Zero Quota Aid Opens for New Canary Islands Entrepreneurs
The Government of the Canary Islands announced on Friday that self-employed workers in the archipelago who began their activity for the first time in 2025 can apply for the ‘zero quota’ aid from this Monday, 9 March. The call for applications was published in the Official Bulletin of the Canary Islands (BOC) on Friday.
Subsidy to Run Until October with €3.3 Million Budget
In a statement, the regional Executive detailed that the subsidy will remain open until October and has a total budget of €3.3 million this year. The Vice-President of the regional Government and Minister of Economy, Industry, Trade and Self-Employed Workers, Manuel Domínguez, highlighted that this now-established measure “stimulates entrepreneurship in the islands.” He stated that the zero quota has benefited nearly 7,000 self-employed workers across all the islands, with 3,620 people applying for the aid to ease the start of their activity last year alone.
Strong and Growing Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
According to affiliation data, there were 139,264 self-employed workers in the Canary Islands in July 2023. Last month (February), 146,701 were registered—an increase of 7,437 since the start of the legislative term. “This means nearly 240 self-employed workers are created per day,” calculates the Canarian Government.
Furthermore, the autonomous Executive explains that the Canary Islands closed February with more self-employed workers than unemployed persons: 146,701 compared to 145,656 unemployed. “These figures demonstrate that the Canary Islands has a strong and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, which is why we will continue to apply policies that facilitate entrepreneurship and the growth of our SMEs,” emphasised the minister.
Further Support Measures for the Self-Employed
The Government of the Canary Islands notes that this measure is joined by the ‘Plan Respaldo al Autónomo’ (Self-Employed Support Plan), which includes actions such as the ‘Programa Concilia’ to facilitate work-life balance for the self-employed, “whose call will be published shortly.” It is followed by the ‘+Uno5’ programme, which provides a bonus to self-employed workers who hire their first employee aged 52 or over.
For those self-employed workers who take out a loan, up to two interest points will be subsidised, and social security contributions will be reduced for those on temporary sick leave. Vice-President Domínguez indicated that “other measures we are working on, such as the reduction of IGIC (Canary Islands General Indirect Tax), will follow these.”
“The archipelago’s economy pivots on small businesses and the self-employed. It is they, the employers, who generate jobs and create economic activity,” he concluded.
No post found!