New national program for beginners in business starts – Favorable loans and technical help for startups

New enterprises, farms, micro and small companies up to two years old and everyone else interested in starting their own business and developing their operations are provided with the new national “Program of Promoting Entrepreneurship and Self-employment” from November 1. The total funds available for the realization of the program amount to RSD 300 million.

As said on the website of the Ministry of Economy, this support program adopted by the Government of Serbia is the result of the activities defined by the Memorandum of Cooperation signed between the Government of Serbia and the German Development Bank (KfW) in 2018.

It will be realized by the Public Investment Management Office in cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and the Development Fund, with the expert support of KfW and the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia (CCIS) as a partner in the implementation.

The program of promoting entrepreneurship and self-employment entails all the key aspects of support necessary for the success of startup projects – five-day training for the preparation of business-investments plans, favorable banking credits at commercial banks, partners in the project, guarantees for credits from banks-partners and grants for users which successfully pay off the credit in the amount of 20% of the total investment which is financed within the program (the maximum amount of grants is RSD 360,000).

Favorable banking credits in the maximum amount of RSD 3.6 million will be allocated for the financing of investments (procurement of production equipment, machines, facilities, seed material, purchase or adaptation of office or production space), as well as for working assets, with favorable repayment conditions and benefits in the form of lower, fixed interest rate of 5.99% annually.

One of the benefits for the loaners is that the collateral can only be the subject of financing and that the maximum costs and fees charged by the bank go up to 1% in the short term.

The aim of this support program, in which the partner banks are Raiffeisen Bank, UniCredit Bank and Postanska Stedionica, is, as said, to contribute to creating a stimulating environment for beginners in business, upgrading the conditions of doing business in the sector of mini, small, medium and large enterprises and the opening of new small and medium companies and enterprises, in line with the strategy of the Government of Serbia.

Detailed information (in Serbia) about the program can be found HERE.