More than 300 young people from districts of the Security Zone filed applications to take part in a contest of grants of up to €13,500 provided by the EU. The Business Consulting Institute (BCI), which is the partner of the project, selected 75 business ideas of those submitted. The 15 recipients of grants will be chosen at an open contest.

BCI executive director and project coordinator Liviu Andriuta has told IPN that the project is aimed at developing entrepreneurship on both sides of the Nistru River, at creating workplaces in rural areas and at motivating women and persons from socially deprived groups to start businesses. The grants are intended for persons aged between 18 and 35 who live in the districts of Floresti, Soldanesti, Rezina, Orhei, Criuleni, Dubasari, Anenii Noi, Causeni, and Stefan Voda.

According to the BCI’s data, Orhei and Causeni were the most active districts. A similar project is implemented in the Transnistrian region by the Tiraspol-based Chamber of Trade and Industry, which also selected 75 participants in the grants contest. An assessment commission will choose the best 15 projects. At the end of November, the authors will receive grants and assistance in starting the business and individual consoling during 14 months. The selected young people also benefit from a training course on how to work out the business plan for starting the business.

Among the ideas proposed by the applicants are the ecological cultivation of vegetables, breeding of chinchillas, cultivation of medicinal plants, making of wedding dresses in ethnic style, fish and quail breeding, creation of tourist centers, setting up of modern beekeeping, etc.

Attending the training seminar, Angela Frunza, the representative of UNDP Moldova, wished the young people good luck, appreciating their interest in the program and their wish to start businesses in their native villages. “A lot of young people do nothing today because they do not know what they want. You took the first step. Now everything depends on you, on your perseverance,” she stated.

The EU-funded Support to Confidence Building Measures Program has been implemented by the United Nations Development Program since 2009.