Seven local food and creative businesses are set to receive cash injections of up to one million patacas (US$124,000) each to set up shop on a historic lane in the centre of Macao’s old town. The winners of Sands China’s Entrepreneurship Recruitment Program for Rua das Estalagens were announced yesterday, at the Londoner.
The successful enterprises were, namely, Catfee Macau, a cat cafe that rescues stray felines; Voyage Thai Cafe; Macanese snack store Oláláa; Portuguese souvenir shop Little Port; the bakeries Cafe Fantart and PanPan; and a new Italian ice cream parlour Travessa Gelato. Most of them already have branches in other parts of the city.
Speaking at Thursday’s ceremony, Sands China executive vice chairman Wilfred Wong said he hoped that the subsidy winners would use their “energy and enthusiasm of youth” to make the district more vibrant.
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“This project belongs to the people of Macao, and it brings together the power of government, business, and the community,” he said, adding that Sands China would be liaising with relevant government departments to help the businesses “settle in Rua das Estalagens as quickly as possible.”
A panel of judges selected the seven subsidy winners out of 120 applicants, putting them through three rounds of “rigorous evaluations”, according to the programme’s press release. Business proposals spanned the dining, retail, cultural and creative sectors.
The subsidies will be doled out in four stages and capped at one million patacas. Applicants had to be willing to invest a minimum capital of 300,000 patacas to be eligible for the scheme, which could see their initial investment doubled.
The Entrepreneurship Recruitment Program is geared towards revitalising Rua das Estalagens, once a bustling centre of commerce that connected the Inner Harbour Area and the city centre. The street is within walking distance of Macao’s architectural landmark, the Ruins of St Paul.
The programme is part of the concessionaire’s ongoing Community Revitalisation Series, an effort to boost cultural tourism in Macao’s communities. In 2022, Sands China pledged to invest US$3.7 million (30.2 billion patacas) into the city in order to receive its latest 10-year gaming concession licence from the Macao government.
