The expansion to the USA and Germany brings to 10 the number of countries participating in this youth entrepreneurship programme, through which nearly 10,000 projects have already succeeded.

The most outstanding initiatives will make it to the next Explorer Trip in Valencia, Spain.

The call will be open until December 13th at SantanderX.

Madrid, November 2nd 2022.
Banco Santander, along with the Centro Internacional Santander Emprendimiento (CISE) is launching the 16th edition of the Explorer programme. This youth entrepreneurship programme is available for pre-incubation projects in 10 countries, with the expansion to the United States and Germany in this new edition.

Explorer, with a duration of 12 weeks, allows participants to connect with an international community and receive online and face-to-face training with a "learning by doing" methodology. Participants also get mentoring by experts; they validate their business idea and develop the necessary skills to transform their idea into a viable and sustainable solution. The deadline for registration is December 13th, 2022.

Since 2009, nearly 10,000 projects from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay have participated. Projects such as Ubra (Universitat Pompeu Fabra), an intelligent bra connected to an app that uses sensors to detect morphological and physiological changes, as well as pre-malignant lesions (cancer) in the breast — or Borboleta (Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey), the first space for young entrepreneurs based on emotional health, participated in the last edition.

Explorer is also an international networking community based on Q&A sessions with experts, Explorer alumni, and interaction on social platforms. Explorer further reviews concepts such as business model validation, financial projections, landing page creation, and commercial pitching. In addition, participants talk about entrepreneurship and show their ideas to startup founders and internationally renowned experts. The highlight is the Explorer Trip, which will be hosted in Valencia, Spain. Participants will spend a week exchanging experiences in a renowned European innovation hub and interacting with each other "in situ."

"The ideal path for an entrepreneur within Santander Universities and Santander X in particular, begins with Santander Explorer, which provides them not only with the tools and networking necessary to build a solid project, but also the certainty that entrepreneurship is not only possible but also more viable than they think," said Diego Calascibetta, Global Head of Entrepreneurship at Santander Universities.         

Since the launch of this initiative in 2009, Banco Santander has supported almost 10,000 entrepreneurial projects. In the last edition, a total of 1,045 entrepreneurial ideas from 75 universities benefited from the resources, networking opportunities, and the chance to experiment with entrepreneurship. In addition, female participation peaked at 42.6%, exceeding the average of previous editions, around 30%.

Grecia Pérez, who participated in Explorer last year with the project Ellas Artes  — focused on creating a support and consultation network for women artists  — confirms this: "People are very generous when it comes to giving feedback: all the time you receive new ideas, new information that helps the project a lot. People who want to change the world are creating a community", she explains.

Patricia Araque, executive director of Explorer, said that the programme "is not only an itinerary designed to learn how to navigate the early stages of entrepreneurship, it is also a unique opportunity to be part of a global community full of initiative and concerns. That's why we say that you don't participate in Explorer: you become an Explorer. Regardless of a project's path, Explorers leave the programme with a set of skills and networks that are tremendously useful for their future, whether they are entrepreneurs or not," she adds.

Explorer is part of Santander X, Banco Santander's global entrepreneurship initiative. Santander X helps startups, micro-entrepreneurs, and SMEs gain training and connects them with the resources to develop. Innovation is key to finding solutions to currently unanswered problems and improving productivity, employment, and economic growth.

The bank supports entrepreneurship in all its phases: starting with programmes that validate ideas in the pre-incubation phase — to providing visibility, connection, and resources for startups and scaleups that have already begun their international expansion. 

Banco Santander and its support for higher education

Banco Santander is committed to progress and inclusive and sustainable growth — with a pioneering and consolidated commitment to education, entrepreneurship, and employment. It has been developing through Santander Universidades for over 25 years and distinguishes it from other financial institutions worldwide. Since its launch, the Bank has allocated more than EUR 2,100 million and supported more than 790,000 students, professionals, and entrepreneurial projects through agreements with nearly 1,000 universities and institutions in 15 countries.

CISE

The Centro Internacional Santander de Emprendimiento, CISE, fosters the entrepreneurial spirit and promotes the generation of startups. With the support of Banco Santander, the University of Cantabria, and the Government of Cantabria, it develops multiple programmes that stimulate people's creativity, creating companies and innovation.