Marc Coloma, CEO and co-founder of Heura Foods, has won the Young Entrepreneur Award, organized annually by the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Catalonia (AIJEC) and which recognizes him as the best young Catalan entrepreneur of the year. Coloma won over Andreu Dotti of InnovaMat and Sara Serantes of Freshperts.
The Young Entrepreneur Award jury praised the gastronomic revolution of Heura Foods, the application of technology to the food sector and Coloma’s desire to change the world through his business project. The products of the 100% vegetable meat startup are currently sold in more than 2,500 outlets in 9 countries around the world.
The awards were in their 27th year this year, marked by the exceptional situation caused by the coronavirus, and the award ceremony was held without an audience. Marc Coloma thanked both the AIJEC jury and his team in Heura for the award and stressed that “without companies there is no better world. This is the essence and the reason why I founded Heura. I firmly believe that the companies of the future, beyond economic engines, will be agents of the social change that the world needs or will not be “.
HumanITcare, Best Business Initiative Awards
The Best Business Initiative Award went to HumanITcare, a telemedicine company that specializes in remote monitoring of chronic patients through its artificial intelligence platform that allows remote data monitoring. The jury took into account the added value that the company created by Nuria Pastor has brought to the healthcare sector. The AIJEC has valued the work done by the startup during the covid health crisis, offering the monitoring platform for chronic patients for free to discharge doctors from work.
AIJEC recognizes Miquel Martí’s professional career
During the event, the Recognition for the Best Professional Career was also presented, which this year went to the Vallès businessman Miquel Martí de Moventia. The AIJEC has wanted to reward Martí’s perseverance by leading a group with more than 97 years of history to become the leading sustainable mobility group in Catalonia, through the marketing of vehicles and offering urban transport service and intercity coach in more than 5 countries. The organization also wanted to recognize the work of the entrepreneur to bring the business world closer to society.
Other recognitions
The Recognition for Business Linguistic Quality, which rewards the commitment to the Catalan language in the field of business, has been for Fibracat, the first global telecommunications operator in Catalan born in 2013.
The Recognition of the Social Entrepreneur has been taken by OIMO, a company led by Albert Marfà and which has launched a sustainable material similar to plastic, which is not toxic to marine life, biodegradable and easy to work with, and which can replace common disposable packaging plastics.
The Recognition for the Future Entrepreneur, an award that rewards the best entrepreneurial project developed by children under 18 from the Fundació Escola Emprenedors, has gone to the ‘SMOOD: The smart food container’ project of the group of 1st year students. of high school at IES Sant Quirze del Vallès. The AIJEC has acknowledged the work of this group of students who have created a high-tech food container that provides the essential information to prevent food waste when no information is available on its expiration date.
A much needed prize than ever
The president of AIJEC, Ruben Sans, wanted to highlight the complicated moment that the business community is going through, a period marked by uncertainty and in which the administrations must be by the side of employers finding solutions to “minimize what we it comes from the front ”. According to Sans, the business community needs the support of the administrations “so as not to feel alone in the fight against the circumstances”.
Sans explained that carrying out this award was not an easy decision but that it was the duty of the entity as “the Young Entrepreneur Award makes more sense today than ever”. The level and volume of applications received shows, said the president of AIJEC, that young entrepreneurs continue with the same enthusiasm to consolidate and grow their companies. “These are difficult times, of struggle, perseverance and reinvention, and in this situation awards and recognitions are comforting and often become a vital support to move forward.”