The Provincial Council of Almeria has materialised the creation of forty companies in 24 municipalities of the province during the last months thanks to the pioneering project ‘Almeria, young employment against depopulation’. The main objective of this initiative is to promote the entrepreneurship of young people from Almeria in small municipalities through financial aid and comprehensive advice to help them put their business idea into practice.
Almeria. Youth Employment against Depopulation’ is one of the most important proposals in the fight against depopulation promoted by the Provincial Council, financed by the European Social Fund (EMP-POEJ Aid), is based on three main lines of action: Training for entrepreneurship, Promotion of self-employment and Promotion of social economy.
The President of the Provincial Council, Javier A. García, accompanied by the Mayor of Olula del Río, Antonio Martínez Pascual, the Deputy for the Presidency, Fernando Giménez and the Deputy for European Initiatives, Economic Promotion and Employment, Carmen Navarro, visited this municipality to learn about the experience of two of the companies that have been created thanks to the ‘Almería, young employment against depopulation’ programme: Cafetería Alexandra and Modas Imperio.
A moment during the visit to Cafetería Alexandra.
In both businesses, the president spoke with the young owners and learned first-hand about the motivations and hopes that have led them to undertake their life and business project in the municipality where they want to make their dreams come true. In this sense, Javier A. García explained that «Almería, youth employment against depopulation is having an enormous success and is proving to be one of our strongest allies to make two of our most important objectives a reality: equal opportunities for Almeria residents, wherever they live, and to settle the population in the smallest municipalities».
In this line, the president stressed that thanks to this programme co-financed by the Provincial Council and European funds «we are making available to the people of Almeria all that Europe gives us to undertake. There is no better help than that which serves to make a business project a reality, with which our young people can give free rein to their talent and work. Thanks to it, we create wealth and employment among the young people of the smallest municipalities».
In line with the words of the president is the assessment of the mayor of Olula del Río who, as he pointed out, «to see how the ideas and desires of the young people of our town become a reality makes us feel very proud. Entrepreneurship is the best guarantee for the future of our municipalities. I wish our young entrepreneurs the best of luck and I hope that many more people, both in Olula and in the rest of the province, will benefit from this programme».
For her part, Jazmina Berruezo, owner of Modas Imperio, a men’s clothing shop located in the heart of the town, said that «the Diputación grants have helped my business to grow a little more. With the pandemic it has been very difficult for us to progress and this aid has meant that I have been able to buy more goods and provide a better service to my neighbours».
Another of Olula’s entrepreneurs, Cristian Montoya, has set up the Cafeteria Alexandra in Avenida Almanzora. The young entrepreneur has highlighted the speed of the grants and that they have served «as a breath of fresh air with an economic boost that has encouraged us to take up again the ideas we had to alleviate the effect of the pandemic and make it easier for us to create a back terrace, which is our main investment, or to renew furniture».
The project programmes: Promotion of self-employment and social economy, the beneficiaries have access to grants of between 4,000 and 8,500 euros to complete their business projects. The applicant profile of these training actions are young people between 16 and 29 years old, registered in the National Youth Guarantee System, who reside or will reside in municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants or Carboneras, Mojácar, Macael, Olula del Río or Vélez-Rubio.