Thanks to the EmprendEX program, which promotes entrepreneurship and self-employment among the long-term unemployed.
The beneficiary has finally found a way out of her situation as a long-term unemployed person, thanks to EmprendEX, promoted by the Alares Foundation and a group of collaborating businesspeople. This program, intended for people who no longer receive unemployment benefits, offers free, comprehensive funding and advice to help them set up their own business. In this way, people in vulnerable situations can become entrepreneurs and become self-employed.
Brenda is going to launch an online business selling secondhand clothing for children. "I had this idea in mind for some time. The EmprendEX team helped me shape it and make it viable," she says. She will also receive advice from experts during the first two years of running her business to make strategic decisions and learn from the experience of mentors—highly respected professionals in various fields. In addition, being able to work from home will allow her to spend time with her young daughter, facilitating the work-life balance that is so necessary today.
To receive this support, Brenda completed a process in which she demonstrated that she was facing an emergency situation, but also that she had the attitude and abilities necessary to take on the challenge of becoming a successful businesswoman. The EmprendEX committee of experts analyzed her proposal and has been helping and advising her on launching a viable business.
EmprendEX, an opportunity for those who need it most
EmprendEX can become a major professional opportunity for people who, like Brenda, are long-term unemployed and receive no benefits or assistance, and who in many cases have lost hope of finding a job. Thanks to the program run by the Alares Foundation, if they have or are looking for a business idea and have the desire to become entrepreneurs and move forward, they can make it happen.
The driving force behind the EmprendEX program shares a dream: to help many people in Spain move from the desperation of being unemployed to business activity, becoming owners of a small company with a future. According to the initiative's promoters, this dream is based on complete confidence in people's ability to overcome their difficulties through hard work. In the words of Javier Benavente, president of the Alares Foundation: "They deserve an opportunity. And theirs will also be an opportunity for all of us." Its promoters also hope that EmprendEX will become "an example of trust, ability, initiative, and perseverance to foster a culture of entrepreneurship and self-employment."
This project is funded through donations to the Alares Foundation, which requests support for the project through contributions of at least five euros per month to promote the initiative. Companies and organizations can also participate by sponsoring or supporting the program.
Collaborators
The EmprendEX program, funded by the Alares Foundation, has a governing board made up of renowned Spanish businesspeople and executives from different sectors who voluntarily make their knowledge and professional experience available to the program. Among them are Javier Benavente, President of the Alares Foundation; Eduardo Bravo (CEO of Tigenix); Juan Riva (President of the Nantik Lum Foundation); David Hatchwell (President of Excem Grupo); Juan José Güemes (President of the IE Business School Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation); Mercedes Pescador (General Director of Medialuna Comunicación); María Eugenia Girón (Founder of Megamcapital); Bruno Bobone (President of Pinto Basto); and Mar Aguilera (General Director of the Alares Foundation).
