Throughout its history, the public company dependent on the Government of Navarre has participated in projects as important as the start-up of the renewable energy and biopharmaceutical sectors. Its participation in projects such as Cinfa, Gas Natural, EHN, Tutti Pasta and Vega Mayor-Florette was key to the take-off of these companies. He has also helped more than 100 multinationals, with a turnover of more than 5,000 million euros, to set up in Navarre, as well as a hundred companies that he has helped to set up in the region. It also works in the coordination of the Sustainable Strategy for Smart Specialisation (S4) entrusted by the Regional Executive and the eight business clusters that have been promoted and which bring together 547 companies and 95,000 jobs.
However, of all the above-mentioned areas, venture capital is the SODENA financial support modality that has offered the best results during this time. Thus, the investee companies have multiplied their sales by 6.9 times. Moreover, these same companies have generated a combined Ebitda of 234 million euros. In terms of employment, the creation of 3,853 direct jobs has been boosted, with a growth rate of 97%, well above the 52% of the business average.
In the area of internationalisation, 42% of the companies supported by SODENA are exporters, a figure much higher than the 3% of all companies in Navarre, a difference of 39 percentage points. Likewise, the financial backing of the public company has attracted 1.87 euros of private investment for every euro invested, reaching a total volume of 777 million euros, compared to the 415 million contributed directly by SODENA.
Innovation also stands out in the companies in which SODENA participates, with 47% of them developing R&D&I programmes that accumulate an investment of 101 million euros. This translates into an innovation effort equivalent to 3.2% of sales, significantly higher than the 1.8% average for Navarre. Finally, the survival rate of these companies in their first five years is 95%, compared to 45% of private companies at national level, consolidating SODENA’s positive impact on business development in the region.
In view of these figures, Mikel Irujo, Minister of Industry and Ecological and Digital Business Transition and President of SODENA, defended the fact that without the support of this public company ‘many business projects would not exist’, while valuing the ‘constant mission’ of promoting initiatives that provide added value to the region’s productive fabric. ‘In recent years it has strengthened its work in attracting investment and has been able to adapt to the times as a venture capital company, supporting companies at delicate times or in stages of growth,’ he said. For this reason, he congratulated its technical team ‘for witnessing and participating in the industrial and business transformation of Navarre, which, without a doubt, would not have been the same today without an actor like Sodena’.
For his part, the current managing director of the entity, Iñaki Larraya, considered that Sodena has been ‘a lever for the generation of employment, wealth and quality of life in our community’. He also stressed that they are looking to the future ‘with ambition’. ‘Navarre is facing a new era of digital transformation, sustainability and global competitiveness, and SODENA wants to continue to be a fundamental pillar on this path’, he added.
In this sense, Larraya said he was committed to continuing to work to attract value-added projects, facilitate responsible financing and attract investment. And he hoped that the Sustainable Specialisation Strategy for Navarre (S4) would serve as a roadmap, to spread sustainable values and a circular economy. ‘In short, to ensure that our activity has a lasting impact on Navarre’, he said.
Finally, he pointed out that SODENA continues to be a strategic partner for companies, which are willing to support more ambitious projects and to continue to promote the arrival of companies in Navarre.
We invite all foreign capital companies interested in setting up or developing investment plans in the region to find out about the services that Invest in Navarra offers them. All the information is available on our website.
Source: Diario de Noticias