Barcelona Activa, the ICF and Avalis join forces to grant €25,000 loans to self-employed workers and micro-enterprises

BarcelonaBarcelona Activa, the Catalan Finance Institute (ICF), and Avalis de Catalunya have launched a new financial instrument to help self-employed individuals and micro-enterprises consolidate and scale their businesses. This new program, B-CRÈDITS, is a €4 million credit line that will provide loans of up to €25,000 to a maximum of 160 companies. These loans will have a fixed interest rate of 3%, "a percentage much lower than what banks currently offer," the promoting organizations point out. These loans, with a term of 5 years and a 12-month grace period, will be granted by the ICF and guaranteed by Avalis. Interested individuals and companies can apply for the loan through Barcelona Activa starting December 22nd by visiting the Business Support Office (OAE) website. The organizations value this collaboration in facilitating access to financing for business projects that need it. Vanessa Servera, CEO of the ICF, points out that "the alliance with the Barcelona City Council and Avalis is a new boost to facilitate access to financing for the self-employed and small businesses." She adds that "this announcement reaffirms the commitment of Catalonia's public bank to its mission of offering agile solutions on favorable terms to boost the country's economy, from the smallest businesses to the largest-scale projects."

From Avalis, its CEO, Anna Alvarez, highlights that "the collaboration between the three entities makes it easier to access financing for self-employed workers and small businesses, with Avalis assuming the risk of the operations and thus contributing to reducing the barriers to credit access for the smallest businesses."

Additionally, the Barcelona City Council, through Barcelona Activa, has published a call for subsidies intended to cover a large part of the cost derived from granting the guarantee to those companies that have formalized a B-CREDIT.