Within the framework of the celebration of the CYL-HUB in SoriaWe had the opportunity to chat with Emma Fernández, General Director of Social Economy and Self-Employed of the Junta de Castilla y León. And it is that the Administration plays a key role in promoting entrepreneurship in the region, through its programs and aid.
In addition to participating in some of the round tables of the event, Fernández explained to MuyPymes the incentives the Board’s most outstanding economic awards to people who undertake in the region. The objectives they pursue are diverse, but above all they want young people from Castilla-Leon to stay and work in the area, and attract talent from outside the community.
MuyPymes: What help do you offer from the board to SMEs and the self-employed in the region?
Emma Fernandez: From the General Management we work to help autonomous businesses, regardless of the productive sector to which they are dedicated. In the Board there is a wide catalog of aid for these professionals depending on the productive activity they carry out. We also have aid for the social economy, regulated by Law 5-2011, including a series of entities with business formulas that contribute to covering social needs.
Today, there are three important help lines in the region, in addition to this CYL-HUB projectwhich we consider to be a great help because it is greatly promoting this ecosystem of entrepreneurship in Castilla y León.
If we talk about specific lines of help, on the one hand, the star product or the star line is the zero fee. Castilla y León was the first autonomous community in Spain to take this out, in 2022. Later, announcements by other autonomous communities have appeared, especially after the Royal Decree Law, of contribution by real income, where they have been linked to this new situation of the self-employed
When they launched, at the state level, a flat rate of 60 euros, we went further. When the benefit period expired, which was 12 months for urban areas or 24 months for rural areas, we subsidized the following six months, repaying the fees paid by self-employed workers in that time. In 2023, we maintain that aid at zero rate and expand it.
MuyPymes: How do you extend this coverage?
Emma Fernandez: In our strategic plan we realized that there was a significant rural exodus and that we need a generational replacement because our population is aging, especially the group of self-employed workers. In fact, the INE is telling us that our young people are leaving. so we need encourage them to stay and that they opt for a self-employment enterprise through self-employment.
We want to reward that persistence, that perseverance and that illusion to undertake… And we added another measure in the zero rate this year, which is to recognize the working mothers who undertake on their own. From the moment they are discharged and for the following 12 months, we subsidize 100% of their social security contributions.
MuyPymes: I understand that these measures are for people born in Castilla y León, but also for those who come from abroad and start a business in the region…
Emma Fernandez: Correct and it is related to the second great line of entrepreneurship of the General Directorate, from which the regulatory bases will emerge in a short time and affects self-employed workers who move from other territories. Entrepreneurs who decide to transfer their economic activity to Castilla y León may receive from 6,000 euros for establishing themselves here, and can reach up to 10,000 euros per person.
The way to increase the subsidy is if they are established in municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants, for example, and 1,000 more euros are added. If instead of 5,000 they are less than 2,000 inhabitants, we add another 1,000 euros. And 2,000 euros more if we are talking about young people under 35 years of age. With which here the key is always young entrepreneurship. We need to excite young people so that they stay in Castilla y León and for them to opt for self-employment formulas here.
The last line of financing that we have in the Board, through the Next Generation funds, is the PROTECOM line, with special protection for trade, although it is aimed at the entire group of self-employed workers, with less than 10 salaried workers and micro-enterprises. This line offers a grant of 5,000 euros per beneficiary, as long as it is used for digital or sustainable actions.
We must not forget the lines of support for the social economy for collective entrepreneurship in companies, where the participation of workers in the company. The call came out a few weeks ago and we encourage the incorporation of members to cooperatives and worker-owned companies subsidizing with a fixed amount. And then there would be the other part of the aid to the social economy, where we have entities that promote inclusive employment for people with disabilities and those in a situation or at risk of exclusion.
MuyPymes: What is the attraction of your land to attract entrepreneurs from other areas of Spain?
Emma Fernandez: Soria has many opportunities because it has a highly diversified economy. In general, in the region we are very powerful in the three industrial sectors, primary, secondary and tertiary. I was talking before about the problem of having an aging population. This makes us a very important testing ground for the entire silver economy.
In the case of Castilla y León, we were talking about 26% of the population being over 65 years of age and, within 15 years, this percentage will increase to 34%. What we have to do is look for business niches so that young people can meet the needs of this type of population. within the social services, Everything related to dependency care, through personal assistance in rural areas, has become a very important market niche.
Today we have elderly people in towns who are forced to go to the urban area, to reside with their families, or to be in a residence against their will. They are people who would prefer to stay in their homes for the rest of their lives, therefore, there is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurship in this area.
On the other hand, there are opportunities in the field. We are the largest region in Spain, where the primary sector, agriculture and livestock, It has a very important weight in the GDP. New business forms are now being discovered within these sectors, such as reusing waste to create energy. I am talking about entrepreneurship that could be peripheral to productive cities, which is already very powerful in our region. We can produce innovative new forms of energy, from biomethane, biogas, for example. There is a huge business opportunity. We would gain sovereignty for the own production of resources, preventing dependency from increasing costs in an unbridled manner and damaging our businessmen so much when there is a conflict situation like the one we have experienced.
I can’t let go either quality of life. I have lived 10 years abroad and a few years in Madrid. I have magnificent memories, but I returned to Castilla y León and here we have a great quality of life. This is a major attraction on the scale. It is essential, but not sufficient, that there is an opportunity for entrepreneurship or to start a productive activity, but the quality of life is also vital.
In Castilla y León, practically in all the capitals, we have that manageability when it comes to going around the city, we also have a very important cultural offer. And we seek to promote the birth rate and that families settle here. That is why we work in harmony with all the councils, if I want more young people to undertake, I will have to boost the birth rate. We need the generational change and that the trade of a lifetime does not have to close, that the crafts of a lifetime are not lost.
MuyPymes: In addition to all these measures, and related to entrepreneurship, we cannot stop asking about the level of digitization of companies in Castilla y León…
Emma Fernandez: Digitization is essential and this is not just being on social networks or having a website. As far as I am concerned, we are encouraging entrepreneurship in rural areas, being able to have Connection in those areas. We are seeing that self-employed workers often, to make a phone call or send an email, they have to go to the next town because in yours there is not enough coverage.
Being able to provide access to networks throughout the territory is important and I know that the Board’s Ministry of Mobility and Digital Transformation is working intensively in this regard. We also ask the Central Executive that we can have that much-needed access in a territory as extensive as Castilla de León, with such a high dispersion of the population.
We want to take advantage of our territory, precisely because it is so extensive, and that our towns are not emptied. For this it is essential to be able to take services everywhere. If I want a self-employed person to go to a town with less than 2,000 inhabitants, there must be services. And to achieve this, there are digital solutions that allow the administration to reach these municipalities, through network coverage.
MuyPymes: Do you think that events like the CYL-HUB are necessary, should there be more?
Emma Fernandez: The fact that we support it from the Junta de Castilla y León, and we finance it from the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Employment, is the best example that we consider that events like this they are certainly necessary. Because it is the only one, that we know of, that connects education with the reality of the business world. And this is the common thread that I have been transferring from the beginning.
Before we were talking about entrepreneurship projects, projects in which school children They are already instilled with this mentality towards innovation, developing a business, that taste for risking and winning, through self-employment and self-employment and even collective entrepreneurship, through cooperatives.
And that only happens in projects like CYL-HUB. That is to say, that we can be talking both about children in schools who are asked to undertake, and about unicorns. because we must connect the child from the earliest stages so that when he becomes a young university student he finishes his training and decides to undertake. It is not enough to instill that entrepreneurial attitude in the university, but you have to start before. These types of projects are like a fine rain that permeates the population so that we can see more and more self-employed affiliates with RETA, more startups and strong, competitive companies that generate a lot of employment.
