The Municipality of São Brás de Alportel inaugurated this Wednesday, August 12th, International Youth Day, the new Coworking Space of São Brás de Alportel.
[dropcap]A[/dropcap]space designed by the Municipality to support entrepreneurship and facilitate the start of new business projects, as described by the Mayor, Vitor Guerreiro, who revealed that this project integrated in the strategy of creating a support network for entrepreneurship, assumed if at this moment as one of the vital actions in support of the local economy, in the current context of crisis, caused by the pandemic COVID 19 “it intends to be an incentive, so that young people know that there is a place where they can give birth to their professional path, your dreams, your projects”.
“We think positively, we are not going to let our arms down and we are going to do it with the involvement of the community”, said Vitor Guerreiro adding that, very soon, the Municipality will open a new space – Ninho de Empreendedorismo, in the 4 Eyes Quarter, in south section of Av. Da Liberdade, where the municipality intends to install a large Incubation and Entrepreneurship Center in the future.
Located on Avenida da Liberdade, the new Coworking Space is especially aimed at young people in the municipality who want to venture into the world of work with their own projects, despite having their doors open to the whole community. A space adapted to accommodate five individual projects that can benefit from administrative support and reception of correspondence, projection equipment for training and other activities, file space, meeting room, pantry and storage, accessible toilet and outdoor nameplate.
The place where the Internet Space functioned for 10 years, giving access to new technologies, has now gained a new mission as a space to support the fulfillment of dreams, the workplace, entrepreneurship and hope in a particularly challenging time in economic terms.
As an impulse site, its users will renew their usage contracts every six months, for a period of two years, which can only be extended to a longer time in exceptional cases. “This is not a space to gain roots, but to gain wings”, as explained by Vice-President Marlene Guerreiro, who holds the portfolio of entrepreneurship, referring that the priority is to support the development of entrepreneurs’ projects “the right opportunity and even even that push, either to start, or to start over ”. “The first month is free, the second and third months have a lower cost and only the following are charged the full rate, and always at an affordable cost,” he explained.
Networking and the stimulation of synergies are part of the DNA of this project, which, as Marlene Guerreiro mentions, involves the areas of entrepreneurship, solidarity and employment, whose mission goes beyond the mere workspace since its users will have the opportunity support, mentoring and networking practices will be encouraged. To this end, the project relies, from the outset, on partnerships with entities, such as IAPMEI – Institute of Support to small and medium-sized companies – CRIA – Entrepreneurship Division of the University of Algarve; ASTP Algarve, ANJE – National Association of Young Entrepreneurs and the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP).
Also present at the inaugural session and as the sponsor of this project, the IEFP regional delegate, Madalena Féu, thanked the Municipality for the vote of confidence and said that she will do everything to support entrepreneurs, with special attention to young people.
Madalena Féu observed that, since the beginning of the crisis caused by COVID-19, unemployment has affected the youngest groups more strongly. However, he praised the resilience of the young people, pointing out that in the IEFP the lack of commitment and entrepreneurial spirit of young people in the Algarve has not been felt.
“If a few years ago, when we conceived this project, we thought that this space could be important, now we know that it can be decisive”, stressed Marlene Guerreiro, admitting: “We are anxious to know who will be the first daring sailors of this sea of entrepreneurship”.
