New Action “Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium Enterprises”
The Ministry of National Economy and Finance announced the announcement of Action “Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium Enterprises”, which concerns the strengthening of investment plans under establishment and newly incorporated businesses SMEs (except for the KAD of retail, catering and tourism), which will invest their own resources in the activity they intend to carry out and create new jobs.
- Start date of electronic submission: Monday 18.12.2023 at 15:00
- End date for electronic submission: Thursday 29.02.2024 at 3:00 p.m.
Budget for the Action “Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small-medium Enterprises”
The Action’s budget amounts to 190,000,000 euros.
The Action is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union and by National Participation.
The minimum and maximum subsidized budget of the investment projects is from 30,000 euros up to 400,000 euros.
The rate of support for funding applications is uniform for all eligible costs of the investment projects and amounts to 45% of the subsidized budget.
The rate of the grant may be increased by:
- 10% if the investment is made in a remote or fire-prone or flood-prone area or small islands
- an additional 5% with the declaration when submitting the financing application of the goal of employing at least 1 FME, in the first year after the completion of the investment
Beneficiaries of the Action
Beneficiaries of the Action are:
Established and newly established Very Small, Small, and <a … ELECTIVE ACTIVITIES (KAD)).
Category A. Under establishment. Businesses that will be established from the date of issue of the Notice of Action until the first disbursement of the grant and will be active exclusively in eligible KAD(s), throughout the implementation of the investment plan and until the investment is repaid, according to Appendix II ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES (KAD).
Category B. Newly established. The term newly established is defined as businesses for which 12 months of continuous operation has not passed (12 months have not passed from the date of the start of the business in the AADE until the date of the announcement of the Action). It is noted that they should be active exclusively in eligible KAD of the Action when submitting the funding application, throughout the implementation of the investment plan and until the investment is repaid.
It is clarified that companies must have the investment KAD before the first disbursement.
Beneficiaries must, among others, meet the following eligibility conditions:
- The proposed investment plan must concern at least one of the eligible KADs of APPENDIX II ELIGIBLE FIELDS OF ACTIVITY (KAD), which the company should have before the first disbursement of the grant
- Submit a single funding application per VAT number in this Action
- Gain at least a grade of 70 during the self-evaluation of the investment plan based on the criteria of Annex III
It should be noted that it is not permissible to submit the financing application to OPSKE if the above condition is not met - Declare as a place/places for the implementation of the actions of this Action exclusively in one Region of the Country and in its regions where the same intensity of aid applies. The Region in which the investment project will be carried out is stated in the financing application. It is clarified that the company can implement expenses at the headquarters of the company and/or in its branches, as long as all the points of implementation belong to the same region and the areas / places of implementation have the same intensity of support. Plans located in the Regional Unit of Mykonos and the Regional Unit of Thira, in the Municipality of Thira, except for the Municipal Community of Thira, are excluded, as detailed in Section 2.2 REGIONS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE ACTION.
- Provide evidence of securing the Private Participation of the proposed investment project at a rate of at least 60%
The overall conditions for the participation of the beneficiaries are presented in detail in the Call for Action.
Application Process
The funding application must be submitted electronically through the Integrated Information System for State Aid Management (OPSKE). Funding applications in which all the mandatory fields of OPSKE have not been completed will not be able to be submitted.
For the evaluation of funding applications, comparative evaluation will be applied.
See the Notice of Action here.