Start-Up Nation, a new edition
he 2018 edition of the Start-Up Nation programme has been launched in Romania
Mihai Pelin, 28.12.2018, 12:49
The enrolment platform for the 2018
Start-Up Nation programme has been officially launched in Bucharest. Companies
set up after January 30, 2017 and operating in manufacture, creative
industries, services or trade, have 30 days to submit their applications. The
programme offers non-reimbursable funding of up to 43,000 euros, which may
account for 100% of the eligible expenses in a project.
More than 4,000 users joined the
platform within hours since the official launch, and have already submitted
over 1,400 applications for funding. The main goals of this financing scheme
are to encourage the set-up and development of small and medium enterprises and
to improve their economic performance, particularly in less developed
geographical areas, with a concentration of SMEs below the European average, to
create new jobs and to encourage the employment of underprivileged categories,
unemployed people and young graduates.
In order to take part in the
programme, a company has to create at least one permanent full-time job, which
must be maintained for at least 2 years after the project has been finalised.
The Minister for Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Stefan Radu
Oprea, recommends that entrepreneurs should be realistic as regards their
business plans and, more importantly, as regards the number of jobs they
propose. Stefan Radu Oprea:
They should carefully consider their business plans, the number of jobs
they can create must be sustainable. We’ve had cases when certain consultants
were less than willing to give honest, credible advice and insisted on a very
large number of jobs. I would like entrepreneurs to be aware of the
possibilities that their planned businesses truly offer, I would like them to
be realistic in terms of the number of jobs they can create and support.
In principle, the higher the
procurement value in a project, the higher its chances to be approved. But
there are other assessment criteria as well. Stefan Radu Oprea explains:
We have 4 evaluation criteria, and the first of them concerns the jobs
created by a particular project, which must be stable and sustainable jobs. A
second criterion has to do with our target groups: we want to encourage
students, young graduates, people with disabilities and unemployed people to
launch businesses. Thirdly, we look at how much a particular project invests in
equipment procurement. And the fourth criterion concerns the date and time when
the application was submitted.
Minister Stefan Radu Oprea also says
that the programme has been simplified and improved based on the experience of
previous years. Out of the 10,000 projects selected in last year’s edition,
8,444 funding contracts have been signed, and 7,200 companies have been set up
and are running at present.
