Learn About the Reempresa Model: Ownership Succession—A Crisis and an Opportunity
Event Summary
October 29 | 9:00–11:00 AM Central Time
Virtual Webinar
On October 29, Manufacturing Renaissance and the University of Illinois Chicago’s Great Cities Institute, alongside several partner organizations, hosted a webinar exploring the Reempresa model, an innovative public-private partnership developed in Catalonia, Spain, to address the growing challenge of small business ownership succession.
As members of the baby boom generation retire, many small businesses face the risk of closure due to a lack of successors or formal transition plans. The webinar examined how Reempresa addresses this challenge by connecting retiring business owners with prospective entrepreneurs, facilitating ownership transfers, preserving jobs, and supporting local economic development.
The session featured a presentation by Joaquim Benaque, Advisor to Reempresa, who introduced the model and its approach to supporting buyers and sellers through the business transfer process. A panel of experts, including Dr. Teresa Córdova of the Great Cities Institute, Tom Goldblatt of Ravinia Capital LLC, Sandra Finley of the League of Black Women, Katy Stanton of the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, Matt Bogosian of the American Manufacturing Communities Collaborative, and Pauline Lake of Manufacturing Renaissance, offered perspectives on business succession and economic development.
The discussion explored opportunities to adapt the Reempresa model in the United States, particularly in cities such as Chicago, where supporting small business continuity, retaining local jobs, and expanding entrepreneurial opportunities are important components of inclusive economic development.
The webinar was co-sponsored by Manufacturing Renaissance, the Great Cities Institute, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance, the League of Black Women, and the American Sustainable Business Network.