branch out, especially somewhere they could find a deal. Maybe, like many of the nation powers of today, the way to help growth within is to welcome money into the country from the outside. Investments and opportunism from foreign funds may just be one helpful area of growth, no matter how defiant we are that we can do it alone.


From Mallorca I moved to Menorca, although this time was a fleeting affair. In the couple of days spent there, I did manage to meet with a few go-getters. Luis-Enrique and Carlos were part of a consortium of local entrepreneurs and they too were taking advantage of tourism as their way to stay on top. Restaurant refurbishment and boutique hotel accommodation was on their agenda for this year. Their belief is ‘if you play to not lose, you probably will.’ They’re clearly taking the bull by the horns (no ‘torro’ pun intended).


As I left Menorca, I got talking to a couple of Balearic estate agents whilst in the air. The price of inter-Balearic flights had climbed significantly in recent times, and whilst you can grab a flight from London Stansted to Mallorca with change in your pocket, a half hour flight from island to island was often costing the locals over a hundred euros a time. The service was getting worse too. I was told “If our government wants to see businesses thrive, then they need to instruct the institutions we depend on in Spain, not to take the p**s!” I gathered he was disgruntled about government support, to say the least. Something we can all share, I’m sure.


34 entrepreneurcountry


But it’s not all doom and gloom. Generally speaking, the Balearics GDP per capita is on par with the EU’s average (despite the discouraging news in the media at present, that’s actually a creditable effort


for the islands). The


nation, like many other countries, are innovating, especially in entrepreneurship. The likes of Chamberi Valley (an entrepreneurial eco-system) has been initiated as a helpful tech centre answer to the economic crisis. Several seed investment funds have been set up throughout Spain and in the words of Pablo Villanova who was a young travelling internet entrepreneur I met in the Balearics who was originally from Madrid, “Spain is a long way behind the UK, Germany, France, and others for start-ups and it needs to change. Why not now?”


“Luis-Enrique and Carlos were local entrepreneurs and they too were taking advantage of tourism as their way to stay on top. Restaurant refurbishment and boutique hotel accommodation was on their agenda”


So, as my stay came to an end, I finally got myself over to Ibiza for one last jaunt. I spent some time with new friends, and one in particular, Bartu Riera, was an extraordinary chap, putting the economic crisis into perspective by living life as he chooses to. He calls himself the


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