
The Start for Youth business support program has been extended for a year with an implementation budget increased to 80 million lei.
The corresponding decree was approved by the government of Moldova. In addition, companies that were registered no more than 2 years ago will be admitted to the program (currently, young entrepreneurs who have just registered a business can participate in the program). One more change - enterprises working in the field of public catering will be able to participate in the program. Supporting this area will increase the social and economic impact of the program, stimulate the application of best practices and experience, promote job creation, attract investment in the economy, etc. Let remind that the Start for Youth program is intended for young people aged 18-35 who want to open their own business or are already running a recently registered enterprise in the country. The program is implemented by ODIMM. In 2018-2020, under this program, 670 young people took part in 25 hackathons to generate business ideas. Subsequently, 645 people received entrepreneurship training and support in the development of an investment project. Then 152 projects were selected for funding (the maximum grant amount was 180 thousand lei), they received grants totaling 24.6 million lei. About a third of the projects were implemented by young people from rural areas, it is noted that 41% of projects were implemented in the service sector, 37% - in the processing industry, 22% - in the agricultural sector and animal husbandry. The implementation of new projects contributed to the creation of 375 new jobs (of which 208 - for women) and made it possible to attract about 45 million lei to the economy. In the fall of 2020, within the framework of a regular projects’ competition for financing, projects of another 130 companies created by young entrepreneurs were approved. // 27.05.2021 - InfoMarket.