Entimbalao: Dreaming of local development from an auto body repair shop
From Entrepreneurship
BY María del Carmen Ramón
“This growing space promotes the development of different art forms and summons those who participate to take care of the environment.”
Located in the Havana neighborhood of La Timba, this business created by computer expert Frank Carlos Porras is one of the most intriguing of the capital. Entimbalao is the name of this garage and paint shop specialized in Volkswagen (VW) cars, which by decision of its owner has also become a space to promote local development based on activities as diverse as film, the plastic arts, theater and photography.
“By day we are a workshop that fixes cars, but at night we can promote all kinds of events. The residents of La Timba have been integrated into what we do: collective birthdays, neighborhood cinemas… and in general the debate on citizen participation,” states this 36-year-old who empirically ended up in the auto repair world after buying what’s known as a “Beetle.”
After the opening up of self-employment in Cuba, Frank Carlos decided to create this workshop, located on 31st Street between 2nd and 4th streets, in Plaza de la Revolución municipality, without major pretensions other than to repair his car and earn some money to keep it on the road.
Thus, Entimbalao was born, whose catchy name was his wife’s idea. “She told me, ‘you live in La Timba and want to offer a different service? Well then, let it be Entimbalao.’ It’s a name that pays respect to and empowers a neighborhood labeled as disadvantaged and marginal, which is why among its objectives is to advocate for local development.”
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this business is that, for Frank Carlos, Entimbalao is much more than an economic solution for the welfare of his family. “Our purpose and dream is to create a platform to organize actions that generate quality of life in the La Timba neighborhood. That is why we host neighborhood cinemas, plastic arts, theater and photography workshops in the shop, seeking to create quality of life in the community.”
“We are currently organizing a Robotics Laboratory for children, every Saturday. We want those who attend to be able to transform recycled materials into small androids, robots. It is a very necessary project in a community like ours, which seeks that children develop a sense of creation and logic,” he explained.
As a scoop for Negolution, he revealed that one of the ideas the team is currently working on is to create a tourist corridor that connects Zapata Street with what will be La Timba Boulevard, a project in which several actors will contribute their grain of sand.
Similarly, concern for the environment is another priority for Entimbalao. Therefore, the project aims to promote, from the neighborhood, a graffiti movement which will transform plain walls of the community with messages aimed at caring for the environment. “We want to turn La Timba into an Eco neighborhood, with the aim of raising awareness to mitigate the effects of climate change.”
But the greatest satisfaction for Frank Carlos right now stems from the fact that his Entimbalao workshop is becoming a local development project. “We want to do a lot to empower our neighborhood. We have a long way to go,” he notes, but this is one more step towards achieving his dream of contributing to change in the small space where he lives.
