New Entrepreneurship Network in the Canary Islands

On April 26, the Department of Local Development of the City Council of La Laguna in Tenerife launched the first Entrepreneurship Network of the town. This initiative seeks to facilitate access to all available resources in order, as explained by José Juan Gavilán, Councilor for Local Development, “to continue strengthening one of our central lines of work: attracting investment and generating employment, making the municipality an attractive place for enterprising people”. In addition, he adds that this Network joins “other actions that we are promoting during this mandate and that are substantiated in the recent creation of the Aguere Innovation Hub (Ai-HUB), a central element of economic policies to support entrepreneurship and local development”.

This Network aims to work as a team, exchange ideas and knowledge, increase the ability to access subsidies and other public contributions, in addition to providing a resource guide that offers the necessary information for those who want to start their business idea in La Laguna. It also raises training programs, professional meetings, counselling, the resources of the municipal plan for Social and Solidarity Economy (RedESS), business and start-ups incubators, a coworking space and the first Business Attention Point (PAE in Spanish) among others.

On April 6, the first promotional meeting of this Entrepreneurship Network was held, which was attended by 14 people in the plenary room of the City Council of La Laguna. Among them were on the board those who represented the Agricultural Extension Agency of the Island Council of Tenerife, the Barrios por el Empleo (Neighbourhoods for Employment), of the General Foundation of the University of La Laguna (FGULL), of the Insular Foundation for Training, Employment and Business Development (FIFEDE), the Provincial Federation of Metal and New Technology Companies (FEMETE) and, finally, the Creative Association for the Promotion of Employment and Social Cohesion.

At this meeting they discussed, among other things, the creation of bases for the constitution of the La Laguna Network, with the long-term objective of expanding it to other municipalities in Tenerife. There was also talk of creating a collaborative space of a technical nature where doubts and issues that may arise in the different spaces in which these entities work can be resolved, in addition, the City Council Business Advisory Service was presented to the attendees and all the details about the existing Entrepreneurship services in the municipality.

*Translated by Daniel Rodríguez