Pre-publication of the Action “Adaptation Plans for Small and Medium Enterprises with a Capacity of 20-50 Annual Work Units (EME)”

Action Prepublished “Adaptation Plans Small and Medium Enterprises with a Capacity of 20-50 Annual Work Units (EME)” of the Program “Competitiveness”, which is about supporting small and medium companies with a capacity of 20-50 employees (Annual Work Units – EME) for the development and implementation of their adaptation plans to the requirements of modern organizational operation and development of the skills of their staff, with an emphasis on options of “green” management, digital modernization, extroversion and supply chain management.

Budget: 30,000,000 euros.

The Action is co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF+) and the Greek State.

Eligible Businesses

Existing small and medium enterprises, which in the year 2023 had at least 20 EME of employment.

Basic Conditions of Participation

The basic participation conditions of potentially benefiting businesses are:

1. To carry out the business plan exclusively in one District Category.
2. Have at least two (2) complete closed management years prior to the date of online submission of the funding application.
3. Not be substantially active (Main CA or CA of greater revenue) in one (1) ineligible CA of activity, prior to the date of electronic submission of the funding application.
4. To have at least twenty (20) Annual Labor Units (ALU) of dependent labor in the year 2023. This will be confirmed based on the declared data kept for this business in the ERGANI information system.
5. To operate legally.
6. To operate exclusively as businesses of a corporate/commercial nature.
7. Meet the application conditions of EU Regulation 2023/2831 (De Minimis) on which the Action is based.

The Call for Action will define in detail the terms and conditions of funding.

Project Budget

The subsidized budget of each project ranges from 25,000 euros up to 130,000 euros.

The subsidized budget of the business plan may not exceed the highest turnover achieved in one of the last three (or less if the company does not have three) management periods preceding the year of submitting the funding application with a maximum amount of 130,000 euros.

Eligible Expenses

1. Receiving consultant services (diagnosis of needs, consulting services)
2. Training expenses for the development of employees’ “soft” skills
3. Training expenses (with simplified costs – application of unit costs according to EU law)
4. Expenses for Certification of learning outcomes (recognized certificates)
5. Salary cost of newly hired employees (1 Annual Work Unit – EME)

The costs of managing business plans are not reimbursed under the Action.

Submission and Evaluation of Funding Applications

Funding applications will only be submitted electronically without presenting a physical file of supporting documents through the Integrated Information System for State Aid Management (OPSKE). The deadline and the method of submission, the required supporting documents, the obligations of the beneficiaries, the evaluation criteria of the applications, as well as the other implementation conditions will be described in the Detailed Call for the Action.

The methodology that will be applied to evaluate the Action is Direct Evaluation.

The period for submitting funding applications will be defined in the Ministerial Decision of the Detailed Invitation.

See the Pre-Publication of the Action here.