Tim Ougeot, co-founder of the urban mobility company Yego, and Marcos Morea, Human Resources director at the tech company Amenitiz, are two young entrepreneurs with different projects, but with many things in common. Both were attracted to Barcelona to build their professional careers and launch their companies. In a conversation with the director of Sabadell Venture Capital, Sergio Pérez Merino ---within the framework of the Barcelona Talent-ed Summit---, Ougeot and Morea explained why they decided to pack their bags and move to the Catalan capital to create and boost their innovative initiatives.
In the case of Tim Ougeot, co-founder of Yego, he lived and worked in Munich (Germany) in the automotive sector at the beginning of his career. In 2015, he and his team tried to make an electric motorcycle. The experiment went well, the problem was that Munich was not the ideal city to boost the business, so they took a look at the world map and chose Barcelona. "It was a good decision," Ougeot reflected. In 2016, Yego landed in the Catalan capital with a fleet of motorcycles that could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Today it is one of the main electric mobility alternatives in the city.
In the case of Marcos Morea, originally from Argentina, the choice for the Catalan capital was not so immediate. The software company for the hotel sector where he works, Amenitiz, was founded by French entrepreneurs Alexandre Guinefolleau, Emmanuelle Guinefolleau and Fréderic Cadet, who decided to create the startup in Barcelona attracted by its international talent hub. When Amenitiz was nothing more than an embryo, Morea lived in Buenos Aires and among the options he considered to boost his professional career were Sydney and California. Why did he choose Barcelona? For two reasons: the first, for the human talent he found, and the second, for the potential of its ecosystem, both for what it offers in the personal and sectorial spheres. "It met many requirements. The beach, the mountains, the weather, public health, mobility... It hooked me; Barcelona was the best place to give birth to Amenitiz," he explained.
Ougeot and Morea have agreed on an important issue: there is talent in Barcelona. The question is: is there enough talent to make the Catalan capital a leading city in the world? The co-founder of Yego believes this is one of the main aspects to improve. "We lack personnel trained in technological disciplines. Although there are very good schools in the city, we are not able to retain talent," he stated. To which the Human Resources director of Amenitiz added: "This is due, in part, to the enormous competition that exists today in the tech sector. A competition that, moreover, is global." The main challenge Barcelona faces today is its ability to retain talent. The other great challenge, the entrepreneurs highlighted, is to make the city a good place not only to start an initiative, but also to scale it.
"What do you think the city needs to finish growing?", Pérez Merino asked them. For Tim Ougeot, "the city speaks for itself, it doesn't need us to promote it because it's a great city. What needs to be done is to create more companies, be more competitive. Not stop growing the ecosystem. Barcelona has to be a business center." For Marcos Morea, the key lies in "Barcelona becoming a globally recognized brand."
In times of crisis like the one we are experiencing now, we can see the future of our city in many different ways. We can be pessimistic and resist the course of events, or we can see the context as an opportunity. The key for Barcelona to consolidate itself as a benchmark in the economic world is people. The secret is in talent.