050. What It Means To Be a Rural Entrepreneur in Cantabria, Spain with Sarah Hart
entrepreneurs in Cantabria often focus on preserving traditions and applying them to their business in a more contemporary way.
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I spent the last month in Northern Spain in the region of Cantabria as part of The Break Fellowship funded by the EU. The Break is a program for Women Entrepreneurs to grow their businesses while supporting local entrepreneurs in different, mostly rural, regions of Spain.
Cantabria is known for beautiful coasts (especially among surfers), mountain regions and lush countryside. Traditionally, business in Cantabria happens in the sectors of food and agriculture including animal farming and tourism including coastal and more and more rural tourism.
Before recording this episode, we spoke to Sandra Castañeda Elena, one of the biggest experts in Business Sustainability in Spain and author of the blog Negociants in the Spanish newspaper Diario.es. For her blog and the book she is writing, Sandra is interviewing women who run social businesses in Cantabria.
She observed a trend in Cantabria of people between the ages of 35 and 45 who were born in Cantabria and lived in metropolitan areas of Spain or abroad and are now returning to Cantabria to start up their own business with the intention to contribute to the development of the region. These entrepreneurs often focus on preserving traditions and applying them to their business in a more contemporary way.
One of these entrepreneurs is Aitor Lobato. His partner Sarah Hart is my guest today.
Sarah Hart, originally from North Carolina, is a rural entrepreneur and artisanal cheese-maker living in San Roque de Riomiera, Cantabria, Spain.
In this episode Sarah and I talk about:
what it means to be an entrepreneur in Cantabria and it's challenges,
how to lead an impact-driven and sustainable business, and
the most valuable advice for women entrepreneurs.
This episode is a collaboration with Aurora Caporossi, Pei-Chen Kang, Petroslava Petrova and Vicky Etherington.
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Until next time, stay human ✌🏼
