Natalia Seco Dominquez

“As an entrepreneur, I spend more hours at work than before, but these are spent 100% in my own way. I find that taking care of every detail and helping others is priceless.”

 Natalia Seco Domínguez was born in Monfero, a small village in the province of A Coruña, Spain. She spent twelve years working in the family business of laser engraving in the graphic arts sector. Although she is naturally very introverted, Natalia developed her communication skills while working in customer service, graphic design workshops, and administrative roles.

Eventually, Natalia decided to leave the family business and explore new opportunities. She sought greater independence and flexibility and wished to feel more fulfilled in her work. In 2018, Natalia created Farrapos e Contos (Rags and Tales) to sell ecological clothing, a passion that aligned with her interests. The business aims to sell sustainable clothes that tell stories and accessories that are created from recovered clothes. Each garment tells a story through the label and illustration included with the garment.

The goal of Farrapos e Contos is to encourage adults and children to spend more quality time together during the daily activity of getting dressed. For each garment, Natalia creates a story related to different topics such as environmentalism or specific emotions. Occasionally she will base her stories on ancient legends or folk tales, but often she crafts them from her imagination.

As an entrepreneur, Natalia spends many more hours at work than she previously did at the family business. However, she enjoys the flexibility of spending this time her own way and taking care of every detail, helping others, and working on her philosophy for the business. Natalia combined her passions for ecology, recycling, social action, and emotions into her business, and she takes pride in the impact that Farrapos e Contos has made on her local community.

The Fundación Ronsel, one of Youth Business Spain’s local partners, has been working with Natalia for two years. The organization offered her support to become an entrepreneur and has continued to stay involved during the creation of her business. Specifically, Natalia benefitted from taking courses with the Fundación Ronsel before setting up her business. Working with professionals helped her learn about new possibilities, organisation, goal setting, and strategy. The mentoring programme also helped Natalia during the first 6 months of her business by offering her continued advice and support.

When she set up her company, Natalia did not expect much success beyond five years, as she expected multinational businesses to outcompete her in production. However, she now recognizes the potential for future growth. For the time being, Natalia is focusing on strengthening the brand of Farrapos e Contos before looking at expanding her brand.

Natalia’s advice for other young entrepreneurs is simple but effective:

“Don’t stop growing. Look for strong motivation, which will keep up your commitment to the business and give you the strength to overcome everyday challenges.”

Youth Business Spain supports young entrepreneurs to start, consolidate and grow their self-employment projects, as a quality alternative to unemployment. It  is part of the Youth Business Europe programme, a regional initiative supported by the Citi Foundation to help young entrepreneurs to start or grow a business.