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After several years as a private employee, on January 8, Pablo Álvarez, from Cuenca, and his wife decided to open a traditional food restaurant. One of the motivations that led him to leave his job and start this adventure is that, as he said, over the years time with the family is highly valued and with this everyone can be linked to a process.
One aspect that he took into consideration before undertaking was prior planning and a market study because he knew that “there are many restaurants, but few experiences”. And that is why the differentiating element of its premises is to present high-quality local crafts made by the members of an Artisan Cooperative, endorsed by the House of Culture and the Inter-American Center of Popular Arts (Cidap).
The walls are galleries and there are often live displays of toquilla straw weavers or blacksmiths.
His restaurant was baptized Cavia and his goal is not to “pull the market”, but to complement it with non-existent elements, which in his case are the artisans.
The Cuencan entrepreneur has public and free spaces where he can develop his ideas, but also some local tax benefits granted by the Cantonal Council. According to data from the Municipal Economic Development Company (EDEC), 65% of its beneficiaries are women.
Eduardo Dumas, manager of the EDEC, commented that Cuenca has historically been a city with initiatives in artisanal and industrial segments, but since the start of the pandemic and the labor crisis these initiatives began to grow.
In their annual planning they dictate training on various topics related to entrepreneurship such as design, permits, presentation, etc. One of these is the Technical Assistance Project for Local Entrepreneurship, which has served more than 420 citizens.
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One aspect that caught her attention is that of all her beneficiaries, 65% are women (mothers and daughters) who have started home projects in fields such as fashion and gastronomy, but also the creation of handicrafts. As for the age segment, the average is 30 years and older, considering that they are the ones who remained unemployed and had to discover their skills.
Regardless of the type of business, the Cantonal Council of Cuenca reformed the Ordinance for the Determination, Administration, Control and Collection of the Municipal Patent Tax, in which it is stated that natural persons who carry out an independent professional activity will pay the minimum tax in 2022 of the patent, that is, 10 dollars. To this, Councilman Cristian Zamora added that the value of urban and rural properties was also frozen.
As for the general payments to open a business with a physical location, the entrepreneur must pay a fee to the firefighters, which ranges from one to ten cents on the dollar and is calculated based on 1.5 per thousand property taxes.
Also pay the well-known one per thousand, which varies according to the property, and an additional tax called Municipal Registration required for the exercise of economic activities, granted by the Department of the Historic Center and which varies between $6.51 and $31.
business location
If the business is located within the limits of the Historic Center, an identification process is paid. On the website of the Municipality it is described that to place a sign you have to pay $8.10, if the procedure is approved, and $6.06, if it is denied.
To these must be added the specific payments, depending on the type of business in government entities such as the National Agency for Regulation, Control and Sanitary Surveillance (Arcsa) or the Ministry of Tourism.
David Polo Moya, an independent consultant for entrepreneurs, in his article “Profitable businesses in Cuenca, Ecuador, are worth it!”, analyzes, based on the demographic and geographic characteristics of the city, that the businesses that could work well in the city are workshops auto mechanics, removals, package delivery, computer and cell phone maintenance, restaurants, web pages.
Álvarez said that from the entities there should be more advice and more agile processes, especially digital. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
