This Commitment to local purchasing is part of the 10-year anniversary of the Business Table of the industrial corridor of Talcahuano. This table, along with the organizations that make it up, has committed to the territory through the promotion of initiatives to train and finance different projects in the municipality, generating a positive impact on the territory.
The commitment of companies to local purchasing, that is, the acquisition of products and services from local or regional suppliers, can have a number of benefits for both the companies themselves and for communities and the economy in general. Buying locally helps maintain and stimulate the economy of a community, creating jobs and encouraging economic growth in the area, which can lead to increased investment, also promoting environmental care, collaboration and innovation. For this reason, the signing of the local purchasing commitment was carried out, a milestone that was led by the eight organizations that make up the Business Table, among them are Emergent Cold, Huachipato Steel, Blumar, Landes, PacificBlu, CBB, Industrial Fishermen of Biobío and Inchalam.
In turn, the Community Affairs Manager of Huachipato Steel and Spokesperson of the Business Table, José Antonio Rivas, referred to the importance of promoting future local suppliers, “For our Table, this milestone of signing local purchasing is very important for several reasons, first because we can thus verify that development is not only for companies, but also for communities and most importantly is the way we articulate ourselves to reach this important milestone. Furthermore, this signature is linked to the I Undertake 2022 program, carried out jointly with CIDERE Biobío and which this year is called I Undertake Strengthens 2023, which aims for the standards of our entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs in the municipality of Talcahuano to escalate to the necessary level, so that in the future not only the entities that make up the Business Table, but all companies in Biobío can make local purchases from these micro-entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs”, added Rivas.
On this occasion, high-level executives from the companies participated. From Huachipato Steel, the General Manager, César Garrido, attended. From Emergent Cold, the Commercial Manager, Carolina Faundez, signed. In the case of Inchalam, its representative was the Supply Chain Manager, Fernando Rodríguez. CBB was represented by the Plant Sub-manager, Jaime Valdés. Landes was represented by the Administration and Finance Manager, Jorge Vergara. From PacificBlu, the General Manager, Marcel Moenne, signed the commitment and from Blumar, the Sustainability Sub-manager, Felipe Hormázabal, participated.
The Manager of the Industrial Corporation for Regional Development (CIDERE Biobío), Camilo Carrasco, assures that this is an unprecedented moment, since this signature can mean a change for the development of Talcahuano, “We believe that this is a historic moment, since there are 8 institutions in total that are signing this commitment to local purchasing and that are materializing in a concrete way through this document their commitment to the strategy and organizational culture to advance on this very relevant topic”, affirms Carrasco.
Business Table of the Tripartite Commission
In 2002, the Libertad and Gaete Tripartite Commission was created, which was established due to the need of residents of Talcahuano to improve their environmental conditions, with the Municipality as administrator of the municipality and permanent coordinator of actions in the territory and neighboring companies, for the co-construction of projects and joint decision-making regarding the actions and activities to be carried out.
The Commission, in addition to addressing environmental issues, also took on the role of addressing different needs that benefit the development and quality of life of its inhabitants. This is how on May 16, 2013, the Business Table of the tripartite commission was formed, which corresponds to a group of companies neighboring this territory.
Currently, the Table is promoting different initiatives and one of them is the second version of the I Undertake Strengthens Libertad and Gaete program, a project managed by CIDERE Biobío, which aims to promote, train and/or finance entrepreneurship and SMEs of residents of Libertad and Gaete, and which is already in its second version.
For her part, the President of Industrial Fishermen of Biobío, Macarena Cepeda, commented that the Table has been working hard for years for the development of the municipality, “For 10 years the Business Table has been generating initiatives to add value in the territories and in the places where companies are present, so the fact of signing this local purchasing agreement manages to materialize that interest on the part of the industries, to be able to generate these capacities and that finally a virtuous circle is formed and that through the business and productive activity of Talcahuano, prosperity can also be obtained in the communities that live near the productive activity of the territory. In turn, the Table has been generating instances of support for communities, but through CIDERE and the I Undertake program, it was possible to better focus those resources and adapt them to the reality of Libertad and Gaete to be able to determine an instrument that would be effective in contributing to the community”, assures the President of Industrial Fishermen of Biobío.
I Undertake Strengthens Libertad and Gaete
This program, which has already been carried out in other versions, aims to train, through training and mentoring, entrepreneurs from the municipality, along with the delivery of funds for the winning ventures, which allows them to develop their projects, generating a positive impact not only personally, but also in the municipality where they are executed, since they create jobs that improve the living standards of people.
In this 2023 version, people over 18 years of age, belonging to the municipality of Talcahuano, who have a business idea or business in operation, formalized or not formalized, will participate. With the awarded funds, the winners will be able to purchase tools, equipment, machinery, enabling commercial or production infrastructure, business management actions, purchase of supplies or goods or certified training.
In turn, the program has different stages, the first, which has already ended, is the application to the project, to then continue with the evaluation process of the selected projects, which will be carried out through an Evaluation Commission where it will be reviewed, in a first instance, if they meet the admissibility criteria and after that, the best businesses will be pre-selected. On the other hand, those who apply for the first time must pass six face-to-face workshops which will consider topics of Business Development and Sales Pitch Preparation. Finally, the winners will be selected who will be the beneficiaries of the program.
