Romania Start-Up Plus offers EUR 105 million to entrepreneurs

The Ministry of European Funds (MFE) has opened for public debate the guide of the Romania Start-Up Plus program, aimed at supporting entrepreneurs. The program offers EUR 105 million to start-ups that record good sales.

Romania Start-Up Plus program is part of the Human Resources Operational Program (POCU) 2014-2020, designed to stimulate entrepreneurship and boost job creation. The program is coordinated by an administrator of the entrepreneurship scheme, tasked with coordinating the funding scheme. Public local authorities, Chambers of Commerce, providers of life-long learning services, universities and NGOs can apply to become administrators of the scheme.

The financing scheme has two phases. In the first phase of the program, the first installment of the grant, of up to EUR 24,000, is disbursed as soon as the entrepreneur signs a contract with the administrator. If the entrepreneur records a gross revenue equal to half the value of the first installment, the second phase will be initiated. The second installment will bring the entrepreneur up to EUR 16,000.

The MFE program is designed to support start-ups that record a high volume of sales. “This funding mechanism in installments is a step towards more clever funding, adapted to economic realities. The support is not only a quantitative numeric indicator, it becomes an instrument to boost entrepreneurs that record results in the initial phase of their business,” Dan Barna, State Secretary with the MFE stated in a press release.

In numbers, the objectives of the Romania Start-UP Plus are to create over 2,000 new jobs, to finance over 1,5000 new small and middle-sized companies and to train over 10,000 people.

According to European Commission’s Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE), Romanian companies have very limited access to funding. According to the survey, only 2 percent of Romanian companies have accessed grants or subsidized credits in 2015, below the European average rate of 8 percent.

Proposals and recommendations on the guidelines for the Romania Start-Up Plus (RSUP) can be received until 25 July 2016 at the e-mail address rsup@fonduri-ue.ro. Projects can be submitted starting 12 August 2016.