IPPEC ENTREPRENEURS

One of the objectives of Instituto Pontés de Promoción Económica is to implement and develop actions aimed at self-employment counselling and guidance. To that effect, this business initiative promoting centre is viewed as an engine performing a set of activities whose goal it is to promote and support new and budding entrepreneurs. Supporting and fostering new entrepreneurs, in conjunction with the other new projects, is considered to be a top priority for all active job-creating policies and all those social initiatives whose core objective is  to fight against unemployment.

In order to be efficient, these integrated services are perfectly structured so as to respond coherently and accurately according to specific needs and taking into account what is actually required by different stakeholders. This method involves developing a range of itineraries and activities so as to promote business initiatives in our Municipality.

These are some of IPPEC’s most important business promoting initiatives:

  • Facilitating a new mind-set with regard to self-employment and enterprise creation. Fostering a positive self-employment culture formulated as a natural way to Access the labour market.
  • Supporting emerging initiatives by undertaking a proper and rigorous study of the projects in question.
  • Providing training to entrepreneurs in order to make the budding businesses viable and sustainable.
  • The purpose is a social action to spread a clearly defined business culture and specific support to entrepreneurs aimed at improving their training and education as well as their chances to grow and develop outside their future enterprises.
  • Motivating about the opportunities involved in enterprise creation, thereby overcoming general prejudices and negative attitudes.
  • Providing information about the different aspects concerning Enterprise creation and business management.
  • Changing approaches and facilitating new personal and professional skills and qualities related to enterprise creation.
  • Assessing the endogenous resources of our town and how they can help to create and successfully manage new companies.
  • Assessing specific entrepreneurs and enterprise projects.
  • Making it easier to create, run and manage companies.
  • Giving relevant advice about enterprise creation.
  • Covering all these different needs in an integrated manner.
  • Analysing the viability of a proposed business idea.
  • Technical Viability: Performing a thorough study of the real material, physical, chemical possibilities involved in producing the goods or service expected from a given project.
  • Commercial and Sales Viability: Stating if the market is interested or not in the product or service to be produced, and its degree of acceptance in terms of consumption and use.
  • Economic Viability: any project needs an investment study which necessarily includes a funding project, as they both reflect the same reality, though analysed from two different angles.
  • Financial Viability: Counselling on a company’s ability to get the necessary funding to meet short, medium and long-term requirements.
  • Social Viability: Studying an enterprise’s impact on society in light of the entrepreneur’s personal profile or in accordance with the company profile and characteristics.
  • This is a fundamental resource regarding how to plan an enterprise’s future growth and development. Elaborating the different sections in a structured way enables us to classify all the processes involved in a company start-up.
  • Clearly and specifically defining the line or field of business activity or redefining and restructuring the initial idea where appropriate. This is not a static document.
  • This is an essential tool from the financial point of view in order to be able to submit reasonable and feasible business objectives.
  • It is the entrepreneur’s calling card vis-à-vis third parties such as public and/or private entities.
  • It is also an internal document and tool to assess an enterprise’s start-up viability/feasibility.
  • Apart from general the activities, a Business Plan likewise offers a number of advantages, not only vis-à-vis the outside, but also at the internal level.
  • It allows information to be duly and properly structured.
  • It warrants a good image and a professional perception of the company.
  • It reveals possible criteria discrepancies.
FOSTERING ENTREPRENEURISM

By means of its technicians and specialists, the IPPEC carries out a number of actions and activities aimed at developing and promoting entrepreneurism all through the year. These are some of them:

  • Awareness raising days in schools with the aim to create and promote an entrepreneurial.
  • Supporting contests arranged by entrepreneurial entities in order to reward and value all such initiatives.
  • Acting as a liaison vis-à-vis external agents wishing to learn about the situation in As Pontes with a view to fostering and furthering its entrepreneurial culture.

These are municipal aids designed to create companies within the framework of the AS PONTES EMPRENDE programme. There are two lines of aids available:

  • IMPULSATE: an aid of up to 2.000 EUROS per person to pay rent expenses for the business activity.
  • INSTALATE: an aid of up to 1.000 EUROS per person to pay for furniture, material and other investments needed to prepare the facilities and premises for the start-up.

With the aim to support and energise business initiatives, development and start-ups within the geographical sphere of As Pontes the Town Hall, either individually or collectively, the As Pontes Emprende Awards were conceived.