Digital Transformation for Inclusive Business Development
The Digital Transformation for Inclusive Business Development Project II is designed to build resilience in small businesses in the city of Madrid in the most vulnerable neighbourhoods in order to address the devastating economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
In the current socio-economic context, it has had severe consequences for this group. The experts agree that we are facing a long recovery period while we are still going through exceptional circumstances. The profound economic, social and cultural consequences will continue to test our small businesses that will need continuous support to make their shops more resilient.
This IE Foundation project recognises, as does the Spanish Digital Agenda 2025, that there is a gap in the Spanish digital society, with many small or “micro” companies excluded from the opportunities available to technology-focused entrepreneurs in the startups ecosystem. To close this gap, the current project focuses on harnessing the existing e-commerce and online marketing tools for these small businesses. This ambitious and innovative project anticipates the necessary digital transformation and investments for the future, and ensures the continuity of traditional businesses, increasing competitiveness by digitising them.
Values achieved with the project:
- In the field of education, new generations see sustainability as a critical variable in their choice of university, projects such as this demonstrate the real commitment of IfS in this field.
- The participation of MVDM students offers them an unforgettable learning experience, which adds great value to the programme we offer them.
- It enhances our brand as leaders in training in the use of technology in businesses and leaders in training for entrepreneurs, two of the main values of IE University.
- It allows us to identify new teachers and develop new skills of the teachers we already have.
- Being a private university, we are at risk of being seen as an elitist. The scholarships we offer address the limitation of access to training for financial reasons, but not whether the access limitation is also due to the previous level of education or because they cannot speak English, for example. This project shows that we have strategies to adapt and provide excellent training in a truly inclusive way.
- It improves the identification of our employees with IE University and their pride of membership.
The social objective of this project is to build the resilience of small businesses that are struggling to survive in the current socio-economic context, accelerating their ability to operate an online strategy that strengthens their business model and allows them to generate income remotely and improve the quality of the jobs they provide. The project is also designed to benefit as a priority small businesses located in relatively vulnerable areas of the city of Madrid, thereby encouraging innovation and work in these areas. In addition, the project favours entrepreneurs with little educational background, who in turn have little access to other support for entrepreneurs, or who belong to minority groups.
In the final phase of the project, the beneficiaries are supported by students from the Master in Visual and Digital Media and the Graduate in Communication and Marketing, thus not only familiarising the students involved with Social Impact Projects but also providing an opportunity to exchange knowledge between students and beneficiaries. Students have worked together with employers to implement and improve all the lessons learned during the project to improve the online strategy. In the long run, the aim of this project is to achieve greater stability in these small businesses and to help them generate more jobs in the future by generating greater positive social impact.