As part of the Operational Strategy for the Internationalisation of the Canary Islands Economy, the Business Ambassadors Program (BAP) aims to identify and attract foreign direct investment projects to the Canary Islands, in order to strengthen the archipelago’s business sector.
The Business Ambassadors Program is an incentive program
The BAP is an incentive program, whose goal is to identify investment opportunities in order to establish new companies or activities in the Canary Islands.
The Canary Islands Hub technical team is in charge of the categorization of ambassadors and companies.
The ambassadors are categorized according to their potential to attract FDI. As for companies, the tech team classifies them based on parameters such as the investment source, the project size, the potential to generate employment, or the sector they belong to (whether it is strategic or not).
How the program works
The mechanism of the Business Ambassadors Program is very simple and its benefits are based on a fixed fee and a variable one, according to the interest shown by the company to set up in the Canary Islands. When a company establishes itself in the archipelago, and it invests in the region and creates employment, the incentive for the ambassador can reach €10,000, depending on the volume of investment and the number of jobs generated in the islands.
The incentives go up to €10,000 per implementation, with smaller incentives being applied to the different stages of acquisition and conversion. In the specific case of incentives for generated qualified lead, the €1,000 incentive also applies if the meeting is held telematically. Moreover, if a ‘site selector’ includes the Canary Islands in the final list of destinations to locate projects, it is also counted as a qualified lead.
Discovering more about BAP
In its third edition, the BAP continues its benefits to potential ambassadors of the Canary Islands as a FDI destination, thanks to the great reception of previous editions, in which more than twenty ambassadors promoted the archipelago’s advantages as a strategic business hub and a gateway to Europe and Africa.
Between 2019 and 2020, 70 investment initiatives were received, which led to 40 companies with implementation projects, and 8 companies established in the Canary Islands. All these initiatives belonged to sectors of strategic interest to the region, and all included technology projects, R&D, start-ups and initiatives in industrial, maritime and audiovisual sectors.
The value proposition of the Canary Islands as an excellent destination to attract and retain talent is a fundamental asset for the programme’s success. Therefore, the great opportunities offered by the archipelago are particularly attractive to technology companies and startups, that understand the advantages of counting with committed motivated talent, and value positively the advantages of expanding, relocating, offshoring and opening up their businesses to new markets.