EU4Business announces grant program for small businesses in Ukraine’s front-line territories

EU4Business announced a competition for grant support for Ukrainian small and medium-sized enterprises from the areas of hostilities, Ukrainian Startup Fund reports.

What is the problem?

Business in Ukraine is suffering greatly due to russia's full-scale invasion.

Many enterprises found themselves in areas of active hostilities and were forced to evacuate to safer regions or stop working. However, even businesses far from shelling suffer due to logistical problems and a lack of raw materials.

According to the results of the EBA survey, only 17% of companies are operating at total capacity, and one in three are not working. A third of entrepreneurs plan to resume their activities. Surveys of other organizations showed approximately the same results.

What is the solution?

EU4Business is an initiative of the European Union that helps the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular, provides additional financing and business development services, and promotes effective regulation of business activities.

The grant competition was created within the framework of the international cooperation program "EU4Business: SME Competitiveness and Internationalization," which the European Union and the Government of Germany co-financed. The implementing partner of the initiative is the Ukrainian Startup Fund.

How does it work?

Companies that:

• registered in the following regions of Ukraine: Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kirovohrad and Kyiv regions (the city of Kyiv does not participate);
• are not located and do not conduct their economic activities in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine;
• ultimate beneficial owners are exclusively citizens of Ukraine;
• do not operate or have subsidiaries in russia, belarus, and other countries included in the sanctions list;
• have the potential for rapid production expansion, which contributes to normalizing the local economies in which they operate;
• have not received grants from GIZ or other international organizations or international technical assistance projects during the last 24 months;
• carry out activities in the following directions: suppliers and manufacturers of food products; industries that support food manufacturers/suppliers, such as the manufacture of industrial refrigeration or ventilation systems, the manufacture of food and beverage machinery or equipment;
• the number of employees ranges from 11 to 249 at the time of application.

Financing: One grant is 10,000 euros. A total of 10 grants are planned. The businesses can apply on the fund's web portal in the "Grant program for small and medium-sized businesses" section. Application deadline: April 9, 2023, 23:59 inclusive.

The results of the competitive selection are expected to be announced by the end of May 2023.