Call for projects worth EUR 105 mln under Romania Start-up Plus program

The Ministry of European Funds (MFE) published on Wednesday the final guide for the project call „Romania Start-up Plus”, valued at EUR 105 million. The funds come from the Human Capital Operational Program (POCU) 2014-2020, aiming to stimulate entrepreneurship and the creation of new jobs.

The guide was put up for debate in July. It reflects the proposals as a result of the the received suggestion from the potential beneficiaries and the interested public.

The Ministry can receive financing requests from local public authorities, trade chambers, professional formation services suppliers, universities and NGOs with relevant activity in domain, single and in partnership. These will be administrators of entrepreneurship schemes and will give technical aid and minimis grants to the future entrepreneurs and to the enterprises created.

The grant will have a maximum value of EUR 5 million/project and will cover, besides the minimis grants, the expenses affiliated to the entrepreneurship formation program and the administration costs of the entrepreneurship scheme.

The financing mechanism implies a selection process of the future entrepreneurs for every project and then a specific formation period, when the selected ones sign a contract with the administrator of the entrepreneurship scheme and receives a subsidy of EUR 3,000. If an entrepreneur makes revenues of 30 percent of the initial finance value in the first year of business activity, he or she can receive additional funds of up to EUR 10,000.