The Start-Up Nation program will be financed exclusively from European funds, there will be no more pressure on the state budget and Romanian production will be directly stimulated, said on Tuesday the Minister of Economy, Digitalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism, Bogdan Ivan, on the occasion of the inauguration of the official registration platform for free courses in entrepreneurial skills.

„A first for the financing of the Start-Up Nation program is the fact that the financing sources are 100% from European funds and we no longer put pressure on the state budget. All these beneficiaries, when they sign the financing contract, will also benefit from an advance of 50% of the amount on the basis of which the business plan will be drawn up and approved. We are talking about a direct incentive for Romanian production, not only services, but also additional points for those who produce, starting with food processing, milk, meat, fish, fish, vegetables, fruit and continuing with IT equipment and the production of components for the IT and telekom, digital segment,” explained the minister.

According to him, the Ministry of Economy, Digitalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MEDAT) has officially launched the IT platform where all young entrepreneurs up to 35 years of age who want to set up a business will be able to register for entrepreneurship courses. In the coming period they will be selected for courses that will last a minimum of 40 hours and will thus be eligible to prepare a business plan for Start-Up Nation 2025. „The program will fund 7,500 companies in Romania with a non-reimbursable amount of EUR 50,000 for each company, which automatically represents 90% of the total investment in such a project, with a minimum of 10% funding from each beneficiary,” said Minister Ivan.

He advises those who apply to come with as much own capital as possible, given that they will be ranked, for example, at the same level of scoring, depending on the co-financing that each one presents.

„It is an IT platform which, in terms of uploading documents, selecting the eligibility of all applicants, will be able to ensure at least 60% of the entire procedural and administrative flow with zero human intervention, and all my colleagues in the Directorate of SMEs will eventually conduct a correlation check between the purchases proposed in the business plan and the CAEN codes related to the business, using human analysis, given that we did not want to come up with a restrictive template for those entrepreneurs who want to invest in Start-Up Nation 2025,” the minister said.

He specified that a total of EUR 450 million is allocated, of which EUR 300 million for young people up to 30 years of age, and EUR 150 million for those up to 35 years of age in disadvantaged areas. People from the Bucharest-Ilfov region, which has a much higher economic development, are excluded.

„Enrollment starts today for those who would like to take entrepreneurship courses, and they will have to complete the course until August 15. Those who will start earlier will finish on time and from June 1 to October 1 they will be able to register their business-plan in the IT platform, and they will be promoted from October 1. Depending on how quickly they will be evaluated, the first ones who will be in this program will be able to sign their contracts from October 15,” said the Economy minister.

Bogdan Ivan said that one of the government’s priorities is to support SMEs, given that about 40% of Romania’s GDP is managed by this segment.

„About 40% of Romania’s GDP is managed by SMEs, and small and medium-sized companies are an important engine for the Romanian economy. So, in addition to constant dialogue, we want to come up with clear solutions for the development of this extremely important economic segment. And Start-Up Nation, with this EUR 450 million budget, is truly an effective, clear, concrete program to stimulate SMEs. Supporting SMEs is a priority for our ministry. SMEs are the largest employer in the Romanian economy, with 40% of jobs. We will create over 15,000 new jobs through this program. For the first time, the IT platform will use state-of-the-art technologies to automate about 60% of the procedural and administrative flow, without human intervention – in terms of document upload and eligibility assessment of applicants,” said Minister Bogdan Ivan.

The total budget of the fourth edition of Start-Up Nation amounts to EUR 446.18 million, coming from non-reimbursable external funds, through the Education and Employment Program 2021-2027.

AGERPRES