Action - Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of New Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

In the context of the new "NSRF 2021-2027" and the Package of Actions for the Strengthening of Greek Small and Medium Enterprises, the Action "Strengthening the Establishment and Operation of new Small and Medium Enterprises" aims to strengthen the investment plans of institutions and start-ups. that will invest own resources in the activity they intend to carry out and will create new jobs.

The total budget - public expenditure amounts to €190,000,000, distributed by Region as follows:

Attica & South Aegean €41,800,000
Other areas €148,200,000

Τhe Action in detail

Subsidized Budget

The Subsidized Budget of each investment project that will be submitted can range from €30,000 to €400,000.

In the event that the submitted investment plan will have a budget of less than €30,000, then it will be deemed ineligible from the beginning and will not be able to be submitted.

In the event that the investment plan will have a budget greater than the upper limits defined above, the excess amount will be considered 100% private participation for the implementation of the plan. In this case, even though the excess costs are not subsidized, the entire investment plan, including the excess costs, is subject to evaluation and monitoring-control.

Beneficiaries of Actions

Under establishment and newly established Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises

The category of very small, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consists of enterprises that employ less than 250 employees and whose annual turnover does not exceed 50 million euros and/or the annual balance sheet total does not exceed 43 million euros.

Under establishment:

Businesses that will be established from the date of issue of the action notice until the first disbursement of the grant.

Newly established:

Businesses for which the 12-month period of continuous operation has not passed (the 12-month period from the starting date of the business in the IAPR until the date of the announcement of the Action, hasn’t passed).

Eligible Expenses

Indicative costs, options for action, are all those related to acquisition:

Buildings, grounds, other facilities and surrounding area
Machinery – equipment (production and mechanical equipment, equipment for environmental protection and energy saving, circular economy equipment, digital office equipment, other business equipment)
Means of transport (Means of transport - Mandatory electric vehicles)
Software (Software and usage rights (licenses) of software programs, construction of websites, eshops, mobile applications as fixed assets)
Software supply/use services under "as a service" status (Software/Application installation, configuration services - User training, Software supply/use services under "Software as a Service" status, "cloud computing" or similar)
Certification of Quality Assurance and Environmental Management Systems
Research - Consulting Services (Technical Studies necessarily linked to investment plan costs, Costs for consulting and equivalent support services used exclusively for the operation, Costs for submitting the financing application, Consulting support for monitoring the implementation of the investment plan, Costs for consulting and support services in the innovation field, Studies / market research)
Promotion - Outreach - International Education Expenses (Promotion expenses on electronic social / professional networking media, Media participation expenses in trade fairs, Advertising listings in printed and/or electronic form, Design and production of printed information material, Logo identity design) and corporate identity.
Indirect Costs

Funding Rates

The percentage of support for funding applications is uniform for all eligible costs of investment projects and amounts to 45% of the subsidized budget.

The percentage of the grant may be increased by:

a) 10% if the investment is made in a remote or fire-prone or earthquake-prone or flood-prone area or small islands

b) an additional 5% with the declaration when submitting the financing application of the employment target of at least 1 AWU (Annual Work Units), in the first year after the completion of the investment

The aid of this Action constitutes grants and will be allocated to the companies within the framework of the De Minimis Regulation as applicable.

Application process & dates

The application period has started from 18.12.2023 and will end on 29.02.2024 (15:00).

The maximum duration of completion of a physical and financial object cannot exceed twenty-four (24) months from the date of issuance of the Incorporation Decision.

Funding requests are submitted through the Integrated Information System for the Management of State Aid (OPSKE).

Evaluation

The process of evaluation and inclusion of investment projects is comparative. The investment projects that have been submitted during the time period, which is defined in the relevant Call for Action, will be evaluated in their entirety.

What we do for you

Contact your Specialized Professional Advisor (RM) today and learn about our financial products and the tools we offer to implement your development plans.

In the grant application phase:

A certificate from the Bank is issued for the approval of a long-term loan or for the intention to lend the investment plan.

It is noted that:

Both loan approval and the certification of loan intention should bear a date preceding the date of the financing application.
The submission of a loan approval letter from the bank is graded by the EFEPAE (Intermediary Agency for Operational Programs of Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship) in comparison to the submission of a letter of financing intention.

In the implementation phase of the investment through the program:

The granting can be:

Short-term borrowing against grant allocation
Long-term borrowing to cover part of the private participation (can also be done through an open mutual account)
Advance Letter of Guarantee for 40% of the public funding. The Advance Guarantee Letter is issued in favor of IBBPCE with an indefinite period of validity

It is noted that the potential beneficiary must submit, up to the first verification-certification request, the Loan Agreement for long-term borrowing from the content of which it can be seen that the loan concerns the financing of the specific investment, otherwise it is necessary to submit a request to modify the Financing Scheme.

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