Resources for budding business people in Andalucia
As we mentioned in our last post, developing an idea isn’t an easy task, so when you’ve finished your business and marketing plans, thoroughly researched the market and you’re ready to launch, you need to take charge and push it forward in the best possible way.
If you don’t have the money yourself to invest in your project, you need someone to help you and lend you the money to be able to make your idea into a reality. You need some kind of financial backing, whether it be a loan, a partnership with other companies or entrepreneurs, a competition, investors etc.
There are a number of excellent organizations that can help you to find funding or suggest cost effective ways to get your project off the ground. Here are a list of those available in the Malaga province and Andalucia as a whole. Some of them will speak English and are prepared for foreign entrepreneurs, others may require a translator if you don’t speak good enough Spanish. We can certainly recommend taking advantage of their support, advice and expertise – not to mention their great contacts! Don’t go it alone because you don’t know what help is available.
- Malaga province has a lot of opportunities for funding entrepreneurs, particularly women, or young business people and by clicking on this link you can see a range of interesting options for business people working in the area including training, competitions you can enter to compete for funding and much more http://imfe.malaga.eu/es/index.html
- Andalucía Emprende is an organization which believes in talent and encouraging the entrepreneurial spirit to improve the economy and create jobs. They offer a lot of fantastic support in the set-up, development and consolidation of entrepreneurial projects http://www.andaluciaemprende.es/ As part of this scheme we can highly recommend a visit to CADE in Marbella, their multi-lingual team are experts in helping to create business plans, advising on funding options and setting entrepreneurs up with investors and are there to help http://www.andaluciaemprende.es/CADE/cade-marbella/
- There’s also an organization called “Málaga Emprende” which is supported by Malaga Town Hall and the business organization Promálaga and has been offering many different tools and support for creating new companies within Malaga for more than 15 years. http://www.promalaga.es/
- La Confederación de Empresarios de Málaga (The Business Federation of Malaga) was set up to promote and develop the productivity of businesses within the Malaga province has now created a Malaga Entrepreneurs Club (Club de Emprendedores de Málaga) as a tool to support the generation of new business ideas and projects in the province http://clubemprendedoresmalaga.es/
- Programa de Apoyo Empresarial a las Mujeres (PAEM) – The Programme to Support Women Entrepreneurs has been created to help women who want to start a business or who are already entrepreneurs. They are able to offer support no matter what stage a business is in and help women to succeed. http://www.e-empresarias.net/
- Another good resource is Spain’s Chamber of Commerce website which contains loads of information and news about training and grants http://www.camara.es/
In all these pages you will find loads of great information on how to create a successful business and the tools that you need to start the journey to your finished project. There is help out there, although for grants you need to be prepared to jump through a lot of hoops and have the money and patience to be able to wait for those grants to come through, so think carefully before you follow that path.
Another good idea is to network online and offline and ask for advice, ideas and support from fellow business people, or find a mentor to help you through it. We can help you develop a marketing plan as part of your planning process and brainstorm with you to decide the best way forward, or simply advise you as you move through the process and we also arrange monthly networking meetings so you can get help and support. Please let us know if we can help you in any way. Don’t go it alone!