Seven projects are competes to win a prize in the 18th Benidorm Entrepreneurial Ideas Competition

Benidorm City Council is again going to award prizes to the best entrepreneurial projects through the 18th edition of the Entrepreneurial Ideas Competition, which since 2005 has sought to “encourage young people in Benidorm to take their first steps in the business world and reward entrepreneurial initiative”. This was conveyed by the Councillor for Employment and Local Promotion of Benidorm City Council, Mónica Gómez, who announced that seven finalist projects are competing to win one of the prizes that will be awarded in the competition, whose presentation will take place in the municipal Plenary Hall next Friday, March 14.

Gómez has indicated that this year a total of 13 entrepreneurial ideas have been presented, from which the jury has made a selection of seven projects, based on different criteria, such as innovation, economic viability, technical viability, knowledge of the potential market and development of the activity in Benidorm, to access the next phase. The councillor also announced that, after this first selection, the jury will meet again next week to evaluate the finalist proposals and, after this evaluation, the people in charge of the seven projects will make a presentation of them to the jury, where they will also be able to resolve doubts or provide additional explanations to the evaluation committee before the final decision.

In this edition, the City Council will award two prizes and two runner-up prizes of 5,000 euros. Specifically, according to the Councillor for Employment and Local Promotion, the best business idea will receive a prize of 2,500 euros; while a second prize valued at 1,500 euros is planned; and two runner-up prizes of 500 euros for the project with the greatest social responsibility and with the greatest tourist promotion, respectively. Additionally, any of the two first prizes will have the option of being launched in l’Espai Coworking of the Employment and Local Promotion Agency. In addition, the winning idea will have a free year as a member of Jovempa; and the winning projects presented by women to Memba. All this, with the aim of “promoting the creation of new jobs and diversifying the business fabric of the city and its surroundings, focusing on self-employment as a way of accessing the labour market and thus reinforcing the actions that are promoted throughout the year with this objective from the Employment and Local Promotion Agency”.

In addition to these awards, there is also the ‘Batiste Fuster’ Award, granted by the Rotary Club Benidorm and endowed with another 2,000 euros, which will go to the project that best considers the aspects of accessibility, solidarity, quality, sustainability, innovation and creativity.

Finally, the councillor stressed that, as in previous editions, the Employment and Local Development Agency “has the support of business entities and institutions committed to entrepreneurship for this competition, such as the Valencian Institute of Tourism Technologies (Invattur), the European Centre for Innovative Companies (CEEI-Elche), the Association of Businesswomen of the Marina Baixa (Memba), Jovempa-Marina Baixa, as well as the Rotary Club Benidorm”, which for the third consecutive year is awarding the ‘Batiste Fuster’ prize, after which she thanked them all for their “collaboration and involvement in promoting and fostering employment and self-employment” in the city.