The mayor and the president of Ucomur visit ‘Espacio de Pausa’, which has become the first cooperative created in Cartagena with the support of ADLE and UCOMUR
Monday 7 April 2025 �|� Viewed: 456 times
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The mayor of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, accompanied by the president of Ucomur, Juan Antonio Pedreño, visited today the facilities of «Espacio de Pausa S.COOP», the first cooperative established in Cartagena under the joint advisory service of the Local Development and Employment Agency and the Union of Associated Work Cooperatives. The deputy mayor, Diego Salinas, and the councilor for Business, Álvaro Valdés, also participated in the visit.
The project, driven by the entrepreneurs Sofía Navarro Marín, Estela Navarro Castillo, and Mercedes Viartola Braña, stands as an example of self-employment through social economy, which is one of the lines of work being strengthened by the City Council within the framework of training and entrepreneurship programs with micro-training to disseminate social economy models.
During the visit, the mayor highlighted the City Council’s commitment to promoting social economy: «This project exemplifies how institutional collaboration and collective entrepreneurship can generate employment opportunities,» and added that «we will continue to support initiatives that promote quality and stable employment,» and that, in addition, as in this case, «they help revitalize commerce in the historic center.»
«Espacio de Pausa» was born after the comprehensive advice received by its founders in the Course for Creation and Consolidation of Companies, organized by the ADLE in collaboration with the INCYDE Foundation and the legal support of UCOMUR, «an office that has already advised 25 users.»
After this wellness center, two other cooperatives have been created, which are finalizing their launch, one for textile commerce and the other for music production. «We continue to believe that the formula of entrepreneurship, self-employment, social economy, and cooperativism is a successful formula for entrepreneurs in Cartagena, as we are the city with the most room for growth for these business formulas,» added Noelia Arroyo.
In this regard, Juan Antonio Pedreño thanked the mayor and the City Council «for Cartagena to become the municipality in the region with the highest growth of cooperatives in 2025.» Pedreño added that this is the first to consolidate, but there are 14 more projects, «I think that 15 projects in three months here in Cartagena have never been seen before,» besides highlighting that «the most important thing is that almost all 15 projects we have seen are from very young people, and this is also a great message to society.»
In the first two months of this year, the ADLE has assisted and referred 25 people to UCOMUR to create cooperatives, representing 17.8% of the regional entity’s attentions. Cooperatives have access to training programs, business viability studies and financing, as well as subsidies for first employment and social capital, «facilitating entrepreneurs to start their business,» said the mayor, emphasizing «the importance of feeling supported throughout the process, as the initial bureaucracy is complex and feeling alone generates uncertainty.»
The cooperative, established on January 24, 2025, offers services such as therapeutic yoga, holistic massages, and mindfulness workshops in a space located in the heart of Cartagena. Mercedes Viartola, one of the co-founders along with Sofía Paz and Estela Navarro, explained that the ADLE and UCOMUR program, «has been of great help, we have had their support at all times, and they were the ones who encouraged us to associate as a cooperative, they showed us what that business model was like and made us see that it was the direction we wanted to move towards.»
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