Anna and Alfie and the Top International Business Guide

Businesses on the Costa del Sol, seen through the eyes of the entrepreneurs of the future

Rachel Haynes, Editor SUR in English

Anna and Alfie had an exciting day to look forward to the following week - a school trip to the Málaga TechPark.

Their teachers had told them that they were going to see a whole heap of exciting companies set up by people from Spain and from a range of other countries, using their combined expertise to create products and services that make the world a better place.

But it was still Saturday and there were a lot of things for the family to do. Like going shopping: first as usual to Carrefour, where their mum and dad bought “nearly” everything they needed.

So to get the rest, they made the usual stop at Iceland; Anna and Alfie went straight to the chocolate and biscuit aisle. They knew what they wanted and where it was. There are some things that their mum says you can’t get in other parts of Spain, that they’re so lucky living on the Costa del Sol, where they have everything.

While they were there they picked up a copy of the latest edition of SUR in English. Inside was the newspaper’s Top International Business Guide. Anna and Alfie looked at all the companies in the car as they left the supermarket.

They decided to pick out their favourites: Alfie thought Grupo Gaucho looked tasty, and Anna had heard how the Starlite festival was super glamorous.

She had a friend whose parents had taken her to a concert there - what a dream!

The Soho theatre was also high on their list of favourites, especially when they realised that it belongs to the famous actor Antonio Banderas.

Then they stopped for a long time on the One Air pages, deciding that being a pilot must be the most exciting job in the world.

“I’m going to fly around the world when I grow up,” shouted Alfie, his arms outstretched, pretending to be an aeroplane.

The family’s next stop was at Mi Colchón to look at mattresses as the children had outgrown the first ones they had. Anna got told off for bouncing on them all but the shop assistant agreed with her that they had to try them properly if they were going to buy one. They ordered the mattresses and pick up a couple of new pillows too.

Back at home, their mum was talking about needing to contact her lawyers to do something about paperwork they didn’t understand and she said it didn’t matter; it was just something that De Cotta Law was going to sort out for her. A law firm that understood both the British and Spanish systems was best, she said, adding that there were a lot of other good law firms on the Costa del Sol and their neighbours recommended De Vogt and BGI Law.

Their dad was also looking at some pieces of paper; nothing important he said when they saw the word ‘Hospital’ at the top of the page. At Santa Elena they would look after him well, he said. They had an international attitude and while so many other hospitals had excellent doctors and facilities, he liked to be understood. His friends, he added, also had their favourite international health centres; there was even a German clinic, he said.

Anna and Alfie had been looking at the SUR in English guide and decided that Helicópteros Sanitarios sounded much more exciting and loved they the name El Ángel. They liked the idea of the dentists less, Crooke and Laguna, Avilés and GM Dental, but had to admit that they would look after their teeth properly, especially after all those sweets and biscuits.

They had heard of Quirón as their grandma had been there and they made her better, and Clínica Premium had looked after their neighbour. Anna toyed with the idea of being a doctor when she grew up; they all looked so happy and clever in the photographs.

The conversation at dinner time got round to a topic that often came up: mum wanted to move house; dad wasn’t so sure.

Anna produced the SUR in English Top International Business Guide in the hope that they would go for one of the cool-looking places on the pages showing properties like Gilmar, Neinor, Urbincasa and Grupo Rosmarino, but dad said that at most they would get an architect to help them do some alterations to their house.

Novasol would help them rent out their house if they won the lottery and were able to buy a new one, thought Anna and Alfie. And Currencies Direct would help them bring the money home if they won the lottery with the tickets they bought in the UK.

“Although I suppose Caixabank could lend us the money,” their dad said, raising the children’s hopes again.

“First we need a new car though,” said their mum as she caught sight of the Hyundai page in the business guide. “We’ll go there next week to have a look,” she said. The children hoped that “having a look” meant testing out the really smart car in the picture. It looked big enough to hold all their camping gear when they went into the mountains; they were always so cramped in their car.

Their parents then started a long, boring conversation about insurance; Anna and Alfie remembered Linea Directa had an old fashioned red telephone in the pictures but they weren’t really sure what it was for; neither did they understand what EU Insurance Direct and Avalon did, but they realised it must be something important from the looks on their parents’ faces.

They turned back to the guide and shivered at the Pest Control page; neither of them liked cockroaches.

Then they read that Hydralia and Aqualy did good things for the environment, something they knew was really important.

Finally, Monday came and it was time for their school trip to the TechPark. Anna and Alfie loved their international school but they remembered that MIT school, which appeared in the SUR in English guide, also looked really fun. And it was in the TechPark; how cool was that!

At the park their teachers took them to see various international companies doing amazing things, all designed to make someone’s life easier or more interesting: the Dekra circuit where they test electric cars, and other tech firms such as Oracle, Ericsson, Accenture and IBM, Ebury, Aertec…

Alfie and Anna couldn’t really understand what they all did but knew that these were important places that were truly international.

Then someone mentioned Google, a thing they had heard of, explaining that its Safety and Engineering Center was located near Malaga port; and Vodafone, whose innovation hub is near the train station.

And there was excited talk of Imec, a nanoelectronics innovation centre that was going to be built soon. It sounded like something from a science fiction film.

As the school bus pulled away, the children’s heads were spinning. All that really important stuff going on in Malaga, when some people still thought that all people did on the Costa del Sol was go to the beach every day.

“When I grow up I’m going to work for Imec or Dekra,” said Alfie excitedly, forgetting the previous pilot idea. “I’ll ask Betancourt to help me find a job.”

“Well, when I grow up I’m going to start a business and make something that will improve other people’s lives, making a lot of money in the process,” said Anna.

“Where?” asked Alfie.

“Well here on the Costa del Sol, of course,” replied Anna. “Where else? Then one day I can be in the SUR in English Top International Business Guide.”