January 22 (SeeNews) - Raiffeisen Bank Romania said on Tuesday it plans to provide up to 100 grants to support startup companies, with a maximum budget of 50,000 euro ($56,892) for each project.
Participants in the contest will be able to apply for an investment loan or a term loan for current business of up to 5 years with an advantageous interest rate and guarantees from the European Investment Fund through the Cosme program, Raiffeisen Bank said in a press release.
COSME is the EU's Small and Medium Enterprise Competitiveness Programme for 2014-2020 with a total budget of 2.3 billion euro.
The Factory by Raiffeisen Bank programme runs on an online platform and targets small and medium-sized businesses with a short history of functioning or those who have a business idea but have not yet set up a business.
Project submissions will take place from February 12 to March 31, 2019.
With this initiative, Raiffeisen Bank encourages the start-up and development of startups with innovative ideas and solid business plans, and entrepreneurs selected for funding will benefit from guidance after completing the competition so that their businesses become sustainable.
"The experience of the first edition of the program has encouraged us and has motivated us to continue to invest resources and trust in the start-up entrepreneurs. For them, this is a big chance, in a financial context where it is quite difficult to find financing until the business becomes sustainable. And we do not just limit our financial support, but give entrepreneurs access to resources and specialists in various business areas to help them develop and promote their business," Raiffeisen Bank's retail vice president Vladimir Kalinov said
At the first edition of the program, Raiffeisen Bank financed 27 entrepreneurs at the beginning of the road with a total of 3.5 million lei ($845,880/ 743,399).
Raiffeisen Bank Romania serves approximately 2 million individuals, 100,000 SMEs and 5,600 companies. The bank's network in Romania counts over 400 units, over 900 ATMs, approximately 19,300 EPOSs and 210 MFMs (multifunctional machines).
($=0.8788 euro)