BARCELONA, Spain, July 12,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The CREACT4MED program,
co-financed by the European Union, held its closing event in
Barcelona, Spain, highlighting the
project's achievements in training over 400 individuals to
establish businesses in the cultural and creative industries of
Mediterranean and North African countries.
Additionally, 23 entrepreneurs have received direct funding in
six different countries—Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, and Tunisia—and support
for six business incubators or accelerators promoting regional
cooperation, with a budget of nearly half a million euros.
Rym Ayadi, director of CREACT4MED
and president of the Euro-Mediterranean Economists Association
(EMEA), stated that the main conclusion drawn is that culture and
creativity are pillars for economic and social transformation, as
well as for the well-being of the region.
"I think it's important to start building and investing in
entrepreneurship in the cultural creative industries, so to make it
an economy that is vibrant and that also allows specifically youth,
women, and all segments of the population to develop their own
activities, their own works," she said in an interview with Agencia
EFE.
Meanwhile, Maria Ruiz de Cossío, the project's lead coordinator
and EMEA member, highlighted that the networks they have created,
both physical and virtual, have generated a community of more than
1,200 "creative minds" in the region.
She expressed pride in the connections between countries with "a
rich cultural heritage" and especially in the "beautiful dialogue"
between people from Morocco and
Palestine or Jordan and
Egypt.
The closing event of CREACT4MED, attended by EFE as a
collaborating media outlet, was held at the Sant Pau Art Nouveau
Site in the Catalan capital. It gathered more than 100
participants, including project partners and beneficiaries,
financial agents, business development experts, and startups from
international chambers of commerce.
Throughout the day, various members of EMEA, as the main
partner, and the other coordinating partner, the European Institute
of the Mediterranean (IEMed), detailed the work done over the four
years of the program. This included mapping the cultural and
creative industry of each country, resulting in individualized
reports with economic and social data.
Finally, CREACT4MED beneficiaries exchanged experiences in a
cooperative working session about the development of their
businesses and how the training programs they received helped them
acquire necessary skills, manage their finances, and build a
network of contacts. EFE
Photo:
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2459565/CREACT4MED__Closing_Event.jpg
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/creact4med-program-for-the-mediterranean-africa-concludes-with-aid-to-over-400-people-302195040.html
SOURCE CREACT4MED