Join this new initiative and use Txantxis — ULMA Begira

Ulma Group

Join this new initiative and use Txantxis

The Txantxi, Oñati’s new social currency, is now circulating and has been available since early this month. It was created through collaboration between trade sector representatives and the Oñati Town Council with a single aim in mind: to boost local trade and the economy.
Join this new initiative and use Txantxis
Oct 23, 2014

The initiative forms part of the Commercial Revitalisation Plan and aims to encourage shopping at over 90 Oñati establishments by both the town’s residents and workers commuting from other areas.  Oñati’s social currency, the Txantxi, is available in six different notes, and 10 and 50 cent, 1, 5, 10 and 20 euro coins, bearing pictures of well-known natural locations in Oñati including the Aitzulo cave, the Usako dam, the Aloña mountain, the Iturrigorri woods and typical Basque country houses. Oñati’s coat of arms and the footprint of a toad or “txantxiku”, a popular nickname given to the Oñati residents, also feature on the notes.

At the presentation of the scheme, it was explained how depicting these familiar local images helps holders identify with the scheme, showing «genuine natural treasures that enrich life in the area just as the local shops and restaurants do, and which deserve to be protected and preserved». The Txantxi project joins the list of already-existing social money schemes such as the “Txanpon” in Pamplona, the “Boniato” in Madrid or the “Eco” in Barcelona, and its basic aim is to ease the effects of the crisis, reduce the dispersion of wealth and encourage sustainable local consumption.

The success of this initiative is closely linked to the involvement and commitment of all society’s stakeholders: the workers at the Town Hall now receive part of their wages in Txantxis, for example, and some awards and bonuses are also paid in social money. The initiative’s authors intend the new currency to form part of people’s shopping habits and for local companies and cooperatives to join the scheme, together generating a multiplying effect, boosting the local market and creating a social fund for development of solidarity projects in the local area.

We’d like you to send us your suggestions for different ways in which the ULMA Group can contribute to making a success of the Txantxi social currency initiative, benefiting our local socio-economic environment. Please send your suggestions to grupoulma@ulma.com by 14 November. The best idea will win a set of all the Txantxi notes, totalling 36.60 Txantxis, which you can use for your Christmas shopping. Why not take part?