REEMPRESA – The Marketplace for Small and Medium Enterprises in Catalonia

Reempresa has been launched in 2010 to support SMEs based on Catalonia.

Since 2011 it has helped several owners selling their companies and entrepreneurs who wanted to start a new business. Reempresa is a Public-Private Partnership meaning that it closely works with the regional government institutions and private business owners. It gives access to a unique Marketplace, based on a One-Stop-Shop system. The digital platform, that can be found on their website, allows to develop and facilitate selling procedures. Although, the main Reempresa’s activity is to match buyers and sellers, it offers training workshops that can help both parties of the agreement .

COUNTRY

Catalonia – Spain 

ORGANIZATIONS IMPLEMENTING THE PROJECT

• Catalan Employers Association CECOT
• Private Foundation promoting self-employment in Catalonia Autoocupaciò

START & END DATE OF THE PROJECT

2011, ongoing

TARGET GROUP

The project is mainly referred to companies that are about to close and future entrepreneurs who do not want to start a new business activity from scratch. However, it has to be said that this activity has a huge social and economic impact at local level. Businesses, thanks to these operations, have the possibility to generate new job positions. Therefore, Reempresa’s beneficiaries are not only entrepreneurs but Rural population, Urban population, Unemployed people, Women and Ethnic minorities as well.

AIMS OF THE PROJECT

Reempresa aims to connect business owners without successors with potential buyers who want to be entrepreneurs, but don’t want to start from scratch. Reempresa is a One-Stop-Shop system where expert advisors provide support along the business transfer process. It aims to smooth the acquisition process thus making the transfer easier.

METHODOLOGY

• Entrepreneurs using Reempresa’s services will have access to a unique Marketplace with expert advice and specialized training
• Reempresa offers an innovative solution to those employers who don’t want to start from scratch and buy an already existing business
• They arrange meeting between sellers and potential buyers.
• Focusing on local entrepreneurs this system helps small and medium enterprises to grow through acquisition of other SMEs.

Reempresa created a methodology that represents an equal service for both parts.:

1. Introduction of the parties
2. NDA between parties
3. Negotiation: to validate the agreement between both parts
4. Letter of intent
5. Due diligence: which is optional
6. Business transfer contract

RESULTS ACHIEVED

Reempresa has involved 185 million euros of investments and 9.500 sellers with 17.000 potential buyers.

Retail is the main sector sold and bought representing almost the 30% of enterprises processed by Reempresa. Moreover more than 80% of enterprises sold thanks to these services work excellently.  It has more than 3.800 success stories and it has prevented the shutdown of 11.000  companies.

KEY CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING THE INITIATIVE AND SOLUTIONS USED TO MITIGATE THEM

Key challenges can be defined as follow: public funding from regional and eu institutions and client networking. Reempresa is funded by public supports, this allows them to offer free services to all the clients needing consultancy. Therefore Reempresa has to work constantly with public institutions in order to guarantee its own activities. Secondly, Reempresa Market place is based on client networking between sellers and potential buyers. Thus, in order to match the supply side and demand side, it is crucial for them to have a powerful structure of entrepreneurs.

LESSONS LEARNED

Reempresa has been identified as a successful project thanks to two key factors: standardization of the transfer procedure and of all documents and promotion through social network.

The former has helped the project to gain relevance in different European regions while the latter has supported Reempresa to be known by interested parties and collaborators. 

Moreover, thanks to Reempresa experience, existing clients get an extra value. Indeed, it is extremely beneficial for those who want to become entrepreneurs as the most critical phase of opening a new business is attracting customers. 

Lastly, Reempresa platform represents a remarkable opportunity for other companies which want to take over other businesses and make their market grow.

SUSTAINABILITY OF THE INITIATIVE AND POTENTIAL REPLICABILITY

Creating a network is the main goal of Reempresa. This network prevented the loss of jobs and firms in Catalonia aiming toward efficiency’s targets. Moreover, thanks to the agreements signed between businesses and local, regional and national public authorities, Reempresa offers free services to their clients, contributing to the sustainability.

Furthermore, looking at the replicability of the initiative, other countries, such as the US, have set platforms for business transfers. Thus it has been recognized that methodology, approach and policy instruments of this model can be replicated everywhere.