The Start for Youth program will be extended for 3 years and will include not only the possibility of obtaining a grant, but also a loan.
The Acting Director of ODIMM Dumitru Pintea stated this at a press conference dedicated to the work of the program. The decision to extend the program and make a number of changes to it should be made next week. In particular, it is planned to increase the maximum amount of a grant issued under the program for the implementation of investment projects from 180,000 to 200,000 lei. In addition, the training program will include not only entrepreneurship lessons, but also mentoring and consulting. Since the beginning of this year, 180 people have already registered for the training phase under the Start for Youth program, and 160 people have presented their investment projects. In addition, the program will be complemented by a new tool - lending with a grant element from three partners: ODIMM, the Office of Foreign Assistance Programs, as well as financial institutions that will issue loans and monitor their implementation. It's about the maximum amount per beneficiary in the amount of up to 1.75 million lei, where up to 1.5 million lei is a loan, and up to 0.250 million lei is a grant from ODIMM. The maximum interest rate on loans for youth will be 6%. To date, 76 projects have expressed a desire to receive loans for 42 million lei. Dumitru Pintea also reminded that young people will be able to use the loan guarantee program from ODIMM. Recall that for the entire period of the Start for Youth program, grants were approved for a total of 55.74 million lei. According to ODIMM data, a total of 340 grant funding contracts have been concluded. The provision of grants helped attract 93.66 million lei into the national economy in the form of investments. A total of 234 enterprises have been opened in rural areas, with most of them in the north of the country. It is also noted that projects operating in the service sector predominate, followed by the processing industry and agriculture and animal husbandry. The program is designed for young people aged 18 to 35, who are citizens of Moldova, who want to start their own business or are already managing new business projects. The program provides for four stages: definition of business ideas; competition of explanatory notes to projects; entrepreneurial training/courses; competition of investment projects and gratuitous financing; monitoring and assistance at the post-financing stage.// 11.05.2022 — InfoMarket
