship is not only a viable option to generate income, but it can be transformative in broader ways and contribute to peacebuilding. It can foster everyday actions of encounter and reconciliation. The chapter focuses on the artisanal beer brewery La Roja, an enterprise started by ex-combatants that gained recognition and support in Colombian society. Colombia went through a long-term armed conflict and in 2016 started a peacebuilding process through an agreement with the largest guerrilla group, the FARC. As in other nations that have experienced similar processes, the reintegration of ex-combatants into a society that rejects what they stood for is daunting. The research shows that La Roja provided ex-combatants with a livelihood and affected the ways they see themselves as changemakers in a society that tries to heal. The enterprise has attracted supporters who see ex-combatants’ efforts in a new light, as transformative entrepreneurs capable of establishing informal spaces for reconciliation and dialogue with diverse groups and victims. Despite the challenges, entrepreneurship appears as an additional option in a peacebuilding project for its capacity to generate repeated exchanges and symbolic proximity.