The Government of Castilla-La Mancha has acknowledged the efforts of the Association for the Progress of Management (APD) in promoting the competitiveness of the region's business landscape, as demonstrated at the APD Competitiveness Forum in Toledo. This was emphasised by Patricia Franco, the regional Minister of Economy, Enterprises and Employment, who attended the forum and presented public tools aimed at boosting competitiveness outlined in the Plan Adelante.
“Many factors influence the competitiveness of companies, but undoubtedly having the best leadership, talent, and competitive small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is one of the best indicators that we are making steady progress in an increasingly global and complex environment,” said Franco, referencing APD. She also noted a recent report from the National Statistics Institute (INE) indicating robust growth in the creation of companies in Castilla-La Mancha in August compared to the previous year.
During her speech, Franco made available to APD and the regional business community the initiatives aimed at improving the competitiveness of companies in Castilla-La Mancha under the Plan Adelante. This includes two programmes with application deadlines extending until June and July of the following year, respectively. These are the SME Growth Voucher, a €9 million initiative, and the Industrial SME Start-up programme, with a budget of €6 million, both designed to support business projects in internationalisation, strategic financing, sustainability, digital transformation, and industrial capacity expansion—factors closely linked to enhancing competitiveness.
Franco also announced an informative webinar scheduled for today to communicate these programmes to the economic fabric and SMEs of Castilla-La Mancha. “Recently, I shared that out of the more than 124,000 companies in our region, only 0.5% employ more than 50 workers, and over half, 52.36%, do not have salaried employees in their structures, highlighting an area where we need to make progress,” she remarked.
In conclusion, Franco underscored the importance of public-private collaboration “to increase size and capacity and retain our best talent,” while emphasising the crucial role of associations like APD “to help us continue shaping a promising future for the region's businesses.”
