The city government runs training, diagnostic and financing programs. They cost nothing and have been operating for months. Here is what exists and how you get in.
When sales drop, the reflex is to tighten on the inside: cut, hold on, wait. And almost nobody turns around to look at what is available outside.
It turns out there is quite a lot, it is free, and it has been running in Playa del Carmen for months. What is missing is not the program: it is that people know it exists.
Here is what there is, without decoration and without press-release language.
Escuela de Negocios
This is the most established program and the easiest one to take advantage of.
These are free courses and workshops in business management, digital marketing, finance, business identity and personal development. The first module ran three months and ninety hours of training, and 120 local business owners graduated from it.
What makes it different from a generic course is that it starts with a diagnostic to identify what stage your project is at, and channels you from there:
If you are starting from zero, you go into the Escuela de Negocios.
If your company is already established, they channel you to advisory work on finance, profitability and marketing through COPARMEX.
And if you are still at the idea stage, there is support from the Universidad Autónoma de Quintana Roo.
That channeling is the most valuable part of the program, because it keeps someone with ten years of operation from ending up sitting in a course on how to get started.
Gestión para el Financiamiento
This is the least known one and the one most needed.
It is not that the city lends you money. What it does is help you put the file together and connect you with public and private funds that already exist, so you can access credit at better rates.
And there is the point almost nobody sees: the most common reason a small business gets denied credit is not that it is a bad business. It is that the file is incomplete or badly put together. Financial statements that do not add up, disorganized tax paperwork, or a plan that does not explain where the payments will come from.
There is also an agreement with Nacional Financiera for a permanent calendar of training sessions for micro, small and medium businesses throughout the year.
If you have thought about asking for financing and have put it off, this is the cheapest door for walking in well prepared.
Simplifying and digitizing paperwork
The new Ley de Eliminación de Trámites Burocráticos is being implemented, with the goal of cutting response times and making it easier to open and run a business.
This is the one you can do the least with actively, because it depends on the city moving. But it is worth knowing for one practical reason: if you are going to file something you have been putting off, ask whether the procedure has already changed before you start it with the old information.
Hecho en Playa del Carmen
This is a city certification mark for local products and services. It does two things: it gives visibility within the city's own initiatives, and it gets you into fairs and expos where local suppliers are sought.
If you sell a physical product or an identifiable service, it is worth asking about the requirements. If you sell at a distance or to clients from elsewhere, it probably pays off less.
How you get in
Everything goes through the city's Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico y de Atracción de Inversiones.
The sessions have been held at the Palacio Municipal, and registration opens by public call, with an online form. The practical way not to miss them is to ask the Secretaría directly for the Escuela de Negocios calendar and for the financing calls that are currently open.
And if you belong to a chamber, ask there too. Several of these initiatives circulate first among members of COPARMEX, CANACINTRA, AMEXME and other local organizations, before reaching the general public.
What to expect from this, and what not to
Worth saying plainly so nobody arrives with the wrong expectations.
What you do get: free training of good quality, a diagnostic that places you, access to advisors who would charge by the hour on the open market, and an orderly door toward financing.
What you do not: no program is going to find you clients or fix a structural profitability problem. If your business does not close the month, a course will not fix that. It helps you decide better, it does not decide for you.
And what it costs: time. Ninety hours in the first module are ninety hours away from your operation. It is worth it, but you have to budget for it.
Why we are writing this
Two reasons, and both are worth stating.
The first is that these programs have existed for months and most businesses in the city do not know they are there. That is information that should circulate more.
The second is that one of our partners takes part in the program. Ruth Carrillo, of Alianzas Sostenibles, is among the people and organizations collaborating with the Escuela de Negocios, along with COPARMEX and the Universidad Autónoma de Quintana Roo.
We say it for transparency. It does not change the fact that the program is free or that it is worth it, but it is information the reader deserves to have.
If any of the above sounds like what you need, the next step costs nothing: ask for the calendar. Most of these programs fill by public call, and whoever is not informed simply does not sign up.
At Kiin Hub we have the Mesa Kiin: putting your case in front of people who know different things. Tax and accounting, labor, value proposition, process and technology. If you want to work out which of these programs is useful to you and which is not, bring it and we will talk it through.
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