The Talent Tour, the tour promoted by the Princess of Girona Foundation (FPdGi) to encourage the exchange of ideas and projects among young people, began its journey this Tuesday in Lleida in the presence of Queen Letizia, and with the proclamation of the award CreaEmpresa 2024, which fell to the young entrepreneur Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros, head of the social company AUARA that reinvests all of its profits in projects for access to drinking water in disadvantaged areas.
At the first stop of the Tour, the five finalists for the CreaEmpresa award were met, led by as many young entrepreneurs. The Sevillian architect Antonio Espinosa de los Monteros created AUARA, a company dedicated to the commercialization of mineral water that finances purification projects in areas of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The four finalists were Diana Ballart, founder of the startup The Smart Lollipop, which claims to be able to do analytics with a type of candy; Alberto Cabanes, creator of the Adopt a Grandparent application, which unites elderly people who live alone or in nursing homes with volunteers to keep them company; Ana Ye, CEO of Ostofix, a medical device that replaces ostomy bags and Loreto Crespo, CEO of Genotiipia where she teaches clinical genetics courses
The Queen, who arrived in Lleida somewhat late due to the fog, has dispensed, despite the cold, with warm clothing and has appeared in person wearing a striking red pantsuit, designed by Carolina Herrera with metallic shoes wide heel.
The visit began at the Sorigué Foundation headquarters, which collaborates with the FPdGi. The entity, chaired by Anna Vallés, in turn president of the Sorigué group of companies and patron of the FPdGi, has explained to the Queen the projects that she finances, all related to social inclusion. Later, in the exhibition hall, the Queen and her companions toured the exhibition “Life in Emergency” by the artist Juan Zamora, who in 2017 received the Princess of Girona Award for Arts and Letters.
While the Queen learned about the projects of the Sorigué Foundation, located in the western area of ??Lleida, in another part of the city near the train station, about a thousand young people from Catalonia and Aragon, mainly, attended at the Teatre de la Llotja, to the first Princesa de Girona CongresFest meeting in which there have been talks, discussions and musical performances.
Among the speakers, Ousman Umar, who in 2022 received the Princess of Girona Social award for his work in the NGO Nasco Feeding Minds that develops educational projects in various rural areas of Africa. Umar left Ghana at the age of 13, following a route full of difficulties until he reached Spain. The Lleida businessman Jordi Giné, CEO of ILERNA, which facilitates online vocational training, also participated in the event; and the singer Alfred García, an OT contestant who, together with Amaia Romero, participated in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest. In addition to explaining his experience, he has been in charge of providing music to the meeting with his song Els teus ulls.
Those mentioned, in addition to Elisenda Bou, CreaEmpresa 2022 award winner, and Rafael Jordà, CreaEmpresa 2023 award winner, participated in the last part of the meeting attended by Queen Letizia, who at the end of the event shared a few minutes with the enthusiastic participants of the CongresFest, whose activities will continue until next Friday.
The Queen was accompanied by the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, the mayor of Leida, Félix Larrosa, the president of the FPdGi, Francesc Belil, and the Government delegate, Carles Prieto, among other authorities. No representative of the Generalitat attended the different events this Tuesday in Lleida
This Tuesday was the first event of the 2024 Talent Tour, which will continue the tour in Salamanca, Cádiz, Santander and Madrid and will close in Girona with the awards ceremony that, in its different modalities, will be made public in each stop on the Tour.