Closed NSRF (ESPA)

Support for the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

Status: Closed
Opening: 18-12-2023
Deadline: 22-03-2024
Subsidy: 45%–60%
Investment: +190.000.000,00€

Support for the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises

The Action "Support for the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises" is addressed to all under-establishment and newly established small and medium-sized enterprises of the country that are eligible for the "Competitiveness" Programme 2021-2027, with funding from the ERDF, through the creation of new micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in selected activity KAD codes of all sectors of the economy, except the KAD codes of retail trade, food service and tourism.

The main aim of the Action is to support the investment plans of under-establishment and newly established SMEs, which will invest own funds in the activity they intend to carry out and will create new jobs.

The Ministry of National Economy and Finance, acting as a supporter of new business ventures of high added value that:

provide competitive, quality products and services,
make use of the comparative advantages of the Country,
invest own funds in the activity they intend to carry out and
create new jobs,

took the initiative to design the new Action for supporting enterprises entitled "Support for the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises", which will be implemented in all thirteen (13) Administrative Regions of the Country.

Support for the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises - Who it concerns

Under the Action "Support for the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises", a funding application may be submitted by under-establishment and newly established medium-sized, small and micro enterprises that are expected to operate in selected activity KAD codes of all sectors of the economy, except the KAD codes of retail trade, food service and tourism.

The term newly established means enterprises for which 12 months of continuous operation have not passed from the start date of the enterprise up to the date the action is announced.

The selected eligible activity code numbers (KAD) will be set in the Detailed Call of the Action. They will not include those related to support for enterprises in the Food Service, Retail Trade and Tourism sectors.

The basic conditions for participation of the potentially benefiting enterprises are the following:

- They declare as place/places for implementing the actions of this action exclusively one Region of the Country and areas of it where the same aid intensity applies. The Region in which the investment plan will be carried out is declared in the funding application. It is clarified that the enterprise can implement expenses at its registered office and/or at its branches, provided all the points of implementation belong to the same region and the areas / places of implementation have the same aid intensity.
  Plans located in the Regional Unit of Mykonos and in the Regional Unit of Thira, in the Municipality of Thira, except the Municipal Community of Thirasia, are excluded
- They operate in eligible Activity Code Number(s) (KAD), as set in the Detailed Call that is expected to be issued, throughout the implementation of their investment plan. Newly established enterprises must have registered only in eligible KAD codes of the Action.
- They submit one single funding application per tax identification number (AFM) in this Action.
- They score at least 70 in the self-evaluation of the investment plan based on the criteria of Annex III
- They hold an approved building permit in force, or an application for one, or a building permit pre-approval, or a certificate of building terms, or at least a filed application for a building permit pre-approval or a certificate of building terms, where a building permit is required, on the date the funding application is submitted. Where the investment plan provides for expenses for buildings and other installations for which no building permit is required, they must submit a Solemn Declaration by the Legal Representative certifying that no building permit is required, with detailed reasons.
- They provide evidence of the rights of use (ownership, usufruct, use/lease in force) they hold over the property for a period of at least six (6) years. The six-year period is calculated from the date the action is announced. Especially for the construction of a building, the lease must be for at least twelve (12) years from the date the action is announced.
- They provide a land use certificate for the above place of implementation of the investment.
- They provide evidence that at least 60% of the private contribution of the proposed investment plan is secured,
- They meet the conditions for applying Regulation (EU) 1407/2013 (De Minimis) (subsidy limit of €200,000 per three-year period, based on the dates of the Inclusion Decisions)
- They operate or intend to operate exclusively under one of the following forms of enterprises of a corporate/commercial nature: Société Anonyme, Single-Member Société Anonyme (M.A.E.), Limited Liability Company, Single-Member Limited Liability Company (M.E.P.E.), General Partnership, Limited Partnership, Private Company (I.K.E.), Single-Member Private Company (M.I.K.E.), Sole Proprietorship, Civil Law Partnership for Profit, Social Cooperative Enterprise of Law 4430/2016 as in force, Civil Cooperative with Limited Liability, Civil Cooperative with Unlimited Liability, For-Profit Civil Cooperative, Limited Liability Social Cooperative (KOI.S.P.E.)] and they keep, or commit to keep, single-entry or double-entry books under Law 4308/2014, as in force.
- It is noted that newly established enterprises must be registered in the Register of Beneficial Owners of Article 20 of Law 4557/2018 (A' 139), as in force, before the final submission of their funding application, and under-establishment ones before the first disbursement.
- The physical scope of the investment must not have been completed or fully implemented before the funding application is submitted.

Please note that:

The partnership / shareholding composition of the investment plan must remain the same during implementation, until the physical and financial scope is completed and the investment is paid out.
A Natural/Legal Person may not take part as a partner/shareholder in more than one funding application submitted
A substantial change of the physical scope of the project and of the related investment KAD code is not allowed during implementation, until the physical and financial scope is completed and the investment is paid out, and for five years after that. For example, a change of activity from a Manufacturing KAD code to a Services KAD code, and vice versa, is not allowed.
If an enterprise carries out road freight transport for hire or reward and also has other eligible activities to which the ceiling of 200,000 euros applies, the ceiling of 200,000 euros will apply to the enterprise, provided that for all the expenses of this call there is separate accounting and a distinction of cost centres, so that the support for the road freight transport activity does not exceed 100,000 euros.
Co-location of enterprises is not allowed, so that the equipment of the aided investment cannot be used by another enterprise. Co-location means that the aided enterprise is installed in the same, non-distinct space as another enterprise. If co-location of enterprises is found where the equipment of the aided investment can be used by another enterprise, the inclusion decision will be revoked.
Enterprises whose place of implementation is the Beneficiary's home (main or secondary) are not accepted.

Not entitled to submit a funding application:

Enterprises that belong to an already organised uniform network for distributing products or providing services and which, under relevant contracts, use licences to exploit intellectual property rights, usually concerning trade marks or trade names and know-how for the use and distribution of goods or services (e.g. franchising, shop in shop, agency network etc.).
Financial and insurance institutions, public bodies or public organisations and/or their subsidiaries, public enterprises, Legal Entities under Public Law (NPDD), as well as companies in whose capital or voting rights the local authorities (OTA) and all the above public bodies, individually or jointly, participate directly or indirectly with more than twenty-five per cent (25%) (and enterprises treated as such, as main partners). In addition, sports clubs and associations of every kind, sports sociétés anonymes, and enterprises related to the above categories in any way (for example: parent, subsidiary, affiliated or partner company, common ownership/management through natural persons etc.) are not entitled to submit a funding application.
Offshore enterprises

Program budget

The Action will be implemented with resources of the "Competitiveness" Programme of ESPA 2021 – 2027 totalling €190,000,000 for the whole of the Country.

The minimum and maximum total aided budget of the funding application is set from €30,000 up to €400,000.

The Action is co-financed by the European Union, in particular by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the Greek State.

Amount of subsidy

The minimum and maximum total aided budget of the funding application is set from €30,000 up to €400,000.

The grant will amount to 45% of the expenses submitted.

The grant rate may be increased by:

10% if the investment is made in a remote, fire-stricken or flood-stricken area or on small islands and
A further 5% on achieving the employment target of at least 1 AWU in the first year after the investment is completed

The grant amount can reach up to 200,000 euros.

The aid of this Action will be provided under Commission Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 of 18 December 2013 on the application of Articles 107 and 108 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to de minimis aid (De Minimis).

Expenses subsidized

The MAIN categories of eligible expenses are the following:

Buildings, Installations and Surrounding Area
Production and Mechanical equipment
Equipment for the protection of the Environment and for Saving Energy
Circular economy equipment
Digital Office Equipment
Other business equipment
Means of Transport (Electric vehicles are mandatory)
Software and licences for software programs
Development of a website, e-shop, mobile applications as fixed assets
Services for installing and configuring Software/Applications - User training
Services for the supply/use of software under "Software as a Service", "cloud computing" or a similar arrangement
Expenses for the Provision of Services
Expenses for Publicity, Promotion & Networking
Technical Studies
Consultancy Services
Indirect expenses (up to 7% of the eligible direct expenses of the investment plan)

Important dates

Start date for submitting applications: 18/12/2023 at 15:00

End date for submitting applications: 29/02/2024 at 15:00

The start date for the eligibility of expenses is the date of the call of the Action.

The duration for implementing the physical and financial scope of the investment plan is set at 24 months from the date the Decision Approving the evaluation results is issued.

The method that will be applied for the evaluation of the action is Comparative Evaluation.

The minimum acceptable total score for submitting an investment plan is 70.