In Arantec we have always been committed to initiatives that aim to help the self-employed and SMEs in rural areas. Perhaps because it is in our corporate DNA. Or maybe also because we were once the ones who bet everything on the development of a business idea and we know what it means to have a shoulder to lean on.
In any case, recently and thanks to the award of a project to which we applied, we have embarked on a new adventure aimed at promoting the activity of the self-employed and SMEs in rural areas: collaboration in the development of the Office Acelera pyme (OAP) Rural Pirineu.
Acelera Pyme’s resources to boost self-employed and SMEs in rural areas
What are these offices and what is their origin?
The OAPs are a physical and virtual space from which support activities are carried out in the area of digital transformation. Its work is especially oriented to SMEs, self-employed and entrepreneurs.
They arise from the Acelera pyme initiative, one of the main ways to materialize the SME Digitalization Plan 2021 – 2025, financed with European Next Generation funds.
The Acelera pyme program, promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, has the following objectives:
- to promote the digital transformation of the Spanish self-employed and SMEs;
- create an ecosystem around digital transformation that facilitates connections between the different agents involved;
- offer services aimed at achieving this conversion, and
- to highlight other goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or entrepreneurship.
And although its main focus has so far been on urban areas, the time has come for rural environments (municipalities with less than 20,000 inhabitants) to also benefit from this plan.
Acelera pyme and Kit Digital offices, two initiatives that reinforce Arantec’s Digitalization Department.
The OAPs and the Digital Kit are, together with the platform itself, the backbone of Acelera pyme, the ambitious program to lead the self-employed and SMEs into the 21st century.
We have already talked about the Digital Kit before. In this sense, remember that it is an initiative that allows the development of digitization solutions by digitizing agents such as Arantec. It makes it possible for companies and freelancers to benefit from a digital bonus with which to improve, for example, their Internet presence, implement electronic invoicing or launch e-commerce projects.
But until now we have not had the opportunity to get involved in OAPs.
Thus, and moved by the illusion of contributing to the future of the Pyrenees region, we are assisting the future OAP rural Pirineu in the definition of strategic and communication plans.
Office Acelera pyme Rural Pirineu, an aid for rural environments
The OAP Pirineu, in which numerous organizations and entities participate, covers the territory comprising the counties of Pallars Sobirà, Pallars Jussà, Alta Ribagorça and Val d’Aran.
In general terms, it is a rural area characterized by:
- the weight of the service sector and, especially, activities related to tourism;
- an aging population. The scarce presence of industrial fabric and job opportunities for highly qualified profiles makes many young people move to cities like Barcelona to start new life projects;
- the importance of the livestock sector, favored in part by the rugged terrain.
What will be your mission? Basically, to bring the benefits of the Acelera pyme program and its actions to these areas, thus contributing to the fact that:
- local businesses (restaurants, rural houses, stores…) have a presence on the Internet, increase their visibility, improve the management of their customers, etc..;
- people working in agricultural and livestock activities know first-hand what benefits digitization can bring them, an aspect that we had the opportunity to explain on December 1 at a conference held in Tremp (Lleida);
- to promote entrepreneurial projects that help to stop the depopulation of rural areas;
- explore new opportunities to attract talent and projects in new niches. The project to extend the LoRaWAN network in Val d’Aran is, for example, along the following lines
This collaboration represents for us an opportunity to demonstrate our attachment to the territory in which we live and where we focus a large part of our activity. After all, ensuring that our immediate environment prospers in a sustainable manner is a guarantee for the future. A way to ensure that our landscapes and customs can also be admired and enjoyed for generations to come.
