Minerva is an entrepreneurship program that is promoted by the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Business and University of the Andalusian Government and Vodafone, to promote business projects in the technology sector in the Andalusian region.
Minerva’s main objective is to support entrepreneurs and help their business projects grow into stable businesses. To this end, the program organizers have opened various calls for proposals on an annual basis.
The program selects a maximum of 30 projects from all the applications submitted in each edition. The participants selected in each call enter a complete entrepreneurship program with the aim of accelerating the development of their business project. Minerva is an initiative launched by the Andalusian Regional Government, through the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge, Business and University, in collaboration with Vodafone technology.
The startups that Minerva has helped develop are Taalentfy, Lesielle, Güelcom, Chekin, Transeop, BePrevent, OpenPark, SmartBiosystem, Paythunder, Neurodigital and Wuolah.
THE MINERVA PROGRAM
The different enclaves that define the program are, on the one hand, a team that is committed to the project. From the moment the acceleration begins the projects will be accompanied by the Minerva team. Also, the accelerator has business development mentoring. That is, the selected projects will work with professionals from the business world specialized in the Lean Startup methodology to develop and validate their business model.
Furthermore, Minerva has a customized communication office for startups and different training workshops so that “Minerva Projects” can make the most of their communication. In addition, the accelerator also provides entrepreneurs with personalized training and sales advice: Vodafone Spain’s sales experts will prepare entrepreneurs for the imminent sale of their products or services.
And as if that were not enough, Minerva also offers the entrepreneurial collective several workshops to train and promote entrepreneurial skills in business, communication and sales. During the development of the program, Minerva entrepreneurs will receive training workshops to complete their business knowledge in different areas. In this line and as entrepreneurs have knowledge about the legal future, training is also provided in legal advice, with the aim that in case of doubts about the preparation of documents or any consultation of a legal nature has sufficient professionalism.
The Minerva Check is also included, a resource exchange granted based on performance and compliance with program milestones; a portfolio of support services of physical and digital tools free of charge, a work space for the entrepreneurial team, media coverage in the press, radio and television, relational capital and networking through the Minerva network of contacts; and support for the entrepreneur in the search for investment and financial capital. In addition, the program has economic prizes for the best projects in the call and also covers the transfers that are necessary to work in the Minerva acceleration with a transport voucher.
At the end of their time at Minerva, all the Projects will be integrated into the Minerva Forum, a community that will continue to support entrepreneurs by offering them media outreach and activities to facilitate networking and investor searches.
2020 ROADMAP
In 2020, the organization’s goal is to complete the acceleration of the seventh call by supporting participating companies in their growth, and also to continue supporting startups that have already gone through other editions of the program.