Deadline: 27-Apr-23
Applications are now open for the Micro and small entrepreneurship promotion program.
The aim of the micro and small entrepreneurship part of the state program “Produce in Georgia” is to provide financial support and technical assistance necessary for the development of micro and small businesses, establishing a modern entrepreneurial culture and creating new jobs, starting a business and/or retooling an existing one. By providing financial assistance within the framework of the program, both existing and potential entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to start their own business, and the presence of a consulting component ensures the improvement of the knowledge of interested persons in terms of doing business.
Two important components of the program are financial support and technical assistance necessary for retooling and/or expanding existing businesses.
Technical assistance provides training in general entrepreneurship and business plan preparation for potential beneficiaries who successfully pass the business idea stage of the program.
Program stages
- Participation in the program consists of several stages
- Business ideas competition – registration of business ideas/applications within the ideas competition is carried out online.
- Review/evaluation of applications (business ideas) – review/evaluation of business ideas will be carried out by the contracting organization with the methodology and evaluation criteria established and developed in advance by the agency.
- Training of initial candidates in drafting a project (business plan) – for authors of successful business applications, the contractor will conduct trainings on entrepreneurship (including tax issues) and drafting a business plan.
- Business plans competition – acceptance of projects within the framework of business plans competition is carried out online.
- Evaluation of the presented project (business plans) – the review of the business plans will be carried out by the contractor, based on the established and pre-developed methodology and evaluation criteria of the agency, as well as on the basis of the interview with the beneficiary. In addition, the place of business will be monitored.
- Signing the contract – signing the contract with the beneficiaries in accordance with the results of the evaluation of the business plans.
- Spending of the co-participation amount – before receiving the grant from the agency, the beneficiary must spend his own co-participation amount.
- Crediting of the grant money – by the agency, the grant money will be credited to the beneficiary’s account after the beneficiary has implemented the program activities with the co-participation money and presented the complete documentation of the purchase.
- Intermediate and final monitoring – within the framework of the program, on-site inspection/verification of works and purchased assets, as well as relevant documentation is carried out by the beneficiary.
- Additional trainings – additional trainings are provided by the contractor, based on the request of the beneficiaries, in agreement with the agency.
Funding Information
- The financial support envisages the allocation of a targeted grant for potential beneficiaries in the amount of 30,000 GEL. At least 90% of the funding received under the project should be used for capital expenditures and not more than 10% for the purchase of working capital.
Activities
- The following activities are prioritized within the program:
- Starting a new business
- Business start-up/expansion by a female entrepreneur
- Starting/expanding a business in a rural/mountainous village
- Starting/expanding a business in a highland settlement;
- Business start-up/expansion by internally displaced persons – IDPs;
- Starting/expanding a business by a person with a disability receiving the social package provided for by the of the Government of Georgia of July 23, 2012;
- Business initiation/expansion by a young (including age 29) entrepreneur;
- Projects focused on accommodation and tourism services/high inclusive sectors/intelligent service oriented projects;
- Starting/expanding a business by a natural person who is a member of a family receiving living allowance, registered in the “Unified Data Base of Socially Vulnerable Families” and provided for by of the Government of Georgia dated July 28, 2006 “On Social Assistance”.
Eligibility Criteria
- Any person can participate in the program if he meets the following criteria:
- is an adult (18 years old) citizen of Georgia
- Not a beneficiary of the 2020-2022 micro and small entrepreneurship promotion program / a beneficiary who has already been funded no more than once in 2015-2018 (for more information, see the program resolution) declares willingness, in case of winning the business plan competition, to register as a tax-paying individual who has been assigned a tax-payer identification number, except for a VAT-registered individual.
- The new beneficiary of the program, in case of obtaining a grant, must carry out his own monetary participation in the amount of 20% of the amount of the requested grant, and 10% in the highland settlements.
- In case of obtaining a grant, the existing beneficiary of the program must contribute 50% of the amount of the requested grant, and 25% in highland settlements.
- Business activities defined in the decree of the same program are financed, except for the production of primary agricultural products and services related to primary agricultural production, which are not prohibited for taxpayers. (See Appendix, list of activities).
- Note: within the framework of the program, a business idea will not be financed, the purpose of which is for entrepreneurs-subjects with the status of a legal entity, for example: LLC, JSC, cooperative, partnership, etc.
- You can fill out a business idea application and participate in the business idea competition if:
- You are an adult (18 years old) citizen of Georgia; You are not on the list of problematic beneficiaries recorded by the agency;
- Also, it should be taken into account that in the case of existing beneficiaries, only beneficiaries who have been financed no more than once in 2015-2018 have the right to participate in the program. The restriction also applies to funded beneficiaries of the 2020-2022 round.
For more information, visit Enterprise Georgia.