Thursday, February 05, 2009

Help is at hand

One way out of the current crisis is to set up your own small business. To do this, you need financial help. That is where the scheme set up by Microbank, the social bank “La Caixa” and the City council of Bigastro comes in.

Yesterday the mayor of Bigastro, Raúl Valerio Medina, and the commercial director of MicroBank, Ramón Gatell signed an agreement which will facilitate loans of up to 15,000 euros to people with limited resources to help them start their own businesses and create employment.

The Agency of Local Development in Bigastro has already received twenty applications from people wanted to take advantage of this offer. Their applications will now be vetted to ensure their viability because the loans are given without security.

The microcredit scheme has been running since 2007 and has already financed over 25,000 projects . Of these 44% of the entrepreneurs so far are women and are 57% immigrants. With 700 people unemployed in Bigastro, this scheme is a welcome initiative which should help reduce the problem.

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