The optical fibre company Redatel, promoted by three classmates from the Urratsbat program with the support of Seed Capital Mikro as a means of self-employment, manages to gain a foodhold in the market in just three months

The current economic situation has forced many people, out of mere need for survival, to retrain professionally. They have had to live the hard experience of witnessing the closure of their company or the closure of the firms for which they worked and becoming, in the blink of an eye, unemployed. Therefore, many have decided to change course. Look for other business opportunities; in short, retrain and explore new markets to come out of this economic crisis. That is how Redatel was born.

Filiberto, Javier and Félix, jeweller, businessman and employee in different companies, respectively, are a clear example of this. “You see yourself at 56 years old and without work and that is very hard. A friend discovered optical fibre for me, I saw the possibilities that were opening up in this sector and I decided to enrol in a course at the Vocational Education and Training Institute of Txurdinaga, where I met Félix and Javier, classmates and now my partners in the company”. They had the collaboration of the centre and the Urratsbat program that seeks to develop, among students, the “entrepreneurial spirit”.

Learning period

“I want to do the course because I want to create a company on this issue”, were Fili’s words to Imanol Pagola, promoter of the Urratsbat program. They have gone from not knowing how to read a map to having important clients for those who already work since last December, when the company Redatel, S.L. started running. “Normally one company comes out of every ten projects because many are ignorant of what being an entrepreneur implies. It is not just how good the idea is and thinking about grants. The greatest difficulty is the personal work that must be done to translate the idea and make it come true”, says Imanol.

Looking for financing

With the facilities at his disposal and the tools to carry out the first tests, Fili spent more than a year working on the project. “Finding the capital is the most difficult. The investment required to set up an optical fibre company – Fili tells us – is very large. It is also very difficult to develop the project on paper. They are many hours of work; I lived practically here, in the centre. Making a project comes true requires a lot of foresight work, to control risk as much as possible. It is not an easy path. It is essential to surround yourself with people with criteria who can help you, advise you and make you see the difficulties that you are going to face along the way, which are many and varied”. Once they got the first loan to start the project, they kept looking for new and good travel mates. “We have them; in addition to the support of the centre and the Urratsbat program, Seed Capital Mikro has joined with a loan without the need for guarantees, only with the business plan. All together, they give us stability and institutional reinforcement”.

Social impact

After the first steps, the challenge is now to consolidate the business. “Survive”, emphasizes Fili. They seek to position themselves and continue to grow in a sector with a very broad market. “Now we have work; before we did not. We are on the way, we have to adjust many things. Now many families depend on us and that degree of responsibility forces us to continue learning and improving”. The goal of these three new entrepreneurs is to be the most productive in the shortest time possible. In just three months, they have already employed seven people and are optimistic about the possibility of increasing that number over the months. “The important thing is to be clear about what you want and where there is a business niche”. The job prospects for the next few years are good. “Guaranteed, there is work for five or six years because all the copper has to be changed for fibre… but there are more fields to explore. You can not accommodate yourself”. Knowledge is crucial and they take advantage of any course or experiences of others to continue increasing their knowledge. They consider essential that everyone in the company knows how to do any of their jobs.“If there are courses that help us hire new employees for Redatel, we are pleased”.