The new programme, B-CRÈDITS, has a total budget of €4 million, which will make it possible to grant loans of €25,000 at a fixed interest rate of 3%. Barcelona Activa will also launch a call for grants aimed at covering part of the cost arising from the guarantee required to access the loan. Self-employed workers and SMEs currently account for 94.6% of Barcelona’s business fabric.
Barcelona Activa, the economic development agency of Barcelona City Council, in collaboration with the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) and Avalis de Catalunya, has promoted a new financial instrument to help self-employed workers and microenterprises consolidate and scale up their businesses. This is B-CRÈDITS, a credit line endowed with €4 million that will make it possible to grant loans to a maximum of 160 companies.
Under this new programme, self-employed workers and microenterprises will be able to apply for a loan of €25,000 at a fixed interest rate of 3%, a figure well below that currently offered by banking institutions. These loans, with a term of five years and a 12-month grace period, will be granted by the ICF and guaranteed by Avalis. Interested individuals and companies will be able to apply for the loan through Barcelona Activa from 22 December by visiting the website of the Oficina d’Atenció a les Empreses (OAE).
“Microenterprises and self-employed workers often face difficulties in accessing resources to boost their businesses. Our responsibility as a public administration is to align objectives with sector stakeholders so that, together, we can offer these resources to as many businesses as possible. Joining forces with ICF and Avalis has enabled us to design a credit line with very favourable conditions and, above all, to broaden its impact,” states Raquel Gil, Deputy Mayor for Social Rights, Economic Promotion, Commerce, Markets, Hospitality, Employment, Feminisms and Democratic Memory.
For her part, Vanessa Servera, CEO of the ICF, notes that “the alliance with Barcelona City Council and Avalis provides a new boost to facilitating access to financing for self-employed workers and small businesses.” “This announcement reaffirms the commitment of Catalonia’s public promotional bank to its mission of offering agile solutions on favourable terms to drive the country’s economy, from the smallest businesses to larger-scale projects,” she adds.
With regard to Avalis, its CEO, Anna Alvarez, highlights that “the collaboration between the three entities makes it easier for self-employed workers and small businesses to access financing, with Avalis assuming the risk of the transactions and thereby helping to reduce the barriers to credit faced by the smallest businesses.”
In addition, Barcelona City Council, through Barcelona Activa, has published a call for grants aimed at covering a large part of the cost arising from the granting of the guarantee for those companies that have formalised a B-CRÈDIT.
SMEs and self-employed workers: 94.6% of the economic fabric
SMEs and self-employed workers currently represent 94.6% of the city’s economic fabric. This means that this type of business is a key driver of job creation and wealth in the city, in addition to adding value to the community as part of the local economy.
Their size, however, often makes it difficult for them to access resources and solutions that would allow them to remain competitive and address the challenges of the current context, such as digitalisation or adaptation to new consumption models. In this context, Barcelona City Council, through Barcelona Activa, makes a wide range of resources available to self-employed workers and small businesses to strengthen their consolidation and growth. In addition to the recently announced B-CRÈDITS, Barcelona Activa provides the OAE, the space that brings together all the value-added services that companies need to grow, where an expert team offers comprehensive support to organisations in addressing their needs.