SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Sep 13 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cabildo de Tenerife has launched a second aid plan for SMEs and the self-employed on the island for an amount of 9 million euros, and with amounts ranging between 1,500 and 6,500 euros, in order to cover operating expenses such as rentals, insurance or personal, for example.
The aid has been presented at a press conference by the president of the island corporation, Pedro Martín, and the insular counselor for Socioeconomic Development, Employment and Foreign Action, Carmen Luz Baso, who have stressed that the beneficiaries may not be aware of tax payments.
“We do not want to bury them anymore,” he stressed, also advancing that these aids are compatible with others from the Cabildo itself or from other institutions.
The grants, whose deadline for submitting applications is already open until October 8, will be processed through Fifede, which has hired 11 people to work exclusively on this program.
Martín has highlighted that one of the objectives of the Cabildo is to give “agility” to the granting of aid, and in fact, he has commented that as soon as a company or a self-employed person meets the basic requirements, they will receive the funds. “We prefer to make a claim after waiting months for help because a paper is missing,” he said.
Since the deadline was opened a little less than a week ago, more than 1,600 freelancers and SMEs have submitted applications, mainly from the commerce and hospitality subsectors, plus others such as hairdressers, gyms, taxi drivers or agriculture and livestock.
To qualify for aid, companies cannot have more than 11 workers or a business volume of more than 2 million euros.
Martín has highlighted that between 2020 and 2021, the Cabildo has mobilized more than 37 million euros in the productive and business fabric of the island, the highest figure in the history of the corporation, and without “propaganda” or with the intention to “make it profitable from a political point of view.”
In addition, he stressed that the way of working of the Cabildo is to distribute funds through the municipalities – the second employment plan endowed with 9 million is in process – with criteria of “equity” and in coordination with Fecam.
