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FPdGi Awards

Catalina Hoffmann Muñoz-Seca, 2013 Prince of Girona Foundation Business Award

The Prince of Girona Foundation Awards are presented during the IMPULSA Forum, which will be chaired by TRH the Prince and Princess of Asturias and of Girona, on 26 June at the Girona Auditorium.

19/03/2013

The Prince of Girona Foundation (FPdGi) has today announced the winner of its Business Award 2013, which recognises young people who show entrepreneurial initiative in the execution of an original and viable business project. The jury, formed of Diego del Alcázar Silvela (President of the IE Foundation and member of the FPdGi Advisory Council), Zaryn Dentzel Alexander (founder of Tuenti and member of the FPdGi Advisory Council), Marc Bonavia (Business Award winner 2011), Francesc Fajula de Quintana (Managing Director of the Banesto Foundation) and Gustavo Antépara Benito (President of Álava-AJEBASK and Spanish Confederation of Young Entrepreneurs –CEAJE– representative on the Board of Directors of the Spanish Confederation of Business Organizations –CEOE–), have decided to present this year’s award to Catalina Hoffmann, ayoung entrepreneur who has brought innovation to a traditional sector and obtained a great social impact by improving quality of life for the elderly. The national and international growth of the company has been no obstacle to developing her commitment to the human values she promotes.

Catalina Hoffmann Muñoz-Seca (Mexico City, 1977) is the founder of Vitalia and creator of the “Hoffmann Method”. She graduated from the Management Development Program at IESE Business School, University of Navarra. She studied medicine and graduated in occupational therapy and is a specialist in cognitive stimulation. In the past few years she has gained professional recognition in the elderly care sector through her work as an entrepreneur and creator of the Hoffmann Method. Vitalia is a network of day centres offering specialised therapeutic treatments with a strategic area for innovative new products and solutions for the elderly. Vitalia was set up in 2009 and today has more than 3000 users, 200 employees, 21 centres already open and 7 more in development. The company plans to expand internationally to Brazil and Mexico.

Catalina regularly works with the media (TV and radio) and sits on the Editorial Board of the Senda Group. She is also an associate of the Madrid Association for Dependant Care (AMADE), where she heads the Communication Commission, and she is a member and mentor of the European Professional Women’s Network in Spain. Through her association with Womenalia, as a member of its Committee of Experts, she supports Ayuda en Acción’s MAPEL project, which mentors female entrepreneurs in Ecuador. In June 2012 she set up the Catalina Hoffmann Foundation (www.fundacioncatalinahoffmann.org) with the aim of helping communities of disadvantaged elderly people and strengthening research into new therapies and projects that contribute towards active ageing, wellbeing and quality of life.

With a prize of €10,000 and a reproduction of a sculpture by Juan Muñoz, the Prince of Girona Foundation Awards arepresented during the IMPULSA Forum, which is being held on 26 and 27 June and will be presided over by Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Asturias and of Girona.

 

Round table “Do you have to be an entrepreneur to start a business?”

The award announcement was made in the Jaume Casademont Auditorium at the University of Girona’s Science and Technology Park, where the jury was convened. This was followed by a round table discussion entitled “Do you have to be an entrepreneur to start a business?”, moderated by the Chairman of the IMPULSA Forum, Josep Lagares, who was accompanied by the winner of the 2011 edition, Marc Bonavia, founder of SIT Mobile and President of the Independent Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Catalonia (AIJEC); Judit Viader, Managing Director of Frit Ravich; Anna Carabús, entrepreneur and creator of Xai Pigallat; and Martí Saballs, Assistant Editor of Expansión.

 

Prince of Girona Foundation Awards 2013

The Prince of Girona Foundation Awards are intended to encourage initiative and effort and promote research and creativity, solidarity and the development of the talent of young people who wish to build a fairer world in a global environment. The Awards therefore recognise projects and initiatives developed by young entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and are driven by a wish to prompt change in society.

The Prince of Girona Foundation Awards consist of four individual awards –aimed at 16 to 35 year olds– and one for organisations. The latter, the Prince of Girona Foundation Organisation Award, acknowledges the track record of enterprising institutions that work to benefit young people. In the individual categories, the Prince of Girona Foundation Social Award singles out young social entrepreneurs with projects that encourage the integration of groups that are either marginalised or at risk of exclusion; the Prince of Girona Foundation Scientific Research Award rewards scientific experiments or projects, including those involving human and social sciences with high potential for future development; the Prince of Girona Foundation Arts and Literature Award distinguishes talented young people involved in promising work in all disciplines of the arts and literature that inspire other young people; and the Prince of Girona Foundation Business Award rewards young people with business enterprise in the performance of an original and viable business project.

This year the awards have seen record participation, with over double the applications received last year. In this edition, a total of 216 young people were nominated for the Prince of Girona Foundation Awards, of whom 46 were candidates for the Prince of Girona Foundation Business Award.

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