The new businesses that are implanted in the municipality of Los Realejos can opt for the entrepreneurial check for the expenses of the new self-employed; aid for the rental of empty commercial premises, or subsidies to improve the brand, the posters and the corporate image, the accessibility of the premises or digitization. The Consistory also offers a free space to set up an online store.
Los Realejos has become since 2012 an oasis for entrepreneurs thanks to the seven lines of municipal aid created specifically to encourage the start-up of new business projects in the locality. It all started with the Entrepreneurial Check, which in the last nine years has helped 313 entrepreneurs in their first steps who have received public support of more than 434,000 euros to pay expenses as diverse as self-employed fees, management, insurance or rental. But the overall number of entrepreneurs and companies that have received grants from the Consistorio realejo is much higher in these years: a total of 864, who have distributed 748,922 euros.
Offer aid and incentives that they do not exist in any other municipality in the north of Tenerife has borne fruit. The first deputy mayor and councilor for Economic Promotion, Adolfo González (PP), assures that “there have been many entrepreneurs who have chosen Los Realejos to start their business because they could opt for aid such as the Entrepreneurial Check (with a maximum of 2,500 euros) or Local 0, which finances the rent. They have definitely been incentives that have worked: more than 50% of the entrepreneurs have come from other municipalities.”
The 14 calls for the Entrepreneurial Check have benefited 181 men and 145 women, of whom more than 97% have been self-employed and less than 3%, companies. In the five editions of Remárcate, the line of aid created in 2017 for the renewal and modernization of the brand image of small and medium-sized companies, 93 subsidies (78,260 euros) have been awarded, of which 40 have been for men and 43 for women.
Until April 6 is open the deadline for the application of the Entrepreneur Check, which has an amount of 1,750 euros, expandable to 2,500 euros for people over 40 years of age, long-term unemployed, people with disabilities, victims of gender-based violence, women with single-parent families, people in a situation of social exclusion or social economy entities.
This check allows its beneficiaries to allocate it to a large number of expenses, such as the Social Security contributions of the self-employed or their employees; notary and commercial registry; acquisition or placement of a commercial sign; Market studies; tax, accounting and labor advice; insurance; promotion and publicity; training; acquisition of consumable material; investment in web portals and presence in networks, or rent.
Local Cero, which has been helping since 2014 to finance the rental of empty premises that are recovered for new business initiatives, has distributed almost 72,000 euros among 37 beneficiaries, 60% of whom are women entrepreneurs. Until April 4, it can be requested for initiatives that have started their activity between October 1, 2020 and February 28, 2022 in a leased premises of a maximum of 200 square meters.
Aid has also been called to improve the accessibility of the premises, online commerce and several extraordinary lines due to the covid-19 crisis. This year a new aid has been created for the installation of removable terraces, platforms and awnings in bars, restaurants and cafeterias, endowed with 40,000 euros, expandable to 80,000. The application period is open until April 22. Each business can access a maximum of 2,000 euros.
Adolfo González highlights that this policy of investment incentives in Los Realejos “has been noted in the number of self-employed workers in recent years” and in the average number of new businesses that open each month: between 5 and 7. launched a Market Place (ventor.mobi), a free online store so that local companies (for now 60) can sell their products over the Internet. Digitization is now facilitated through the so-called Digital Kit, from the Red.es project of the Government of Spain, which allows you to receive up to 12,000 euros.
The realejero Consistory has made an effort in recent years to streamline and simplify the procedures, “so that the aid is paid in the same year in which it is requested,” says González. For the first deputy mayor, «It has not been easy, we squeeze our heads to find solutions to the problems suffered by companies. We look for the legal formula and we start working on specifications and calls for aid that did not exist ».
Support to the primary sector
The Realejero City Council maintains a significant amount of aid to promote the primary sector and self-employment, such as the delivery of fruit trees or seed potatoes (5,000 euros per year); subsidies for the promotion of the local agricultural sector (9,600 euros per year); aid for the improvement of livestock farms (created in 2021 with an amount of 23,000 euros); the subsidy to the Cereals Association of Tenerife for the collection of the cereal (5,000 euros); aid for livestock farms in the municipality to mitigate the economic impact of Covid, or those recently created for the recovery of Baluto agricultural land.
