A little more than two thirds of all users of the Business Support and Development Centre (CADE) in Marbella throughout the past year were foreigners, most of them of British, German, Argentinian and Dutch nationality. There were also many Swedish, Italian and American users last year, with smaller numbers of entrepreneurs of other nationalities. In its fist year in Marbella, this centre attended to a total of 1,544 users. British users accounted for a full 30 per cent of the total number of foreign users of the centre’s services.
Innovation
The Delegate for Innovation, Science and Business in the Junta de Andalucía, Francisco Vallejo, visited the Marbella CADE office last week to speak of what he referred to as “an instrument designed to stimulate and support innovation and entrepreneurial activity in the town.” The primary purpose of his visit, however, was to get to know at first hand the kind of companies using the centre’s services. Among the data made available to him was the fact that 59 per cent of users are aged between 30 and 45, and 71 per cent of them are male.
Services
One of the principal services offered by CADE is free use of its offices for a period of six months for people with new and innovative business ideas, thereby allowing them the peace of mind necessary to develop these ideas. The new entrepreneurs are provided with all the technological and business tools they need during this period, reducing risk and ensuring them the confidence to develop their ideas once out on their own.
A total of fifteen direct and eleven indirect jobs have been created by the establishment of the new companies using the service last year. Among them are ‘Tertulia Andaluza’, a company that publishes an on-line magazine about Andalucía; ‘Plush Word’, which allows for virtual visitors to be made by the use of 360-degree photographs; ‘Extra Pets Magazine’, which is a bilingual publication aimed at domestic animal owners; ‘PCV Media’, which is a technological company, and ‘Worldwide Internet Advertising’, a marketing and advertising site on the Internet.
“We have created a multi-racial and multi-cultural platform for young people,” says Vallejo, who tells us that CADE has an important part to play in the development of new businesses, adding that “the financing of the project will come of its own accord.” He was accompanied by the provincial delegate, María Gámez, and by óscar Fernández, PSOE councillor in Marbella. Vallejo spoke to some of the foreign entrepreneurs involved in CADE, who explained to him the ideas they are developing. “The great thing is that many of these projects also complement each other,” he said.
