Being an entrepreneur in Huelva is more than possible, and that is demonstrated by the startups that join La Lonja de la Innovación to promote their projects.
Today we wanted to talk with La Lonja’s mentors so that, from their point of view as experts, they can give us their perspective on this issue and explain what they think is key to promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in Huelva.
An entrepreneurial ecosystem
Many of our mentors agreed that one of the keys is to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Miguel Ángel Torres, technology mentor, affirms the importance of this factor to promote entrepreneurship from Huelva, since this allows us “to know what people are doing and support each other to make our companies grow”. Something that also highlights our logistics mentor, Diego Martínez, who emphasize the work of La Lonja de la Innovación and the path that the initiative has created and affirms that “we must continue to enhance the community generated through La Lonja de la Innovación as a form of mutual help for the common progress of Huelva society, where technology and shared knowledge of it will be our differentiating factor”.
Juan Carlos Márquez, business model mentor, agrees with his colleagues in highlighting the importance of “creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem that promotes collaboration and ideas exchange between companies and entrepreneurs”. He adds that the creation of coworking spaces, incubators and business accelerators such as La Lonja de la Innovación are good initiatives to achieve this goal.
Entrepreneurship in Huelva
As we have already said, starting a company from Huelva is as possible as doing it from anywhere, since nowadays, “entrepreneurship can be done from anywhere in the world thanks to the Internet and new technologies”, as Fernando Monsalvete, our strategy mentor, states. Granada Barrero agrees, who describes Huelva as an “excellent city from which to work” and who affirms that “thinking about geographical limitations today doesn’t make much sense in most sectors, because if there is a good entrepreneurial ecosystem to support and people willing to work, it is possible to undertake”.
This shows that “we must attract and retain in the region” the talent that leaves Huelva in search of opportunities, as Juan Carlos Márquez says, and one of the ways to achieve it is “through examples, inspiration and means within their reach to let them know that we are in a global world in which a lot of things can be done from Huelva”, explains Eric Sánchez.
The role of dissemination
Promoting entrepreneurship, dissemination plays a fundamental role. Miguel Ángel highlights its importance and he assures that “reaching young people, making them interested in creating their own projects, and making them see everything that can be done and how far they can go, is essential.
To sum up, as our mentor in personal communication, Andrés Vidal, concludes, "if we truly believe that entrepreneurship contributes talent for a better solution to current problems and challenges, it is necessary to put it on the front line so that it is known."
If you want to discover the opinions of our expert mentors about entrepreneurship and Huelva, stay tuned for the upcoming updates on our blog and don't miss out.