Microcredits, a flash to shed light on business ideas

A photography studio without a photographer. It is the business idea that 'clicked' in the head of Álex Martín, 27, and that has become reality through The Shoot Room, in Paseo Sant Joan in Barcelona. It is a venue where the characteristics of a photo booth are combined with those of professional photography. "We want to make photography accessible to everyone", explains Álex. Her customers include mainly small self-employed workers and companies that need photographs of their product catalogues, whether they are clothing, jewellery or accessories; although they also have actors and models who want to update their respective books. There are also customers who come for leisure, in order to get portraits of special occasions in a studio with professional teams at an affordable price and with the feeling of posing in front of the home mirror. 

In the path of lights and shadows that sometimes entails entrepreneurship, Álex had a 'flash' thanks to the help of Autoocupació, collaborating company of MicroBank, the social bank of CaixaBank, specialized in the provision of support services to entrepreneurs. "I spent a whole year training and I went out with very clear ideas; it gave me a lot of confidence", explains this young woman, who also saw clearly what would be the best way to finance her project. "They informed me about the option of asking for a microcredit, something that I had not considered, as I was thinking of turning to the help of relatives and friends but seeing that MicroBank did not request a guarantee it seemed very interesting to me", recalls Álex, who allocated the bulk of the amount of the microcredit to the premises, as they needed a reform. After just over a year after the opening, the business has managed to cover expenses and generate a small salary for Álex. To date, it still lacks a panoramic picture of The Shoot Room's future, but its dream picture would be to open in other cities, even outside Spain. 

Judith Santos used a microcredit to boost her acting techniques center La Creática

Judith Santos also used a microcredit to promote her business idea. She always had the performing arts in the sights and, although she already had experience as an entrepreneur, on this occasion she was very clear that she needed to order her ideas and have a good business plan, so she contacted Barcelona Activa, another of MicroBank's collaborating entities. This was how she created La Creática, a specific training centre for acting techniques, and communication skills, emotional management and self-confidence development. The space, which is about to open its doors in the Barcelona neighbourhood of Sants, is aimed not only at children and young people but also at adults, including over 65 years old senior, whether they have acting experience or not. "It is a personal project that I entertain with great enthusiasm", says Judith, whose main concern was financing. "My savings were not enough, so I opted for a microcredit", explains Judith, who expects to reach profitability by early 2026. 

Both Álex and Judith explained their success stories within the framework of the 'European Microfinance Day Campaign 2025’, which has just been held in Barcelona with the participation of the European Microfinance Network (EMN), MicroBank and Autoocupació. During the meeting, the role of microcredits as a tool for financial inclusion and a lever for entrepreneurship was highlighted. This has been the case for 23,253 people in 2024 in Spain, who made their business projects come true thanks to MicroBank, which allocated €317.3 million to provide financing for start-up and consolidation of businesses. CaixaBank’s social bank is the leader in microcredits in Europe, with a market share of 88.6% and more than a third of the global portfolio in the continent, according to a report by EMN.