The 10th Ciudad Real Business Forum will focus on local experience
The Chamber of Commerce and the CEEI have organised a new edition of the traditional forum of entrepreneurship of Ciudad Real, which will take place this Tuesday, 9th November, at 10.00 a.m. virtually.
This free meeting, now in its tenth edition since 2012 and the second time it has been held in online format, aims to be a space that, as in previous years, continues to focus on training and the exchange of experiences, and to help those who are starting or considering this activity. As in previous years, it will continue to focus on training and the exchange of experiences, and will serve to help those who are starting out or are considering this activity.
The activity will open with a conference entitled «Entrepreneurship: leadership and transformation», given by Juan Ferrer, an expert in management skills such as coaching, negotiation, teamwork, leadership and time management, and in the discovery of new ways of working.
Ferrer has worked as a consultant in Spain and Latin America, where he has participated in the implementation of change in companies, motivating and engaging people in transformation, development and continuous improvement. He has published three books and is a regular contributor to various media.
This virtual forum will also be attended by Nino Redruello, the fourth generation of the more than one hundred-year-old family business La Ancha. Together with his brother Santiago, this businessman and chef took over the generational baton a few years ago; shortly after this concept, Las Tortillas de Gabino, La Gabinoteca and Fismuler will be added.
They were among the first entrepreneurs in the Spanish gastronomic sector to face the COVID-19 crisis, with their own brand Armando, which opened up new business opportunities. They bring new concepts to the hotel and gastronomy industry, such as marketing, advertising and communication.
Different experiences of entrepreneurship in Ciudad Real
As in every edition of this forum, there will be a panel of experiences with companies from Ciudad Real at different stages of their business life, this time featuring women.
On the one hand there is Freedom and Flow, with sisters Beatriz and Carmen Crespo, a company that works in the health sector with a model of preventive medicine and medical diagnosis in the field of healthy lifestyles.
On the other hand, Violeta Zapata, creator of the Violeta Porté brand, will talk about the process of creating the first Spanish fashion brand aimed at users of insulin pumps as a medical device. For the treatment of diabetes and her work designing and selling clothes and accessories designed to meet the needs of this group.
Ciudad Real becomes a forum for investment and entrepreneurship at the «Business Market».
The Municipal Institute for Economic Promotion, Education and Employment (IMPEFE) of the City Council organised the third forum of the «Ciudad Real Business Market» in the Antiguo Casino. This event aims to promote entrepreneurship, business development and investment .
The forum was attended by several representatives of the political, economic and industrial sectors of the city. The mayoress of Ciudad Real thanked all the registered entrepreneurs and investment funds for their participation in the forum. Eva María Masías said that this meeting serves to make Ciudad Real a national and international benchmark for investors and entrepreneurs to meet and develop the potential that our city has for the future.
The president of IMPEFE, Pedro Maroto, said that the aim of this forum is for Ciudad Real to be seen as a destination for business, especially for young people. He also stated that events will continue to be planned throughout the year to promote investment.
Agustín Espinosa, delegate of the Province of Castilla-La Mancha for the Economy, Trade and Employment in Ciudad Real, expressed his support for this event, which serves as a boost to investment at a time of economic recovery. The Government of Castilla-la Mancha has not ceased to promote business investment, having «allocated 375 million euros to maintain companies between direct aid, to stimulate the tourism sector, loans and guarantees». In addition, it has earmarked 25 million euros for business investment and another 10 million euros for entrepreneurship and the creation of new self-employed workers. He also announced the recent creation of the Council for the Attraction of Foreign Investment.
Josu Gómez, consultant and entrepreneur, highlighted the high level of the forum participants, including Mariyeni del Carmen Bautista, CEO of Della Capital; Francisco Lozano, CEO of Área Financiera; Jorge Field, of Cupido Capital; and Fernando Monroy Huete, CEO of GDSFIN and president of the Madrid branch of the Keiretsu network of business angels. Elena Fernández Bstartup and Fernando Rodríguez Alemany CEO of 15K Angels. Finnova. José Chin, President of the Latin American Chambers of Commerce CAMACOL in the USA, or José Barletta, President of Barnews Research Group and Italo.
Public procurement for innovation, an opportunity to improve the industry
innovation has been one of the driving forces of the planet throughout mankind’s existence, and in today’s interconnected, technological and globalised world, this factor has been magnified. New challenges are opening up in today’s innovation landscape, and the opportunity for government to benefit from innovation, to foster it and to help companies improve through it is perhaps one of the greatest.
This is why various actors, from the European Union to regional governments and national administrations, are trying to support it through Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI).
This instrument could be one of the keys to improving the governance, efficiency and functionality of the more than 720 Valencian business parks. At least, that is what the participants in a breakfast organised this Wednesday by Castellón Plaza with the support of the Valencian Innovation Agency (AVI) and the sponsorship of the Federation of Business Parks of the Valencian Community (Fepeval) thought.
At the Castellón Chamber of Commerce, public and private sector leaders stressed the importance of working together to grow through innovation.
Public-private partnership
This public-private collaboration is one of the pillars promoted by the ICC and should be encouraged, especially in order to transfer innovation to industrial areas, as all participants agreed. For this reason, the Generalitat approved in 2018 «the first law on industrial zones in all of Spain», highlighted the director of Fepeval, Diego Romá.
In it, and how could it be otherwise, «the town councils are a key element» because they are the closest to the administration and where the industrial areas are located. From there, the aim is to find ways to improve the competitiveness of the companies in each municipality, «but also the quality of life of the men and women who work in the industrial areas».
But, in addition, local councils themselves can also benefit from public procurement for innovation. Juan Llobell, president of Tantum Consultores, points out that a city council or any other public body can turn to PPI «if it has a product or an unmet need». However, this is not always easy.
The mayoress of La Vall d’Uixó, Tania Baños, points out that the workload of the local councils makes it difficult to manage even the support offered by the Valencian Institute for Business Competitiveness (Ivace). The Contracting Law obliges them to carry out a project from its preparation to the certification of the work within a year.
Moreover, as Llobell points out, «it is not possible for any city council to know everything that exists on the market» in terms of innovation and what it can use to improve the efficiency of industrial estates.
Management and modernisation entities
This is why Baños, like others, insists on public-private partnerships as an opportunity. However, it is necessary to move in another direction. In the case of Vall d’Uixó, with its two industrial estates, «we find ourselves with a serious lack of communication with companies».
To facilitate this process, the Valencian law provides for the creation of management and modernisation bodies (EGM) to bring together the voices of the companies located in these areas, to serve as mediators in negotiations with the administration, but not only with it.
In this context, the president of the Port Authority of Castellón, Rafa Simó, stresses that «it is necessary to work in a network at all levels, to share challenges and good and bad practices; the experience of sharing is not yet very applicable in our daily work». And the figures prove it.
Of the more than 720 industrial estates in the region, «twenty-something percent have some kind of association or organisation that manages them», says Fran Izquierdo, director of the consultancy division of Segurinter Sistemas de Seguridad.
Romá, who is also director of the Spanish Confederation of Business Zones (Cedaes), confirms this: «Only 10% of Spanish industrial estates have an organisation that manages them. We need EGMs so that the administration is aware of the needs of companies and so that they know that the solution they are looking for can be offered by a company in the same park».
Local administrations only have the option of using Ivace subsidies to build fibre optics, but it only subsidises the building works, not the cabling, which means that the trenches are often empty. However, there may be other ways to subsidise the supply of materials.
Llobell points to various options, such as the EU’s New Generation Funds or the European Multiannual Financial Framework, as well as the channels offered by the state. In many cases, the ideal solution is to «go straight to the big boys«, which applies to Brussels. He says that many grants have not yet been awarded.
But before all these steps, the ideal is to draw up a «specific action plan» for each industrial zone that includes «strategic planning» and is capable of «attracting investors», says Valls. And from there, focus on innovation, «which we don’t know how far it can take us», says Simó. It can also help to meet «the great challenge of sustainability», another of the fundamental objectives of today’s world, says Marín.
And always from the starting point of public-private collaboration, because this division should not be seen as a barrier between the two parts of society, says the president of PortCastelló: «We must abolish the distinction between the public and private sectors and make it between those who are involved and those who are not; those who want to bet on the model or not«. In this sense, it is «important» that local councils have a «department for economic support«, Izquierdo pointed out, to encourage innovation.
Tools already exist
But it is also true that, without going that far, there are already products that industrial companies can use to improve their efficiency. Among these tools, experts point out that geographic information systems or the Lokinn and Innotransfer platforms can be very useful. «But we need to move towards smart business parks and we need everyone to get involved: city councils, companies and administrative authorities», concludes Roma.
Innovation Day: Castellón’s industry will not be sustainable without public-private collaboration
The chilling rise in gas and electricity prices has brought to the forefront a number of energy fronts to which all economic activity in Castellón is exposed.
To the increase in costs must be added the political tension between Morocco and Algeria, which for the moment has led to the interruption of the main gas pipeline to our country. Meanwhile, it cannot be ignored that the European Union has a strict transition programme to emit only 45% of the CO₂ currently consumed by 2030 and to reach 0% by 2050.
The experts gathered at the main table of the 6th Innovation Conference organised by Mediterráneo and Simetría, in collaboration with CaixaBank and EnerHi, agreed that in order to overcome this challenge without leaving anyone behind. It will be necessary to strengthen cooperation mechanisms between companies and administrations, to which must be added the knowledge provided by universities and technological institutes.
When it comes to replacing fossil fuels with renewable sources, streamlining the current bureaucracy will help the future.
Francisco Vea, Innovation Director of the Simetría Group
In his speech, he said that the use of renewable energies between 2030 and 2050 «is the solution, but there are other keys, such as the legislative framework; in addition, we need more collaboration between the public and private sectors». He also stressed that companies «should not think that they will not be affected by these changes«. As for the economic benefits of European funds, «they will help, but we want them to reach not only large companies and SMEs, but also medium-sized ones».
As for the business opportunities associated with the energy transition, «there is liquidity and financial institutions that want to invest in renewables», but the proposals that are on the table will depend on «whether there are changes in the rules during the investment«. He recalled that Symmetry already anticipated this movement and created subsidiaries dedicated to this issue, which have existed for more than a decade.
Toni Llorens, Managing Director of the energy company EnerHi
He believes that at the moment «the solutions already exist, so rather than improving the technology, we need to improve the processes» so that all the renewable energy plans that are presented to the administrations can work as soon as possible. «Processing is not personalised«, he lamented, so at the current rate «we are not going to get there«. Another angle was the cost of wind or photovoltaic installations.
«Previous solutions were expensive, but this is clearly not the case now», both in terms of obtaining clean energy at affordable prices and because of the future prospects of green hydrogen.
«It is a vector that must be taken into account», he said. This is especially important because, in the case of Spain, «we depend 80% on foreign countries and we cannot be competitive if we depend on the countries that produce energy».
Rafa Simó, president of Port Castelló
The arrival of the European funds is a «historic opportunity» to accelerate the energy transformation process of Castellón’s industry, he said. This is especially important in a logistics ecosystem like that of Castellón, in which there are two important players, «such as the petrochemical industry and ceramics».
The facilities of the Port Authority of Castellón are preparing to adopt renewable energy mechanisms linked to maritime transport, through alliances with the ports of Valencia and Alicante.
In his conclusions, Simó said that the success of this key moment must come with «the limitation of external dependencies, because any slightest speculation on prices affects us; with a joint planning and strategy of all the sectors involved and with a commitment to networking» to achieve the objectives set for the coming years.
Vicente Nomdedeu, President of Ascer
The president of the employers’ association, which brings together tile manufacturers, called on the administration, the energy sector and its customers to «listen more», as «many jobs are at stake» in the process. He added that sustainability «has to have it both ways», which refers to both improving the environment in relation to new energy sources and preserving businesses and their jobs.
As for timelines, he said that timescales are tight. «Changes from today to tomorrow are difficult» because currently «there is no other energy source that is as competitive as gas». Still, Ascer said «we are working on up to four ways»to reduce fuel dependence, such as electricity, green hydrogen, biomethane or methods to capture CO₂ released into the atmosphere.
Regarding the contribution of the different sectors of the economy and the political class, Nomdedeu said that «we all have to make an effort, because on the one hand our companies are in a delicate situation with energy costs that we cannot fully reflect in our prices. On the other hand, the government must compensate, regulate and apply temporary measures to solve the energy crisis.».
Empar Martínez, Director General for Industry and Energy of the Generalitat of Catalonia
The regional government representative on the panel of experts acknowledged the need to speed up the procedures for the installation of renewable energies: «It is complicated for all the administrations and we are working on it, although we are beginning to see the reality of the approval of large projects», she said.
On the other hand, he pointed out that these changes must be accompanied by the innovative capacity of companies that have «the capacity to propose solutions in terms of recharging points, electrolysers in the green hydrogen production process or burners in furnaces».
When it comes to new energy sources, «we must think of all the alternatives«, which include not only wind and solar, but also «biomethane or thermal energy».
María Jesús Muñoz, lecturer in financial economics and accounting at the UJI
Speaking on behalf of the university community, the speaker said that companies «already see the need to change the energy sector, there are no longer deniers of the problem and that is a joy». He pointed out that in the current situation «we have to use different energy, produce and consume differently to face a future that has no way back; we cannot go back to the same situation as ten years ago». To this end, he recalled the role of the UJI in this field, in a context «in which everyone has to row in the same direction».
In his speech, he highlighted renewables as a business opportunity and economic stability. «There are reports from the International Energy Agency detailing that they are more profitable than other fossil energies and that they have improved a lot in recent years; renewable energy sources are also more resistant to shocks such as metalloid, have a better yield profile, more profitable portfolios and less risk. em>.
For this reason, he concluded that these changes have the support of the markets. For this to bear the desired fruit, «we have to get our act together or we will continue to lag behind other countries; Spain has been a solar engine, we have missed the train and now we must not miss it again», he concluded.
Myinvestor will finance clients to buy investment funds
MyInvestor, a neobank specialising in investments and mortgages, is entering a new business segment: financing the purchase of investment funds. This digital entity -founded by Andbank Spain and owned by El Corte Inglés and AXA- plans to start offering this type of loans from the first quarter of 2022.
The company, promoted by Carlos Aso (current CEO of the Andbank Group), will offer loans to its best clients to increase their exposure to funds. According to banking sources, the interest rate will be «very attractive».
Unlike personal loans, which have no assets as collateral for the loan, here Myinvestor will pledge the units of the fund in which the client invests. If the client is unable to repay the loan, the institution can foreclose on the collateral and retain the fund shares.
In the last two years and on the occasion of the end-of-year campaign for pension plans, Myinvestor has already granted loans to its clients to finance contributions to the plans at 1% NIR/TAE.
The success of this product has led the bank to consider offering it again in the coming days. However, in this case there are no pledged shares due to the illiquidity of private pensions.
Financing for the acquisition of financial assets is known in private banking as pledge lending. This allows clients to take advantage of market opportunities by pledging an asset to leverage their investment. The less risky the funds – the underlying – the greater the amount that can be lent.
MyInvestor explains that the aim of this product is to help clients manage their wealth. «It is a response to the need and demand of many customers who have expressed their interest in this type of product in recent months, which is innovative and revolutionary for retail banking,» explains a spokesperson for the bank.
The head of this new business unit will be Unai Beato, who also heads MyInvestor’s data department. The project also plans to offer consumer loans, a type of financing in which the customer responds with his own assets but without specific collateral.
MyInvestor offers more than 1,000 investment funds from national and international managers, including Vanguard index funds with no minimum investment. It has the largest showcase of pension plans in Spain: more than 80 plans from more than 20 companies.
The company, which has become the largest fintech company in terms of turnover with more than 1,400 million. And it has more than 635 million euros in investment products.
MyInvestor teams up with Santalucía AM to launch an ultra-prudent fund
MyInvestor has reached an agreement with Santalucía AM to market its Santalucía Renta Fija Fija Corto Plazo Euro MY mutual fund with no minimum investment and a management fee of 0.10%, the lowest in its category available to retail investors.
Santalucía Renta Fija Corto Plazo Euro MY, with five Morningstar stars, actively manages investments in short-term corporate or government debt, mainly European.
The average duration of the fund is between 0 and 12 months, its portfolio is composed of between 60 and 70 issues and is suitable for investors with a minimum investment horizon of one year. It yields more than 1% per annum over 10 years and 0.77% in 2020.
The bank’s customers will thus have an alternative for investing their liquidity, together with the MyInvestor current account, with a remuneration of 1% APR in the first year up to 15,000 euros and 0.10% in the following years.
«With this product, MyInvestor offers its clients a quality fund managed by a large group with consistent returns and minimal fees,» said the neobank, owned by Andbank Spain, Axa Spain and El Corte Inglés Seguros.
MyInvestor launches Val-Carreres value fund with no management fee until it reaches 20 million
Carlos Val-Carreres, the star of MyInvestor, has already facilitated the entry into his new value fund and will start selling the neobank in the coming days. It focuses on the international stock market and its main novelty is that it does not charge any management fees until it reaches an asset value of 20 million euros.
The fund’s key strengths were revealed last month: a value investment philosophy but with a structural approach to the economy, with new trends such as digitisation and electrification; a global approach; and «some of the lowest fees in the market for active management».
All this is combined in MyInvestor Value, as the non-investment bank owned by Andbank, El Corte Inglés Seguros, AXA and other institutional investors is called.
The share class system consists of several phases. The fund will start marketing class A, which will have a free management fee and only a 9% success fee until 20 million is reached. Once that amount is reached, Class B will be launched with a 0.9% management fee and a 9% performance fee for the next 20 million.
Initially, the minimum initial investment will be one euro. Once the A class reaches €20 million, only €5 million worth of notes can be subscribed. When 20 million is reached in B, only one million euros worth of notes can be subscribed, according to the prospectus.
«The aim of this structure is to allow the first 20 million to enter with 0%, democratising investment and offering quality value products with the lowest commissions in Spain,» the entity points out.
MyInvestor, 1.4 billion euros of business
MyInvestor Value uses a watermark model to calculate the management fee based on annual performance with a crystallisation date of 31 December. If three years pass without the manager receiving a success fee, a new watermark will be set in the fourth year.
Val-Carreres has had an illustrious career in firms such as Ibercaja, Lierde Sicav (where he participated in the management of part of César Alierta’s assets) and Singular Bank. He tried the same project with True Value, but their paths diverged early on due to business incompatibility.
Its new home is MyInvestor, which has just celebrated its fourth anniversary with more than 70,000 customers and a turnover of 1.4 billion euros.
MyInvestor launches loans to pension funds, to be extended to mutual funds in 2022
The non-bank has launched a loan to finance customers’ pension premiums, with the participation of Andobank España, El Corte Inglés Seguros and AXA España. The last two training sessions have helped us to manage this aspect of the project.
Specifically, MyInvestor offers a loan with a fixed interest rate of 1%/TIN per annum and monthly instalments of EUR 24.66 for 84 months. The organisation explains that the loan can be cancelled at any time without penalty.
The company has more than 80 pension plans. The company’s products include index-linked plans such as MyInvestor Indexed S&P 500, which is linked to the US stock market, and MyInvestor Indexed Global, which is linked to the global stock market. Both plans are subject to an administration fee of 0.30% and a total fixed fee of 0.49% (0.30% administration fee, 0.08% custody fee and 0.11% investment asset and other fees).
In addition to these indexed plans, MyInvestor also markets plans from banks, insurance companies and independent boutiques such as Santander, BBVA, Bankia, Banca March, Novo Banco, Santa Lucía, AXA, MAPFRE, Mutua, CNP, Casar. Agripassion, PSN, SECI, Magallanes, Marchbank, Horos, Buy & Hold, Renta4, Dunas, 360 Cola, Fonditel, EDM, Guesconsult, Metavalor, GVC Gaesco and Indexa.
Future plans
As you already know at FundsPeople, MyInvestor will pledge your investments in investment funds in the same way as a private bank would. In this case, the funds will be pledged as collateral.
Currently, the private funds managed by Andbank Wealth Management are MyInvestor Nasdaq 100, MyInvestor Weighted World Economy, MyInvestor S&P 500 Equipped and MyInvestor Nasdaq 100. It also offers 250 different funds from international managers, independent blocks and Spanish banking groups, and has an open architecture. Details are not yet available, but it has been confirmed that it will apply not only to its own products, but also to funds from international fund managers.
Keys to entrepreneurship, enterprise and employment in the post-pandemic era
With the aim of reactivating the economy and the labour market and leaving behind the difficulties of the pandemic, come Bizbarcelona and the Saló de l’Ocupació. Two events aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and employment, organised by Fira de Barcelona and supported by Barcelona City Council and other organisations. From 9 to 11 November, Bizbarcelona and the Saló de l’Ocupació have prepared 160 talks and conferences, 200 workshops and activities, as well as orientation spaces, counselling sessions and individual attention and networking dynamics in pavilion 8 of the Montjuïc exhibition centre.
Entrepreneurship, growth, innovation
Bizbarcelona, the event of reference for entrepreneurship, start-ups and SMEs in the city, will have 300 speakers this year who will share experiences, advice and techniques in the four axes of the show: Entrepreneurship, Growth, Start-ups and Innovation in Business and Talent. In addition, Bizbarcelona will have four spaces where workshops will be held on digital transformation solutions, management techniques, innovation and business productivity and strategies for attracting, managing and motivating talent in the company.
There will be activities for entrepreneurs and marketers to help them find collaborators, suppliers and even future employees. You will be able to learn about Lean, Canvas, Design Thinking or Growth Haking methods for innovation, learn how to present an elevator pitch or hire a mentor to handle a crisis situation, and also meet the winners of the AticcoLab Pitch Competition.
The Saló de l’Ocupació aims to showcase the potential of all types of talent (young people, women, digital, seniors, athletes, scientists, inclusive, international…) and promote training in new skills, trades, job opportunities, the most in-demand professional profiles and opportunities in the third sector, as well as the possibility of contacting companies and organisations that are looking for employees for their organisations and other proposals. It will offer up to 150 activities for people looking for work or who want to change their career path. There will be round tables, workshops, conferences, information and individual counselling in various locations.
Visitors will be able to learn how to face a job interview or take part in a selection process, visit craft demonstrations, receive employment advice or find out about the state of inclusion of vulnerable groups. In addition, there will be monographic sections dedicated to strategic sectors of the city (blue economy, digital technologies, video games, tourism or care), which will present their professional opportunities while encouraging debate and networking between companies in each sector and visitors to the fair.
The pandemic has caused an unprecedented economic crisis. Hundreds of businesses have been forced to close and thousands of workers have been made redundant. But some have managed to emerge stronger from the situation. Start-ups born with revolutionary ideas or existing companies adapting to take advantage of the crisis.
«The business sector has come out of the pandemic well,» says Lluís Soldevila, researcher at OBS Business School and author of the report «Entrepreneurs after COVID-19».
The report notes that the number of business opportunities, new ideas and entrepreneurial activities increased in 2020, as shown by the exceptionally good figures for patents (the number of applications increased by 16%). Between January and September 2020, the SPTO received 30% more applications for utility models (junior patents) and the number of trade name applications increased by 2%.
«In times of crisis, ingenuity sharpens because there are more needs and less money, so you have to optimise it,» Soldevilla explains about this boom in business. «There is a paradigm shift, we are more open and there are new opportunities because we are more attentive and we try to solve real and concrete problems,» he continues.
Different types of post-pandemic entrepreneurs
Soldevilla points out that today’s entrepreneurs can be divided into two groups: those who went into business because of the pandemic, and those who started their businesses before COVID-19. As for the former, the expert points out that many of them found themselves on the ropes because of the pandemic, and their way out was to go into business. «The uncertainty made it much more difficult for them to start up and find investments.
Either the idea was very clear, or the timing was not right,» he says. On the other hand, those already in business had to make some changes because the market stagnated, according to Soldevilly. «They had to pivot, make small changes in direction so that the value proposition remained valid in the new environment.
In addition, the OBS report also highlights that 60% of startups expect to continue growing in 2021. Despite these good figures, some of them have emerged as a direct short-term response to the crisis and will return to normal levels once COVID-19 is over. Others, however, will persist and create a long-term digital disruption that will shape business for decades to come.
Here Soldevilla distinguishes between short-term and structural ideas. As an example, «those who make face masks have made a lot of money, but that will end in two or three years, while those who saw that grandparents need more help and technology can help them. This is an idea that is here to stay because there are more and more grandparents.
In this line, the report points out that the sectors with the most potential for growth are online education, health and wellness, SAAS and teleworking tools, e-commerce, online gaming, e-sports and streaming platforms, pharma and labs, and coworking.
Future challenges
Although the pandemic has proved to be a propitious time to create new projects, the real challenge now is to ensure that the business endures in the long term. «We are in a sector where 90% of ideas do not come to fruition,» warns Soldevilla. In this context, he points out that the entrepreneur faces two major challenges: finding money and finding customers. These two priorities still exist after the pandemic, but their importance has changed, according to the expert. «Before the pandemic, it was more important to find money, but now it is more difficult to determine who the customers are,» he says.
Ten opportunities for business after Covid-19
1.-Cybersecurity
The move to remote working and high-profile cases, such as the cyber-attack that exposed companies like Colonial, have made it clear to businesses that the issue of cybersecurity must now be a priority. There are as many business opportunities in this area as in any other niche, from firewalls to backups to VPNs.
Another piece of good news is the 224 million euros that the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE) has earmarked for innovative cybersecurity procurement, which will be the largest support to the sector in this format at European level.
2.- Charging electric vehicles
Wallbox’s success with its system of chargers for electric and hybrid cars highlights the enormous business opportunities that are opening up in this area. Wallbox, according to its CEO Enriq Asunción, has already installed more than 100,000 chargers in more than 67 countries.
Given the forecast of a progressive increase in the sale of electric vehicles in Spain and the Spanish government’s incentive plan, which foresees the distribution of a total of 400 million euros in direct aid for electromobility and charging infrastructure, it is necessary to seek efficient and sustainable solutions for energy storage.
3.- Networking
It remains to be seen whether telework has finally arrived or whether it has been a mirage of a pandemic. Current figures already show a significant decline in teleworking, which has almost halved compared to last year. It is not that productivity has declined as a result of teleworking, but that many companies and employees are starting to opt for a mixed model combining home and office hours.
From this perspective, tools that make teleworking easier and more secure remain essential, and companies should choose a good provider of such services.
One example is the Oomnitza platform, which helps remote companies keep all their assets – software and hardware (end-user hardware, SaaS, network infrastructure, virtual cloud services, retail facilities, medical devices, etc.) – secure and in optimal condition.
In addition, for those who don’t trust their team too much and are worried about being distracted by other tasks during working hours, there are solutions such as Sesame, a tool designed to keep track of the working day’s schedule. Similarly, Woffu is a startup that specialises in optimising employee time management.
4.-Lifelong learning
It is not only lifelong jobs that will disappear, but also many areas of work. Some argue that new generations will have to reinvent themselves up to seven times during their careers, so mindset and training are crucial. Another paradox is that more than 60% of companies report that they cannot find the talent they need, which some attribute to a mismatch between training and the skills demanded by the labour market.
In this context, solutions are emerging that promise rapid alignment between training and the labour market, mostly based on e-learning. Training is everything from digital professions to any kind of trade or business.
In relation to this need, business opportunities arise, not only for specialised trainers, but also in the creation of multimedia content platforms, the creation of communities or the creation of new digital tools, among others.
5.-Entertainment and cultural industries
Before the pandemic, the cultural industry accounted for 3.2% of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP). After two years of stagnation, the percentage has decreased, but everything indicates that the sector will recover, albeit in a new way, to make it more competitive and resilient to the current and future situation. It is true that entertainment content has grown disproportionately with the restrictions, but only a few large platforms such as Netflix, Movistar+ or YouTube have benefited.
But not everything has to be audiovisual. It is time to recover the performing arts, music, the world of books, cinema, the return to museums, exhibition halls, the restoration of cultural heritage… Technologies such as virtual or augmented reality can become great allies for the modernisation of this sector.
It can also be useful to use other forms of communication with young audiences, as the Uffizi Gallery did when it launched the TiKToK initiative, which was soon joined by the Prado Museum.
It is not only about digital transformation, but also about creating driving companies that involve different actors and are able to cross national borders. This requires creating synergies between companies and institutions and forgetting about personalities.
6.-Telemedicine
Telemedicine is not, of course, about a doctor calling a patient on the phone, making a diagnosis based on what they say, and sending them a treatment without seeing them or running tests. This may work for minor, high-protocol interventions, but it does not always work for major illnesses.
However, telemedicine platforms already exist on the market that allow remote diagnosis in areas such as radiology, cardiology, ophthalmology and dermatology, as well as treatment monitoring.
Spanish startup Legit Health, for example, has launched an app that can identify up to 232 skin diseases. Its algorithms automatically classify lesions by simply displaying images and small patient-reported outcomes (PROMs). Software, the development of medical apps, practice management programmes or communication tools between medical teams or with patients are some of those that may present a business opportunity.
7.-BIM Technology for the Construction Industry
BIM (Building Information Modelling) is a new collaborative methodology that modernises and improves building design processes. Its use in Spain is still low, but is expected to grow. It is based on the use of technology to create, manage information and documentation throughout the life cycle of infrastructure projects.
BIM enables better understanding and mitigation of risks prior to construction, as it allows modelling, visualisation and analysis before and during the construction phase of a project. It is therefore a revolution in the workflow of construction and industrial projects, as it enables the «complete digital construction» of a building, from physical to energy and functional performance. Some see it as a paradigm shift, similar to what CAD technology once represented.
This methodology offers new business opportunities. One of them is the startup Stoor.pro, which some call the Uber of architecture. It is a platform for architects and construction companies to meet in one place.
The process is simple. Architects who are interested in bringing their projects to market – or reselling those that have already been used by a client – have a showcase on Stoor to display them, and developers and/or builders have a place to choose the ones that fit their needs.
BIM consultancies and training centres have also been able to carve out a niche in the market, taking advantage of the fact that the months of closure and remote working have led to the introduction of cloud-based technologies.
8.-Fitness at home For companies that have gyms or sports centres, there is a great opportunity to offer fitness at home, especially with virtual reality. In this sense, start-ups such as Vifit.training are emerging that build virtual reality training kits that are integrated into gyms that have little space. Thus, a small gym can offer an infinite number of virtual rooms for different exercises that actually occupy 2×2 metres.
Another case is Virtuagym, a platform that has developed software for the distance training of professional personal trainers. On-demand and streaming trainings are also in demand for their flexibility and convenience.
9.-Support from other companies
Now that the time has come to go digital, many entrepreneurs are at a loss to cope with the transition, which is why there are many successful proposals aimed at easing the way for other entrepreneurs.
These include Debit2Go, a solution that helps businesses move to new subscription models in an innovative way, and Millionchats, an app designed especially for micro-businesses and freelancers who lack digital skills but want to use the online channel to increase their sales. The app, which is currently only available for Android, allows small businesses and freelancers to create a digital shop in a matter of minutes via whastapp.
Other business opportunities pointing in this direction include BECCA, with global management software for the self-employed and SMEs, and PayThunder, which has created an interactive virtual hologram capable of performing customer service functions.
10. Because I’m worth it» business.
If health and wellness had already proven to be an unstoppable trend, the pandemic has catapulted it to the top. People are more interested in eating healthy, feeling more attractive and indulging themselves. It’s about lightening the emotional load that the pandemic has placed on everyone and remembering the old motto «because I’m worth it». In this sense, spending on home decoration has soared, sales of recreational vehicles have increased, contact with nature has broadened, people are ordering food from home because they don’t feel like cooking…
We want to have fun in a controlled way and still enjoy life away from work and worries. Any idea that offers something new in this sense, without being exclusive, is welcome in the market.
With foreign investment from Australia’s Fortescue Future Industries, the country aims to produce 2.2 million tonnes by 2030.
Argentina is trying not to be left behind in the face of the challenges posed by climate change. As part of the COP26 World Climate Summit in Glasgow, the government of Alberto Fernandez announced on Monday that Australian company Fortescue Future Industries will invest 8.4 billion dollars in Argentine Patagonia, the «largest investment in clean energy» in the South American country’s history. The project plans to turn the southern province of Rio Negro into a global export hub for the fuel, with production of 2.2 million tonnes per year by 2030.
«Green hydrogen is one of the fuels of the future and we are proud that Argentina is one of the countries at the forefront of the green transformation,» Fernandez said of the announcement. The project is expected to create 15,000 direct jobs and 40,000 indirect jobs.
Hydrogen is the most abundant chemical element in the universe, being the main material in stars, for example, and has the advantage that it only releases water when used as a fuel and not carbon dioxide like petrol. On Earth, however, it is not found on its own, but only in elements containing it, such as water, coal and natural gas, which require large amounts of energy to separate hydrogen molecules from each other in order to be used.
Green hydrogen is produced by using electricity from renewable energy sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Fortescue Future Industries project therefore foresees the construction of a wind farm that will power a plant to produce hydrogen from desalinated seawater and an export port near Punta Colorada in Rio Negro.
The governor of Río Negro, Arabela Carreras, highlighted on Tuesday that Fortescue chose the area for its climatic conditions, its strategic location – with strong winds and access to the Atlantic Ocean – and its human resources.
With this announcement, made two weeks before the parliamentary elections, Argentina joins the list of countries betting on this fuel, but is far from Chile, which leads the region and is already implementing two projects in the framework of the National Green Hydrogen Strategy presented in 2020. In Argentina, the Australian company will begin pre-feasibility technical studies next week, followed by public consultations. If the schedule is met, the pilot phase will start next year and the investment to produce 35,000 tonnes of green hydrogen is estimated at $1.2 billion.
Debt for climate action
At the Glasgow summit, several Latin American countries, including Argentina, called for international financing and debt-for-environment swaps. No Latin American country is among the ten most polluting in the world, but this most biologically diverse region is suffering the consequences of climate change like few others. «We have to design payment mechanisms for ecosystem services and introduce the concept of environmental debt,» Fernandez said at COP26.
This week, the Argentinean government has also published the basis for an energy transition until 2030. According to the official resolution, 90% of the increase in installed capacity between 2020 and 2030 must come from low-carbon energy sources. «This decarbonisation pathway would result in a reduction of the carbon intensity of electricity by almost 50% compared to the current status quo, which would reduce emissions from this sub-sector by almost half,» the document states.
«The world is moving in this direction and business barriers to environmental inaction will become more and more frequent. We are doing it out of conviction and convenience,» admitted production minister Matías Kulfas last July when he presented the green production plan to correspondents. Almost a decade ago, Argentina was convinced that the giant Vaca Muerta unconventional hydrocarbon formation would become one of the country’s economic engines. The hydrocarbon industry now receives millions of dollars in subsidies, but the government no longer sees it as a lifeline.
In addition to global pressure, there is growing citizen mobilisation in Argentina. «If we grow economically but destroy forests and wetlands, it will have serious consequences, and we are the first generation that will have to face the consequences of climate change head on,» says Gastón Tenembaum, one of the founders of Youth for Climate. «We have to understand the environment as part of the whole,» he says.
The biggest foreign investment of the century, the government announces it but does not enjoy it
The announcement of the investment during the climate change summit in Scotland is undoubtedly the most important positive news in recent years for Argentina, which has been hit by a pandemic – the same one that put the state’s finances in a critical state – aggravated by various mistakes by the government itself. The arrival of a million-dollar investment, unthinkable in this context, gives the government the certain peace of mind it needs, at least from a political point of view.
Specifically, the Australian company Fortescue has announced that it will invest 8.4 billion dollars in the production of green hydrogen in the province of Rio Negro, which will create more than 50,000 direct and indirect jobs and whose production will be destined, in the first phase, exclusively for export.
The announcement was made in Glasgow, Scotland, where the COP26 climate change summit was being held, by President Alberto Fernández, the head of Fortescue, Andrew Forrest, the company’s CEO, Julie Shuttleworth, and the company’s head for the Latin American region, former rugby player Agustín Pichot, as summarised by the special envoy of El Cronista and the news agencies present in Scotland.
The scale of the project will enable Rio Negro to become a world hub for green hydrogen exports by 2030, with a production capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per year, which would cover energy production equivalent to 10 per cent of Germany’s annual electricity consumption.
After the meeting, the President stated that «green hydrogen is one of the fuels of the future and Argentina is proud to be one of the countries at the forefront of the energy transition».
The euphoria continued. «This is the most important investment announcement of the 21st century in Argentina, which we accept with great responsibility and pride,» said Matías Kulfas, Minister of Productive Development. «It is an investment that establishes a new sector, the green hydrogen industry, which is growing internationally,» he said.
Clearly, this is a brilliant announcement. Talk of a multi-billion dollar investment in the midst of a dollar shortage is hopeful sounding news. But there is also reality. In this country in need of «affection», every caress is a good thing. The announced investment is not for tomorrow. Like all big spending, it has a time frame, which this government will surely not enjoy.
Officials will have to keep a close eye on this announcement to ensure that it does not turn out to be another million-dollar proposal that comes to nothing.
Agustín Pichot: «We want to start as soon as possible with an investment of u$s2,500 million».
Agustín Pichot, President of Fortescue Latin America, has announced an investment of nearly $8.4 billion in green hydrogen production in Argentina. The news was announced on the sidelines of the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow, Scotland.
In an interview with C5N’s Julián Guarino, the former Los Pumas player explained that «this is a very new industry and we know that we have to reduce the cost of production, but that is why we want to start as soon as possible with an investment of $2.5 billion». He also added that the challenge is not only the magnitude of the investment, but «to manage it over the next 10 years».
In the context of our country, Pichot analysed that there are «conditions imposed by the foreign exchange market, not to pay dividends, but to make the payment of the debt of this investment sustainable, which is logical for any business», but also that he believes that «it is good to invest in the country and hopefully the necessary jobs can be created». According to the press conference at which the announcement was made, the company plans to create more than 4,000 jobs in the region in the first phase.
Fortescue has already started exploration work around the Sierra Grande site in Rio Negro, which it plans to turn into a global green hydrogen export hub with a production capacity of 2.2 million tonnes per year by 2030. On the importance of decarbonisation, Pichot said that «it is a challenge that we all have to take on. Everyone can take individual steps, but it is the industry that has to change, and that is where big projects like this can help globally and get people and governments to demand change.
UGR Emprendedora increases the number of participants in its activities from 76,000 to 85,000. Two entrepreneurs talk about their experiences at the head of two different projects and encourage people to take the plunge. «Success in entrepreneurship consists of finding what you really like and knowing how to use it. Entrepreneurship is a complex challenge that requires a lot of effort and commitment, and to give 100% and fight for it, it has to be something that really motivates the entrepreneur, as well as a promising business future. We are all good at something, we just have to find out what». These are the words of Laura Mata Navarro, who studied audiovisual communication at the University of Granada (UGR) and developed a sustainable craft project called WallieWood.
Laura has completed two UGR Emprendedora courses, Emprende tu TFG and Breaker Impulsa. She has also received a grant from the Diputación de Granada for women entrepreneurs in cities with less than 5,000 inhabitants.
UGR Emprendedora has seen an increase in interest in its activities. In the 2020-2021 academic year, it reached a total of 85,039 people, taking into account all the activities carried out, including networking. In the 2019-2020 academic year, the total was 76,233 people. «We did not interrupt our activity during the pandemic, but we quickly adapted to the non-prospective and were able to reach a large number of users who demanded our services,» explains UGR Emprendedora. The university students have businesses in a variety of fields: applications, environment, agriculture and food, arts, marketing, accommodation, e-commerce and hospitality, among others. The behaviour of entrepreneurs on university campuses during the months of the pandemic has been very varied.
Many slowed down due to low demand; some projects included online events and did even «better» than when they did not have them or only had them occasionally; others looked for new business models to continue marketing; they had to include online sales, for example; and the birth rate issue affected projects that needed to move to their facilities with pilot experiences and were unable to do so.
E-commerce
There are also projects that were not affected by the pandemic because their business model was electronic from the beginning. And from the University of Granada they add that there have been some projects that have benefited from the recovery after the pandemic because they are linked to the leisure and hospitality sector, which is currently in high demand.
Alejandro Muñoz Ruiz and Ester Plaza Ballesteros are entrepreneurs. They are immersed in a project related to leisure. Muñoz studied Computer Engineering at the UGR and Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid. Yokai 3D Studios is dedicated to 3D printing and the processing of these works, focusing mainly on the world of video games and is currently working on the video game Valorant by Riot Games. «We have always seen the desire to raise money in the video game sector and clubs related to electronic sports, which companies do not usually cover, so we have carved out a niche for ourselves with this microtechnology and we have managed to become a benchmark in the gaming sector in Spain,» he explains.
Muñoz makes it clear that «business is very difficult if you do it alone. Fortunately, we have always been associated with UGR Emprendedora, which has provided us with information, tools and memory, which has made it easier for us». When asked if he would recommend entrepreneurship, he does not hesitate: «Of course, I think it is a journey that anyone who has an idea or a project should go through to check how solid their idea is, and also to learn how to pivot or reject many others».
For Laura Matova, the UGR Emprendedora experience was «very positive, both in terms of learning and on a human level, as in addition to providing a great deal of knowledge and tools on entrepreneurship, I was also able to meet an incredible network of entrepreneurs and professionals in the sector who help to enrich and improve the experience of entrepreneurship itself».
As part of his sustainable craft project called WallieWood, he and his partner Raúl recycle broken skateboards that are no longer used for skateboarding and create unique decorations and jewellery using the aesthetics and nature of skateboard wood. «This project came about in the middle of the pandemic, when my partner and I were out of work (we were both working in the hotel industry) and decided to move to the village of Castril, where my parents live, to get away from the suffocating city and change of scenery. We had an old family carpentry shop. I was always interested in design and manual work, and Raúl studied furniture design and manufacture for years; without realising it, we had the tools and the space to do what we really liked,» he explains.
An international platform
He says that the creation of the different wooden pieces and skateboards came about gradually. «We decided to publish some products on an international platform for handmade products and, to our surprise, some of the pieces we published started to sell. Little by little, we professionalised the project by expanding our product range, digital marketing and social media strategies, created our own website and gradually saw the acceptance and success of our project. After three or four months of trials (and errors), I decided to go ahead with the project. It was then that I was introduced to UGR Emprendedora, where they helped me to develop my business plan and, above all, to acquire business and legal knowledge», Laura recalls.
He admits that in the last year his life «has changed completely». It is true that the path of entrepreneurship has many ups and downs, but thanks to all the effort and determination, today I can say that I love my work and that I have chosen to do something I really enjoy».
Room 2030 will defend innovation from Avilés in Catalonia with its smart rooms
Room 2030, creator of the smart room of the future (you can see what it looks like here), will be defending the Pavilion of Avilés on 15 September in the Barcelona town of Viladecans, where the country’s most innovative entrepreneurial projects will meet at the V Meeting of Innovative Cities. The company’s founder, Sergio Baragaño, said yesterday that they have already begun mass production for half a dozen orders in as many autonomous communities. Room 2030 designs, manufactures and sells eco-intelligent rooms that create healthy, sustainable and unique environments. It is a modular housing solution at a very affordable price. Its origins lie in a innovation consortium led by ArcelorMittal and made up of large industrial and technological companies.
On 14 October, the technical committee of the «Avilés seeks its most innovative company» competition announced Room 2030 as the most innovative company in the municipality. Thus, on 15 June, the mayoress, Mariví Monteserín, and the architect, Sergio Baragaño, will defend the proposal from Avilés against 30 others in a four-minute presentation.
«We have an absolutely innovative and highly motivating project for the city, and not only as an innovative profession where innovation is based on products that are made in the city and manufactured in the city,» said Monteserín.
Baragaño said he was «delighted» to represent Avilés with a project that «was born here, has an industrial and technological mission and involves companies from the surrounding area». Very connected with the city».
‘Camino de la Innovación’ brings innovation opportunities to SMEs all over Galicia
The Xunta de Galicia, through the Galician Innovation Agency (Gain), launches the Innovation Road initiative, a travelling space that will visit 18 municipalities in four Galician provinces during the months of November and December – in uninterrupted hours from 9 am to 6 pm – with the aim of advising SMEs and disseminating among them the need and possibilities of innovation as a key factor to gain competitiveness and growth.
The event, which will take place on board a trailer, will have 18 stages, the first of which will take place on Friday 5 November in Vilalba. The Innovation Road is part of the Programme to Boost Innovation in SMEs launched by the Second Vice-Presidency and the Regional Ministry of Economy, Enterprise and Innovation, a specific action subsidised with 12 million euros to help Galician SMEs and micro-enterprises to invest in innovation, aimed at companies that have the potential to innovate but have not yet done so, especially those in non-urban areas.
Each stage will feature three cases of innovative SMEs from across the region, for a total of 54 success stories that compete in international markets and exemplify how innovation can be introduced in any sector and company. Attendance to the meeting requires pre-registration through the Gain website.
In addition, there will be more than 200 counselling sessions for SMEs to analyse innovation opportunities and how to implement them using tools that work in other companies. To this end, experts will be able to provide an objective view of the innovation capacity of each SME.
On the basis of this advice, each company will be assisted in developing a plan that will enable it to implement action plans leading to tangible results. Companies interested in applying for advice can do so via the Innovation Pathway section of the Agency’s website.
Explanatory materials on innovation tools and techniques will also be made available to the public, which will be expanded with new content during 2022, as well as an online course on the basics of innovation.
Large Spanish companies have been and are the driving force behind innovation, but their role is changing. «Traditionally, large companies innovated because they had the resources, but in the 1990s they began to realise that this was not sustainable, that their capacity was very limited,» says Santiago Descarrega, CEO of Fitalent, part of NTT DATA. Little by little, new ways of fostering innovation outside the home and in a more cost-effective way are emerging. «It’s a way of diversifying, creating innovation hubs for each of the big companies separately,» he adds. In the 21st century, open innovation programmes based on collaboration with people and organisations outside the company have begun to emerge.
After the last two years, Spanish companies are taking systematic innovation much more seriously. It is no longer desirable, but mandatory. It is now on the agenda of CEOs and boards of directors, from the CIO to the director of strategy, marketing and human resources,» says Clara Jiménez, director of innovation at Accenture’s Spanish office. Before the pandemic, innovation was very much focused on the creation of new assets and businesses, whereas «now we are much more focused on scaling and industrialisation». The time for proofs of concept and pilot projects is over.
Jiménez believes that open innovation is the only way to go, «but this is something that large Spanish companies, both public and private, have understood very well and have been doing for 10 years with more or less success». However, he considers it necessary, on the one hand, to strengthen the two fronts of this innovation model, incorporating more scientific and technological centres that are very comfortable in their status quo, but which nevertheless «provide the necessary knowledge for more differentiated and even disruptive innovation». On the other hand, strengthening the transmission bandwidth with the business areas of companies so that innovation really takes off and has a tangible return. He points out that more than 90% of IBEX companies and many public companies have mechanisms and/or initiatives related to the entrepreneurial ecosystem. «Every year, most of these companies identify more than 1,000 Spanish startups or with operations in our country and analyse a hundred of them in search of innovative solutions or new business models and even investment.»
Strategic change
Santiago Descarrega acknowledges that in the beginning, when it came to open innovation, there was a rather voluntary approach, «the ecosystem was not very prepared either». Today, the situation has reversed, with a significant number of start-ups and universities getting ready. «Collaboration between universities and companies is more fluid and is starting to show results, new strategies are emerging». He also notes a difference in the behaviour of companies in the start-up world. Whereas before they were looking for exclusivity, «now big companies understand that innovation has to flow and let them be free because at some point they will benefit from that innovation». In other words, innovation has gone from being an almost exclusive domain of large companies to being a consistent learned innovation, and «now innovation is less directed, it is created by the ecosystem and society joins in», says Descarrega.
Eric Viardot, professor of strategy at the EADA Business School, points out that «one way to succeed is to buy more and more small innovative companies, and the open innovation model, in which large companies that are market leaders buy smaller innovative companies, is catching on». What’s more, «those that don’t are being left behind». There are many differences between sectors when it comes to innovation. Healthcare, for example, is a clear example of open innovation, where there is public-private collaboration. In other sectors, such as chemicals, the opposite is true and innovation is still very closed. Unlike in the previous crisis, there is now a lot of money in the market «invested in innovation». In Viardot’s opinion, big companies are not big innovators per se because they have their own business models and «when they buy innovative companies, they appropriate part of the innovation, but not all of it».
The role of the driver
Accenture points out that large Spanish companies are and will always be the engine of the value chain from their suppliers to their customers (if they are SMEs). This is because «they have the financial and human resources to transform their sectors through innovative projects that make the whole chain more competitive,» says Clara Jiménez. «This ability to gain traction is not limited to innovation, but also to digitalisation and sustainability. Large companies are innovating in sectors such as telecommunications, energy and finance. At the end of the day, they all want innovative suppliers and they want their customers to do well,» she says.
One example of the innovative power of large Spanish companies is Ferrovial. The company has been committed to open innovation for years and «recognises the great potential of start-ups». It offers the opportunity to test technologies and validate the business models of start-ups through its numerous infrastructures: «Working with entities whose business strategies contemplate similar horizons allows us to co-create the scenario of the future and respond more quickly and effectively to challenges. Open innovation thus offers the opportunity to accelerate the process of exploring and building the future of transport infrastructure and mobility,» say Ferrovial sources.
In 2020, for example, it signed 12 collaboration agreements with universities and research centres and carried out 38 projects with startups. It regularly participates with other companies in startup challenges to find the best startups in specific areas and sectors. Examples include the Construction Startup Competition 2021, 5 prinG and Madrid in Motion. In addition, it launched the open innovation platform Foresight in 2020. Proof that R&D is no longer a long and lonely race.
Investing in housing. A classic that never fails. Spain is the country of housing. We are already seeing how the market has dried up after the pandemic, because the recovery has made people buy houses as if there were no tomorrow, and there is a shortage in the big cities.
From an early age we have been told at home and at school that you have to study, work, etc. to buy a good house and not «throw money away» on rent. Home ownership is a «guarantee». But… a guarantee of what?
An investment in a house is supposedly «safe» in the sense that there will always be a return, and a profit, when it is sold. But is this true and will this prophecy, which nobody knows who invented it, but which is practised like a religion in this country, come true?
Because if we look at the hard data, we see that it has not been fulfilled lately… In particular, since the 2008 crisis.
Investing in housing is no longer profitable
The data do not lie. In the last 13 years, those who bought a house and sold it have not recovered their initial investment. Because prices have not stopped falling. First sharply when the crisis hit, and then more moderately. And all over Spain.
According to the latest Idealista report, in these 13 years there has been an overall fall in prices of 11.7%, from 2,053 euros per square metre in June 2007 to 1,813 euros in September this year.
This has occurred in all provinces without exception, although in some the decline has been more pronounced than in others. Some of them have remained at the same level, such as Guipúzcoa, where the price per square metre has remained at 4,978 euros since 2007, or Málaga with 2,433 euros.
In other countries, however, there has been a sharp decline. For example, in Castellón (-42%), Ciudad Real (-41%), Toledo (-40%) or Ávila (-37%), cities in inland Spain that have also been shaken by depopulation and where nobody wants to move.
What does this mean? That investment in housing has long been unprofitable in Spain, more so in some places than in others, yes, but in general it will be difficult these days to recover the initial investment, let alone exceed it. Even if there is a great demand for them.
In fact, we have to realise that we have long been living in a parallel reality with unprecedented prices in a country where housing cannot cost that much at existing wages. Therefore, the market will continue to regulate itself, and downwards. And even if demand increases, the price cannot go up like that, and even less so in the middle of a recovery.
That is why we should not pay too much attention to the housing investment gurus, get out of the comfort zone of the brick and look for profitability in other options that are not so typical and can work much better.
An investment discipline that takes into account environmental, social and corporate governance criteria to achieve long-term competitive financial returns and positive social impact. It is also referred to as «responsible investment».
Sustainable investment is a broad term. There are many rationales, approaches and definitions. They are based on different concepts, ranging from ethical principles to the simple pursuit of better investment outcomes. There are different approaches to sustainable investing, such as active ownership (engagement and voting rights), integration of ESG factors, best-in-class approaches, thematic investing, impact investing and exclusion.
It is also called «responsible investment».
Sustainable investing is no different from traditional «value» investing because both focus on long-term returns, according to one asset manager.
Value» investing is a strategy of selecting quality companies that appear to be trading below their intrinsic value and have the potential to perform well over the long term.
Incorporating ESG factors can help investors find such companies, said Yimei Li, managing director of China Asset Management, or ChinaAMC.
Environmental, social and governance criteria are used to measure a company’s performance in a range of areas, from carbon emissions to contribution to society and employee diversity.
«I believe investment is about finding the best long-term value. And for fundamental investors, there is nothing more important than sustainable growth,» Li told CNBC television on Thursday at the Sustainable Future Virtual Forum.
Last year, ChinaAMC, in partnership with Dutch asset manager NN Investment Partners, launched a global ESG-focused fund targeting Chinese equities. It said the fund performed well and that over the long term sustainable investments would not offer a «poor» return.
However, ESG standards need to be adapted to local conditions, Li added.
She explained that, globally, corporate governance standards usually emphasise the presence of women on company boards, but in China «it is not so difficult to achieve».
Li said his company has its own «localised» ESG ratings to complement international standards.
No simplistic filter
Sustainable investment has become increasingly popular in recent years, but there has been criticism of this investment strategy.
One of the critical voices was Tariq Fancy, BlackRock’s first global head of sustainable investments in 2018 and 2019, who said that such investments can be a «dangerous placebo that harms the public interest».
Loh Boon Chye, CEO of the Singapore Exchange, also acknowledged the fallacies associated with sustainable investment.
He cautioned investors against using ESG criteria as a «simplistic filter» or a «shortcut» when selecting funds and companies. Instead, investors should assess whether a company is integrating sustainability into its business model and practices, he said.
«One of the problems is that ESG or sustainability or ‘green’ is often used as an umbrella term for different strategies, sectors and investments,» said Loh, who also spoke at the virtual Sustainable Future Forum.
Companies that understand the risks associated with ESG and find ways to address them will be able to increase their long-term financial profitability, the CEO said.
As always, here is our personal recommendation in case you want to go deeper into sustainable investment. Click on the image and discover sustainable foreign investments by Rafael Velázquez Pérez.
