New Centre to make Seville the “entrepreneurship capital” of Southern Europe

The Seville hub of the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship was officially launched today during an event held at Seville Chamber of Commerce, attended by over 100 Spanish leaders and representatives of regional chambers of commerce.

Following the establishment of hubs in Accra, Beirut, Buenos Aires, Casablanca, Istanbul, Jakarta, Lagos, Nairobi, Bogota and Ukraine the latest addition to the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship brings the number of hubs helping entrepreneurs and small businesses worldwide to eleven.

The launch event focused on a new partnership between the International Chamber of Commerce and the Seville Chamber of Commerce, and the programmes already available in the region. The event included a visit to “Empresate”, the new facilities within the Seville Chamber of Commerce made available to local entrepreneurs.

Francisco Herrero León, President of the Seville Chamber said that establishing an ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship in Seville was paramount: “At the Seville Chamber of Commerce we are working intensely with all our partners to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem and make it a driver for development and innovation in Seville and the region. We also promote entrepreneurship to increase the number of entrepreneurs every day.”

The new Centre of Entrepreneurship will work with various stakeholders in the Spanish and the Southern Europe entrepreneurship ecosystem, including businesses, chambers of commerce, academic institutions, intergovernmental and governmental agencies, to connect local entrepreneurs to global markets and enhance regulatory conditions for SMEs to thrive.

From developing the skills of young people who face uncertain employment prospects to mentoring local start-ups and entrepreneurs, the Seville Hub is devoted to preparing the next generation of business leaders in Southern Europe.

The Centre will further serve as a platform to scale globally the most successful local and regional entrepreneurial initiatives driven by chambers of commerce and innovative partners. It will leverage digital connectivity to pair entrepreneurs with experts from the Seville Chamber and ICC’s global network to provide virtual mentoring and coaching.

In Seville for the launch of the Centre, ICC Secretary General John W.H. Denton AO said: “In close coordination with Sevilla Chamber of Commerce and ICC Spain, we will bring the world to the Spanish city. We will work together with Sevilla to open its doors to global entrepreneurs and markets, creating a unique ecosystem that will benefit the economic development of the city and Southern Europe.” 

The mission of the Centre of Entrepreneurship in Seville is to foster a favourable entrepreneurial ecosystem and make the city the “entrepreneurship capital” of Southern Europe. Its programmes include:

• INTECMED – Incubators for innovation and technological transfer in the Mediterranean. Development of actions to support researchers and entrepreneurs to launch spin-offs and technology advanced start-ups. The project is enriched by a cooperation approach between Research and Business organisations from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Spain and Tunisia (ENI CBC MED 2014-2020).
• Programa España Emprende. Service offering entrepreneurship assessment on business planning, financial support and bureaucracy for more than 1,000 entrepreneurs every year only in the Province of Seville.
• PAEM – Programme of Entrepreneurial Support to Women. Promotion of entrepreneurship and business creation launched by women, through information, assessment, bureaucracy processing for the creation of the company, support in the elaboration of the business plan, support in the search of financial resources, organisation of workshops and seminars for women.
• ATHENA – Approaches To valorise the high entrepreneurial potential of migrant women to contribute to their social and economic integration (AMIF Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund 2014-2020). Promoting the economic and social integration of migrant women in the EU society by improving the services of entrepreneurship support oriented to migrant women and creating a specific entrepreneurial path for them. The project is developed by a multinational consortium from Belgium, Greece, Lithuania, German, Italy and Spain.
• Coworking Digital – programme based on a digital Accelerator of three months. It aims to accelerate technological start-ups. During this period, the Chamber of Commerce of Seville will offer visibility to the beneficiary start-ups in addition to its acceleration process, with the support of specialised mentors with experience in each sector. *To be available shortly.

The ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship’s goal is to support, prepare, connect and mobilise the next generation of entrepreneurs and business leaders, enabling people with opportunities to build meaningful livelihoods.

In line with ICC’s mission to make business work for everyone, every day, everywhere, the ICC Centre of Entrepreneurship focuses its work along four key tracks:

1. Inspiring future entrepreneurs
2. Digitalisation of SMEs
3. Scaling up start-ups
4. Fostering Inclusive Entrepreneurship