With the aim of revitalizing urban commerce, the Pamplona City Hall launched the Lekuko Programan initiative that attempts to connect merchants who are looking generational change for your businesses with enterprising people.
The advisor for economic promotion, European projection, innovation, youth and development cooperation, Mikel Armendáriz Barnechea, and the director of the area, Carlos Andrés Uranga, presented this morning the main novelties of this program, which will rely on a previous study on businesses threatened with closure and people interested in entrepreneurship.
Currently, according to data from the central business directory of the INE (DIRCE), there are in the city 4,075 retail storesincluding 60 centenarians.
The goal now is to know How many of them see their continuity threatened because of their upcoming retirement? of their owners and build a pool of entrepreneurs interested in taking charge of these businesses. To this end, the Municipal Council has mandated the development of a digital mapping toolwhich allows, thanks to a triage process, to detect situations close to closure sufficiently in advance.
This sorting will be carried out by sending a form to businesses in the city, listing all of the recorded commercial activities. The tool designed must be adapted to the most common communication channels in the sector, from email to mobile messaging, including other fundamental means to create the most complete directory possible.
The generated questionnaire must have the necessary format to be able to classify companies based on business segments and their proximity to the time of transfer or closure, including the reasons that led to these decisions. In this sense, it is appropriate to specify whether the transfer is due to age, lack of family support, conciliation difficulties, etc.
Beyond become a simple listthe digital tool aspires to be an early warning system, which allows individualized monitoring of the situation of small businesses in Pamplona to anticipate processes of generational change.
The tool must therefore be as complete as possible, including in the directory data such as the surface area, size and location of the company, current financial statements, contracts linked to the company and a valuation range. of the company for the transmission. For this directory to be operational, it must guarantee the operability of the questionnaire and its scalabilityin a simple way.
Identify, advise and transfer
The objective pursued by the Town Hall is for this tool to be developed by the end of the year, so that in the first months of 2025 it is powered by the information on the city’s shops.
With all this data already available, we will proceed to Identify businesses at risk of closing. They will be the ones who will be able to register for the advice, training and support plan of the Lekuko program, to guide them through the sale or transfer process. Because precisely, this advisory work will be another part of this program. Through this support, we will seek to implement both corrective measures and support in the preparation, dissemination and execution of an orderly transfer.
After create interest groups based on economic activityApplications will be collected from companies interested in participating and from people interested in taking over a business. This is where this counseling phase will begin. In this context, interviews will take place between the parties, financing and subsidy studies will be carried out and a commitment for a trial period will be signed, which will then lead to the signing of a purchase and sale contract.
Local on rue Mercadères
The municipal premises at number 11 Mercaderes Street will be the meeting point for traders and entrepreneurs. The Town Hall has started work on fitting out this space, which will house a training room for companies registered with the Lekuko program.
The premises have an area of 176 m2, distributed over the ground floor, mezzanine and basement. The majority, with an area of 107.37 m2, will be adapted as a service point, management and offices to offer services to the commercial sector. The premises will accommodate what is called “Lekuko Room”. Of approximately 36 square meters, this space will be equipped to carry out accompanying and support activities for business owners in Pamplona detected as businesses undergoing change or generational transmission, as well as for new entrepreneurs.
This Lékuko space It also wants to become a meeting place for trade associations, where they can develop synergies, analyze needs and launch new services. The adaptation of this space will cost 188,331.02 euros, financed in part by Next Generation EU European funds.
