More than One Hundred Business Owners in Tocopilla, María Elena and Quillagua Strengthen their Ventures with Revitalize Your Business Grants

In the presence of several local authorities, a ceremony was held to award the Revitalize Your Business Grants to 108 small business owners, who received up to 2 million pesos each.

In late 2019, the Cooperative Agreement for the Province of Tocopilla was signed. Spearheaded by SQM, the agreement’s objective is to strengthen businesses in María Elena, Quillagua and Tocopilla that have experienced drops in sales over the past few months.

The Revitalize Your Business Grants are the first initiative implemented. The application process successfully attracted more than 200 applicants. Funds were ultimately awarded to 108 small business owners and entrepreneurs, 97 from Tocopilla, 7 from María Elena and 4 from Quillagua, mainly neighborhood grocery stores, bazaars, kiosks, soda fountains and food service companies.

“We are very proud of the outcome of the grants and the number of applicants we attracted. For SQM this initiative is very significant because it ratifies our commitment to entrepreneurs from the province of Tocopilla who drive the economy and local development on daily basis. We are particularly satisfied with the large number of female business owners participating, since we benefited 76 women with these grants,” explained José Miguel Berguño, Nitrates and Iodine Operations Senior Vice President at SQM.

According to Patricio Fernández, Office Manager at El Puerto Cowork, “These grants arose out of the joint effort of numerous institutions to alleviate the hardships that small businesses have experienced as a result of the civil unrest in Chile. The program attracted lots of applicants so it was hard for the jury to select only some of them.”

Other initiatives will be held to complement the Revitalize Your Business Grants, including business fairs, social media workshops applicable to each business and ongoing advising throughout the year.

The Cooperative Agreement is a public-private initiative involving SQM, El Puerto Cowork, Fundación La Semilla, the municipalities of Tocopilla and María Elena, Sercotec Antofagasta, Inacap’s Antofagasta campus, the Tocopilla Chamber of Commerce and Trade and the María Elena Round Market.

Camel Coffee

At the event, Salvador Paredes, owner of the Camel Coffee café and restaurant, told about his experience with entrepreneurship and why he applied for the grant: “My wife and I began to informally work in July 2018 with a tricycle that we used to sell sandwiches and coffee outside our house. We would pedal around and sell on the beach. Against all advice and predictions, the next year we dared to open a brick and mortar café and restaurant.”

The businessman told attendees that everything was going really well until they were directly affected by the civil unrest. Not only did their sales fall considerably but they also received personal attacks and threats.

“Because of this drop in sales, we had to cut costs and, unfortunately, we had to let several people go that were very important to us. We also decided to abandon this dream and close in December,” he lamented.

However, with the Revitalize Your Business Grant, the first initiative as part of the Cooperative Agreement for the Province of Tocopilla, they saw a new possibility to remain open and revive the dream that drove them to open their business in the first place.

“We are so grateful to the institutions involved in this initiative for small business owners. We need more hands to join forces to lift up and give strength and life to our province,” concluded the entrepreneur.