Juan Roig, founder and owner of Valencia-based supermarket chain Mercadona, has offered 25m€ to help small businesses affected by the DANA. Eugene Costello reports
Juan Roig, founder and owner of Valencia-based supermarket chain Mercadona, has offered 25m€ to help small businesses affected by the DANA. Marina de Empresas (EDEM), the entrepreneurship and innovation hub backed by Roig, has launched a platform aimed at helping SMEs, businesses, start-ups and self-employed workers affected by the DANA. It is called the Alcem-se platform, and has a total budget of 25 million euros.
The aim of the initiative is to reactivate the economic fabric of the affected areas as soon as possible, thus trying to reduce as much as possible the number of companies that close, Marina de Empresas said in a press release.
To speed up the procedures, those interested in receiving the aid (companies with between one and 15 workers, approximately) will have to fill in a form on the platform where they can communicate their needs. This will range from advice to locate suppliers of machinery or material to finding new customers and reactivating sales or even direct economic support.
After the request, EDEM, Lanzadera and Angels (also Roig busisness support initiatives based in Valencia) technicians will evaluate each case presented. They will decide who can be offered help and what kind of help. It ranges from meetings with specialists to direct financial aid. The aid will be non-refundable and can reach 10,000 euros, explains the company in a statement.
In addition to this direct support from EDEM, the Alcem-se platform will also be an aggregator of solidarity initiatives launched over the last two weeks by different groups and associations. All share the aim of helping, in one way or another, the companies affected by the floods.
A Valencian hero
It has been said that if Roig were a stick of rock candy, the word “Valencia” would run through it. Along with three of his five brothers, they bought their parents’ eight butcher shops in La Pobla de Farnals near El Puig to the north of Valencia. In 1991 he largely bought out his brothers and launched the Mercadona supermarket chain. Today, it is Spain’s largest, with more than 1,600 stores.
He is known for philanthropic support for Valencia-based ventures. As well as the initiatives listed above, he sponsors the Valencia basketball team and has invested heavily in the new basketball stadium in Monteolivete. He is believed to be the fourth richest businessman in Spain, with Zara’s Amancio Ortega in the top spot. His wife is Hortensia Roig (neé Herrero), the Mercadona vice-president. She owns the fine art museum Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero (CAHH) in Ciutat Vella, Valencia. Two of his four daughters, Carolina and Juana, are senior executives within Mercadona. A third, Amparo, is a prestigious architect.