Article written by Talia Delgado Trainer & Freelance Journalist and participant in 'The Break' 2022

Last October I had the opportunity to meet Gran Canaria in the hands of remote villages, our reception organization , within the frame European female entrepreneurship attraction program that aims to know the Spanish business ecosystem, establish commercial relations and invest, favor the Return of Spanish female talent while contributing to the resolution of some sector challenges that help local development.

During the first phase of this program, which took place in October and November, we were chosen 280 entrepreneurs from all over Europe who received training and mentoring for two months, including a 25 -day face -to -face retirement in different areas of Spain to boost our projects, Improve our business skills and create a community of entrepreneurs in the EU.

In groups of ten we were distributed in 12 Spanish locations outside the circuit of large cities or capital. This is how I arrived in Gran Canaria, specifically to the municipality of Agaete. The Canary Islands was a great unknown to me, I had never been, not even before I lived in Romania, where I have resided for twenty years. I never imagined that this would be my destiny, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to discover not only its landscapes, but above all its people, history and their culture.

I decided to join "The Break", because I combined innovative elements compared to other entrepreneurship programs. We were all women from different countries, the quality of the mentors and the contents seemed to me a unique opportunity and also, we were going to try to solve a local challenge, which was what attracted me the most because I wondered what the challenge would be, how we were going to be able to work together coming from different countries and experiences and how the people of the place were going to react taking into account that we do not live there. 

The challenge contained other challenges. To guide us in this task we had Pueblos Remotos , who have experience and opened not only their hearts, but also the doors of an anthropological, sociological, gastronomic, historical and cultural adventure unique.

We had 25 days to understand the area, deepen the problem that had to be solved and working as a team with the inhabitants of the area to lay the foundations of the solution. To do this, Elsa, Carlos and Gonzalo had prepared a series of visits and meetings with local entrepreneurs in the region, which is divided into three zones, the coast, the valley and the summit. In each of them a business activity is carried out. Our challenge was to ensure that entrepreneurs from those three areas cooperate with each other for the best development of the place's economy. 

This is how we met coffee entrepreneurs with whom we learned about the long tradition of agaete in coffee production, we even planted shrubs, we visited fruit trees, we met cheese artisans and made cheese with them, traditional potters of a specific type of ceramic, we met Entrepreneurs who cultivated Gofio, entrepreneurs in hospitality or tourism, to fishermen's unions, to local authorities already Hotel and restaurant owners. 

During each of those visits we received a piece of information that helped us understand not only the problems they face but also their habitat, their way of life and their customs. Living with them, sharing meals, meetings and talks we were understanding and learning about life, history, the passion of these people to maintain their region and their economy. After these meetings you ended up exhausted by the amount of information received, but at the same time it stimulated you because you had learned so much in such a short time. 

We divided into groups based on skills and experiences to be more effective and each group took care of a sector. Thus began the second part of the challenge, the personal interviews where we were talking with different entrepreneurs in the sector to understand it more in depth. There were multilateral meetings with entrepreneurs and public authorities, there were round tables and finally, after arduous work, we could present them in a general meeting with all the parties the proposals that the following team of entrepreneurs, who came in November, was in charge of implementing.

The best of all these interactions, both with the premises, as with the working group, was undoubtedly the human factor, living, sharing times, meals, dances, stories or whatever. This interaction allowed us all to know each other better, to the locals to know more about other ways of doing things in other parts of the world, to us to understand their realities, the place and their needs and see other realities different from those that are traditionally associated with the Canary Islands , as sun and beach. For all it was easier to know from those who live what their needs, their difficulties were and facilitated the work because we could put face and proper name to the problems.

In addition, the process helped us to work better as a team, to do their best, not to solve a problem but to help a person we knew because we had had coffee with her, or caught mangoes from her patio, or known to His goats, proven his fish and his gofio, or we had walked through the places of his childhood and his stories.

The union of all these elements was what gave value to the experience because it was not individualities but of groups that interact, as we do in society, although sometimes we forget that the union is strength and that it Better of societies and their development is given by cooperation and not by individualism.

In Gran Canaria, in the last meeting we had before returning with other entrepreneurial women, they told us about some of their concerns, such as the need to undertake, feeling alone without support networks, the lack of entrepreneurial culture in the area, the Fear that programs to attract digital talent that are being carried out generate price increases, gentrification and end up promoting the islands again as a sun and beach destination instead of attracting ideas, collaborations, investments and sustainable businesses. 

Gran Canaria is already one of the preferred destinations for digital nomads and the newly approved Startups law wants to support throughout Spain the creation and growth of emerging companies, encourage the relocation of these in Spain, attract talent and international capital, as well as stimulate Public and private investment in them. But perhaps we must also include local integration mechanisms to avoid the possible negative impact and promote real cooperation between local, and international entrepreneurs, that really help the development of the areas where they are located.

Years ago there was talk of glocalization , its motto was "think globally, act locally" and made reference to customize, or adapt, business patterns to local conditions. The term applied to the economy, but also to the culture and development of NGOs. The first to practice it were the Japanese entrepreneurs in the 80s, they called him Dochakuka , which means "he who lives from his own land."

Perhaps the term should be rescued and a turn similar to that which Pueblos Remotos practice so that those who come to establish themselves as entrepreneurs could interact with the people of the place, collaborate and support their personal and professional growth. 

One cannot live oblivious to the culture of the country in which it is established, without knowing the area where you have established yourself. To understand why certain things happen can only be done with personal immersion in local life, speaking with people, being a participant in their realities. From those interactions and talks, knowledge, understanding arises, but also ideas and collaborations. Let us remember what happened centuries ago in literary coffees or in artists' encounters from different countries. Creativity, understanding and cooperation flowed and generated new ideas and artistic currents. If we extrapolate it to the business world, those coffees would be the hubs, but sometimes they are homogeneous and group people from the same sector.

What would happen if we even even these elements in a place where entrepreneurs could reside, contribute their talent to the resolution of local problems and learn about other ways of doing and seeing things? 

It is not necessary to fantasize because it already exists, Pueblos Remotos has laid the basis of experiences that in the future will be a model to follow integration and sustainability.