The European Union offers €8 million in grant funding in support of entrepreneurship in Moldova. Vice director of the Organization for Entrepreneurship Development (ODA) Marin Ghenciu said the money is intended primarily for small and medium-sized enterprises operating in rural areas and will represent co-financing for state budget-funded projects, IPN reports.

The EU4SMEs program financed by the European Union aims to support at least 300 enterprisers in their efforts to create, develop, extend or internationalize their business and at least 50% of these could profit from the new opportunities in districts with high growth potential, while 80% will be from rural areas. The European assistance project will be implemented by the ODA in 2023-2026.

“We signed with the Delegation of the European Union a direct three-year €8 million financing agreement under which small and medium-sized enterprises operating primarily in rural areas will receive grants. The agreement comes after a long period of cooperation with the EU. More projects had been financed earlier with money collected from taxpayers in the European Union. On the one hand, we are glad to prove that we have capacity to absorb these resources. On the other hand, we enjoy credibility before our development partners,” Marin Ghenciu stated in the talk show “Public Space” on Radio Moldova station.

The EU4SMEs program comes to supplement the state budget funds allocated for seven programs: PARE 1+2; Start for Young People; SME Ecologization Program; Digital Transformation Program; Retechnologization and Energy Efficiency Program; Female Entrepreneurship Support Program, and Rural Tourism Program.

“The grant funding supplements the funds for the programs existing at the ODA. We have programs financed with state budget funds. By this funding, the European Union comes with additional support. For example, until now we used the state budget funds to finance 20 businesses. Now the European Union offers this grant to finance ten more businesses in similar conditions. This €8 million in grant funding provided for a period of three years will be used to offer grants to about 300 enterprises,” said Marin Ghenciu.

According to the ODA vice director, the recipients of European grant funding will also have access to the necessary consultancy, entrepreneurial education and mentoring services.