WHAT IS THE „BUCHAREST START UP CITY” PROGRAM?
The program for stimulating and encouraging the establishment and development of small and medium enterprises in Bucharest, aiming at supporting at least 200 start-ups.
Given that Bucharest entrepreneurs were virtually excluded from government funding from Start-Up Nation Program 2018-2019, having points deducted significantly, the Bucharest Start-up City Program seeks to support entrepreneurs, increase business numbers and revive the economic environment, increasing the number of employees, reducing the number of unemployed and increasing the consumption at the level of the Municipality of Bucharest.
According to Bucharest City Hall officials, the Bucharest Start-up City program will be operational in the following period, providing 100% non-reimbursable financing of maximum 239.985 lei per beneficiary (50.000 Euro from 04.03.2019) to a maximum of 200 recipients. To reach the maximum score in the program, entrepreneurs will have to come up with a minimum of 20% of the total investment. To reach the maximum score in the program, entrepreneurs will have to come up with a minimum of 20% of the total investment.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR THIS FINANCING
Although this program offers the opportunity to finance 200 business plans, the following areas of activity are encouraged: creative industries; services; production activities and IT programming activities; trade and other activities. You need to know that the most profitable areas are: fashion and clothing, HoReCa, IT and agricultural production. But It is not enough for the domain to benefit you, there is also a need for innovation and products to be noticed and good branding.
The following eligibility criteria must be met to obtain funding:
- The enterprise must be established after January 1, 2019 and registered with the Trade Register Office as a commercial company (including SRL-D) or a cooperative society;
- The CAEN Code authorized at the ONRC when submitting the expenses documentation;
- The registered office of the applicant company, as well as the location of the business plan implementation, must be in Bucharest;
- Mandatory creation of one job for non-reimbursable financing of 239,985 lei and assuming the maintenance of the job/jobs created for 1 year after the project completion.
- The business may be established by individuals who are associated in other firms, provided that the other firms in which that person is assigned are NOT bankrupt, in insolvency;
- Shareholders/Administrators of other companies may not apply with a new firm that operates on a CAEN code on which they previously had economic activity in the past;
WHAT CAN BE INCLUDED IN THE BUDGET SUPPORTED BY THIS FUNDING
Eligible expenditure categories financed by the programme Bucharest Start-up City are equipment and machinery, vans (cars for certain CAEN codes, passenger cars minibuses 8 + 1, N1, N2, N3 vehicles, except G ), air conditioning / heating equipment, energy saving equipment, IT equipment, furniture, office equipment, rents, wages(will be eligible for a period of six months) creation of web pages, promotion (possibly limited to 6.000 lei) , franchises, licenses, entrepreneurial courses (possibly limited to 1,000 lei), software and consultancy (possibly limited to 8,000 lei).
Given that businesses where there will be allocations of at least 50% of the proposed investment to purchase equipment are encouraged, the highest score will be given to those who purchase software, equipment, state-of-the-art technology (not older than 3 years and be certified by the manufacturer). Second hand goods and leasing financing are not accepted.
Payments will be made after the mechanism of reimbursement of the expenditure incurred and the settlement of payment claims. The reimbursement will be compulsory for wage expenditures (which will be eligible for a maximum of 6 months at the maximum level of the average wage per economy). For the rest of the expenditure, the payment request will be used by which the contractor, on the basis of the contracts concluded, comes with unpaid invoices from suppliers and the state pays them. The non-deductible Value Added Tax will also be included in the eligible expenditure.
Under a new proposal, an advance of up to 30% of the total approved amount may be granted at the request of the beneficiary.
WHAT SCORE YOU CAN GET
The business plans will be assessed in three stages:
- Phase A – assessing eligibility and administrative verification of the application;
- Phase B – technical-financial evaluation (according to the attached phase B scale);
- Phase C – interview / pitch (only the top 250 business plans in the rankings resulting from Phase B of the evaluation process will participate in this final evaluation stage).
Here is how the rating scale of the business plans submitted for Stages B and C in the evaluation process will be structured:
Annex 1 – Rating grid
|
TECHNICAL AND FINANCIAL EVALUATION GRID „Bucharest Start Up City” (phase B) | Max points |
| The quality of the business plan | 40 |
| Description of Products / Services / Works | 5 |
| Market analysis and marketing strategy | 10 |
| Business strategy | 10 |
| Funding plan (cashflow / budget) | 5 |
| The social impact on the community of Bucharest | 10 |
| Additional co-financing | 20 |
| The beneficiary contributes at least 20% of the total project value | 20 |
| The beneficiary contributes a percentage of between 10% and 20% | Directly proportional |
| The beneficiary contributes 10% of the total project value | 0 |
| Field of activity (according to Annex 2) | 20 |
| Creative industries | 20 |
| Production / Services | 10 |
| Trade | 0 |
| Investment in equipment | 20 |
| The budget provides for investments of at least 50% of the total project value in technological equipment (including 50.00%) | 20 |
| The budget provides for investments of less than 50% of the total project value in technological equipment | 0 |
| PHASE B TOTAL POINTS | 100 |
|
INTERVIEW ASSESSMENT GRID „Bucharest Start Up City” (phase C) | Max points |
| Presentation of the business plan (including level of knowledge of the business scope covered by the business plan) | 10 |
| The quality of the answers given to the members of the jury | 10 |
| Applicants’ motivation for the proposed business | 10 |
| PHASE C TOTAL POINTS | 30 |
HOW THE BUSINESS PLAN WILL BE EVALUATED
The appraisal of applications will be achieved through a wide selection process, structured in three distinct stages, the main differentiating element of the applications being their quality and involvement of the associates in the development of the respective business. Specifically, the selection of funded applications will be carried out following the administrative and eligibility checks (Phase A), the technical-financial evaluation (phase B, according to the rating grid at the end of this de minimis scheme) and the interview / pitch phase C). Only the first 250 applications selected after the Phase B order of the evaluation process will participate in the C phase of the evaluation.
Although micro, small and medium enterprises represent a real source of entrepreneurial, innovation and job creation skills, there are times when they face market difficulties, especially in the project phase, when creating and developing the idea and the process of obtaining of credit or capital is difficult.
There are many people who have business ideas, but because of bureaucracy they are not willing to take the risks of starting a new business. That is why the SMART Development Center Association can advise you to get your funding. Below we have created a form for a pre-analysis of the business you are going to start. If you are interested in consulting for Bucharest Start-up City, completing this form is the first step:
>>> PRE-ANALYSIS FORM FOR START UP CITY <<<
