About 60 young people from both banks of the river Prut participate in BOOTCAMP trainings during 22-27 February 2022 in order to develop entrepreneurial skills and write business projects. Thus, the students from the textile faculties of the Technical University from Chișinău and the Technical University "Gheorghe Asachi" from Iași will be taught by 4 trainers from the Republic of Moldova and Romania how to set up a business in textile industry. These training activities, organized within the Romania-Moldova Cross-Border Programme - Collaborative Entrepreneurial Education, aim to strengthen the cross-border cooperation between academia and entrepreneurship for increasing the access to quality education. The BOOTCAMP is based on the Start-up Generation Programme Methodology, which goal is to provide for students an innovative training mechanism in the field of entrepreneurship.

In his opening speech on hybrid training, the Interim Director of ODIMM, Dumitru Pîntea, welcomed the Moldovan-Romanian cross-border collaboration on entrepreneurship.

“Romania's experience is essential in the perspective of the European integration of the Republic of Moldova, and this cross-border project strengthens the strategic partnership between the two banks of the Prut, including the segment of entrepreneurial education for young generation. At the same time, we appreciate the collaboration  we have been having for many years with the County Board of Small and Medium Enterprises from Iași (PJIMMI), and I am sure that we will cooperate within other projects too. Thanks to European projects we gain experience and good practices that we will afterwards apply in our state programmes on entrepreneurial support. ODIMM strives and advocates the formation of entrepreneurial culture among the youth through some support mechanisms. We are currently running a national programme dedicated exclusively to young people - "START for YOUTH: a sustainable home business", through which have been funded 340 businesses opened by young people. I support young generation, I understand their needs and aspirations, and we aim to develop more entrepreneurial support initiatives to offer young people the chance to start and develop businesses in their hometowns”.

Bogdan Suru, the Monitoring Officer within the Regional Office for Cross-Border Cooperation, stated that the project “Collaborative Entrepreneurial Education” is beneficial and vital for supporting the entrepreneurial culture in the two countries.

“The development of students' entrepreneurial skills will contribute to growing new businesses, reducing youth unemployment and diminishing migration. I encourage young people to step into business world and not to be afraid of failure. Nowadays, young people have many skills, they just have to be discovered and fully exploited."

Neculai Vițelaru, the President of the County Board of Small and Medium Enterprises from Iași, emphasized the cultural and linguistic ties between the two banks of the river Prut, giving assurances that they will continue in joint bilateral projects.

"We need to tell young people who participate in the Start-up Generation Programme that the golden rule in business is to be trustworthy and honest with business partners. Business environment is based on 4 pillars: a) the creation of a business ecosystem capable of facing the challenges of the future; b) qualified human resources with competences in information technology; c) supporting entrepreneurial initiatives; d) digitization of the relationship between the private environment and the public administration”.

The project "Collaborative Entrepreneurial Education" is implemented by the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprise Sector in partnership with the Technical University of Moldova, the County Board of Small and Medium Enterprises from Iasi and the Technical University "Gheorghe Asachi" and with the financial support of the European Union through the Romania-Republic of Moldova Cross-Border Programme. The project provides a clear picture of the need to introduce subjects on entrepreneurship in the university curriculum of non-economic profile faculties.

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The business environment from the Republic of Moldova can benefit from free financial guarantees offered by the Credit Guarantee Fund (CGF) for accessing loans from commercial banks. Entrepreneurs can access loans from 10 banking institutions, ODIMM partners, commission free for the first year of warranty. At the same time, the maximum guarantee quota for all products dedicated to active companies will be 80 per cent of the contracted credit value. The new facilities come into force on February 15, current and will be available until December 31, 2022.

"In order to revitalize the activity of SMEs in the current economic situation there have been extended the terms for guaranteeing the "ANTI-CRISIS" Product. These provisions will be applied to all active CGF Products. The guarantee capacity of the Fund allows us to cover a portfolio of guarantees of up to 1 billion lei for 2022, which will bring investments in the economy of about 2.5 billion lei", says Dumitru Pîntea, the  Interim Director of ODIMM.

In 2021, the number of requests for state guarantees from economic entities was 5 times bigger than in 2020, which shows how attractive and vital this instrument is on the credit market. Thus, during 2021, ODIMM issued 468 new financial guarantees for 388 million lei, which allowed the disbursement of loans of 993 million lei, the value of investment projects related to these transactions being about 1.1 billion lei.

The CGF is an entrepreneurial support tool, created and managed by ODIMM, whose mission is to issue financial guarantees that ensure the loans requested by SMEs from partner financial institutions. The active guarantee products cover up to 80% of the requested loan, and the value of the guarantees varies from 500 thousand lei for start-up companies to 7 million lei for exporting companies. One leu granted in the form of a financial guarantee facilitates the access to 2.6 lei in the form of credit and generates investments in economy of 3.3 lei.

10 businesses, set up by low-income women from rural areas, will be able to benefit from non-reimbursable financial support provided by the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (ODIMM) and the company EFES VITANTA MOLDOVA BREWERY. According to this entrepreneurial support initiative, agreed within a partnership contract, the state will provide the 10 companies with non-reimbursable financial assistance of 1.32 million lei for launching and developing their own business. At the same time, the contribution of women entrepreneurs within these investment projects is covered by EFES-Moldova through the project "Friendly for Women" and accounts for about 345 thousand lei.

The implementation of investment projects, selected through the programmes "Women in Business" and "Start for Youth", will contribute to the creation of about 40 jobs in rural areas. Businesses act in various fields: manufacturing pastries and confectionery, producing granular feed for animals, cryogenic freezing of fruits and vegetables, producing and dehydrating fruits, vegetables and seeds, cultivating herbs, including saffron, cultivating lavender cuttings in greenhouses and beekeeping.

“The state develops and promotes female entrepreneurship in the Republic of Moldova. By accessing the entrepreneurial support mechanisms from ODIMM portfolio, women entrepreneurs can improve their managerial skills and capitalize on their potential for the benefit of the community. This activity, carried out together with EFES Moldova, is beneficial for supporting the local business environment and developing regional infrastructure. We will continue our campaign for creating partnerships with other private companies that have as objective social responsibility and local development", said Dumitru Pîntea, the Interim Director of ODIMM.

"The role of large companies, such as Efes Moldova, is not just producing and paying taxes. We should be a model and partner for developing businesses, transferring our knowledge and expertize to those who dare start a business. The women who today benefit from our joint grants with ODIMM are extremely brave. That’s why, we consider that they deserve to have a support, that will cover the requested grant amount 100 per cent, as they will be the engine of their families and communities. Afterwards, they, in their turn, will provide opportunities for other people. 

We consider ODIMM a valuable partner, who knows the industry and the challenges of SMEs, and who makes considerable efforts to help them achieve their plans and dreams. With each business we finance together, we take a step towards consolidating the core of this country and towards its prosperity" highlighted Alphan Akpece, the General Manager of EFES Moldova.

In this context, the company's representatives have expressed openness towards continuing collaboration with ODIMM on the financial support of women from rural areas to have their own business. At the same time, they assured that the current beneficiaries will be involved in EFES Moldova's volunteering programmes and knowledge transfer, and that the company will purchase the goods manufactured by women entrepreneurs in order to support local businesses.

Among the lucky women who received financial support is Cristina Morari from Alava village, Ştefan Vodă. She has a beekeeping business, which has resulted from her passion for beekeeping.

Cristina and her father took care of several bee families, saw how complex their life was, how the works were done in the apiary, how the honey was harvested and how the bees were cared for / multiplied. This made her start a business in her hometown, in which she combined her father's knowledge in beekeeping with her family members' love for bees. As a result, they began producing organic honey and gaining profit, at the same time developing the tradition of healthy honey consumption in the country.

"We are currently having about 40 beehives and rich experience in beekeeping, caring and breeding. The families will be multiplied to populate the 170 beehives and create a modern hive. In the future, we intend to develop the business, making ourselves known on the market, creating a label and packaging for our honey products, and pack the honey ourselves. This funding is the starting point, the foundation that ensures the existence and further development of the business. I am grateful to both ODIMM and "Efes Vitanta Moldova Brewery" for co-financing their own contribution within this investment project."

Another beneficiary of ODIMM-EFES partnership is Valentina Buhnă from Vărzăreşti village, Nisporeni, who decided to develop a delicious business. The main field of enterprise activity is producing and dehydrating fruits, vegetables and seeds.

"The business started with a device purchased for the family use, but which, afterwards, was used to dehydrate fruits and vegetables for other consumers too. Thanks to the non-reimbursable financing through the Programme "Women in Business", we are going to expand our business, to purchase a dehydrator, convection oven, oven trays, Teflon sheets, etc. We are thankful to ODIMM and Efes Moldova for the provided financial support, and we will certainly apply for other entrepreneurial support programmes too", mentioned Valentina Buhnă.

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This year, the Ministry of Economy will provide a financial support worth about 140 million lei to the business community, through the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (ODIMM). 85 million lei will be allocated directly to entrepreneurs through 6 existing state programmes and 5 new under development programmes. Other 15 million lei will be used for increasing the credit guarantee fund.

The results of the programmes managed by ODIMM, as well as the new ones have been presented during a press conference held by the Minister of Economy, Sergiu Gaibu and the Interim Director of ODIMM, Dumitru Pîntea.

"Despite the crises we are facing and the austere budget, we have managed to identify mechanisms to continue the programmes with a high impact on the business environment and to launch new support programmes for small and medium enterprises. At the same time, we have started the process of reorganizing ODIMM in order to optimize the activity of the institution and provide sustainable support to entrepreneurs. The 140 million lei allocated this year will increase the competitiveness of SMEs and will offer entrepreneurs in difficulty opportunities to relaunch their businesses", said Mr. Gaibu, the Minister of Economy.

Dumitru Pîntea, the Interim Director of ODIMM, highlighted the importance of the small and medium enterprise sector and the commitment assumed by the institution to develop an effective partnership with the entrepreneurial environment from the Republic of Moldova. "Creating opportunities to launch and develop businesses is our main mission. In ODIMM activity, we focus on observing integrity principles, facilitating the access to funding and simplifying the application procedures for the grant programmes”, specified Dumitru Pîntea.

Among the programmes planned for this year are:

●  Programme for Attracting Remittances into the Economy (PARE 1 + 1), 30 million lei

●  Programme Start up for Youth (20 million lei)

●  Programme for SME Growth and Internationalization (15 million lei)

●  SME Greening Programme (15 million lei)

●  Capitalization of SME Guarantee Fund (15 million lei)

● National Support Programme for SME Digitization (10 million lei)

●  Programme Women in Business (5 million lei)

More details about other tools and programmes can be found HERE.

During the last two months, ODIMM offered financial assistance to 297 investment projects, worth 61 million lei.

You can watch the conference on the facebook page of the Ministry of Economy and ODIMM, or in the archive of privesc.eu.

The Organization for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (ODIMM) is a public institution created in 2007 at the initiative of the Ministry of Economy to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Republic of Moldova at all stages of business development for making them more competitive, dinamic and sustainable. For more details about the implemented programmes, access the institution's website – www.odimm.md 

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ODIMM supports Moldovan companies in the process of adapting to global trends of integrating environmentally friendly business practices. The Steering Committee of the Greening Programme for SMEs has approved today, December 30, 29 applications for non-reimbursable financing submitted by the companies wishing to green their business. They will get up to 200 thousand lei per company, which accounts for up to 70% of the  investment project value. 61 companies have applied for taking part in the competition for accessing grants, which went through a wide selection procedure as per the eligibility and sustainability of their greening actions regarding work and service provision processes.

The amount of non-reimbursable financing offered by the state to the 29 businesses through the Greening Programme for SMEs will constitute about 4.9 million lei. The total value of the investments for the implementation of greening actions assumed by these companies is about 5 million lei and the creation of about 100 new jobs. The investment projects selected for funding aim to adopt environmentally sound practices in the fields of responsible usage of energy and resources along the value chain, as well as raw material management, waste recycling and reusing, etc.

Types of activity of the companies selected for financing:

- 11 companies operate in the tertiary sector

- 9 enterprises - in the agri-food sector

- 9 companies operate in the industrial sector.

The greening actions proposed by the companies refer to: wastewater treatment; waste collection, processing and management, from  the medical field inclusively; reducing energy consumption by implementing thermal recovery systems; water resources management by installing treatment plants; ECO and BIO certification services, ventilation and air filtration systems, etc.

The timeliness and need to promote the greening of production and service delivery processes is argued by the fact that reducing the environmental impact of SMEs in both the production and service sectors is a key factor in greening the economy, as SMEs represent around 98.6% of the total number of enterprises, and the total production value achieved by SMEs accounts for 67% of the overall production value of the enterprises from the Republic of Moldova.

The analysis of international statistics has shown that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) generate about 64% of industrial pollution, while only 16% of them are engaged in environmental activities. Thus, a range of tools and good practices to encourage the “greening of SMEs” that are implemented by the EU Member States can be adapted and disseminated among SMEs from the Republic of Moldova, in order to encourage sustainable development and international economic competitiveness.

ODIMM supports and develops the capacity of SMEs to adopt greening practices for production and service delivery processes.

Through this Programme, the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprise Sector (ODIMM) covers two categories of instruments:

1. Training and mentoring in the field of greening SMEs by identifying and adopting specific actions for greening the production and service delivery processes;

2. Providing non-reimbursable financial support in the form of Grant for:

a. Implementing business greening action plans (200 thousand lei) within Stage II;

b. Implementing ISO / EMAS standards, EU eco-labeling (500 thousand lei) within Stage III.

The Greening Programme for SMEs was approved by the Government of the Republic of Moldova, GD no. 592 of November 27, 2019, with a pilot period of 36 months, being implemented by ODIMM in coordination with the Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure. Since the beginning of the Programme, 18 companies have benefited from non-reimbursable financing and 318 business managers have been trained. Companies interested in this Programme can register by filling out the form https://odimm.md/ro/ecoimm

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92 start-ups, managed by women, from 24 districts of the country will receive non-reimbursable state funding for starting and developing a business. The allocation of grants of up to 165 thousand lei per business has been approved today, December 30, by the Supervisory Committee of the Programme  "Women in Business", managed by the Organization for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprise Sector (ODIMM). The overall value of the grants will be 11.46 million lei, which will stimulate investments in the national economy of about 16.5 million lei and will contribute to the creation or maintenance of 285 jobs. At the 8th Call for Investment Projects, there have been submitted online 277 applications from women-managed companies from all over the Republic of Moldova.

59 per cent of the businesses selected for financing will operate in rural areas, and for 6 companies their own contribution of 10% will be covered by the International Labour Organization, within the Local Employment Partnership in Cantemir and Causeni districts.

About half of the investment projects approved today are from the field of service industry (photographic and cinematographic services; educational services; accounting and consulting; sports education; television production and broadcasting activities; vehicle maintenance and repair; health services and social assistance; health care in the artificial salt mine; etc.), other 33 per cent will act in manufacturing industry (manufacturing furniture, wooden toys; processing fruit and vegetables; making clothes and accessories; food industry / producing bakery products, pasta and spices, constructing roofs and drainage systems, manufacturing metal constructions and parts, etc.), and 16 per cent act in agriculture and animal husbandry (growing vegetables in greenhouses; beekeeping, cultivating aromatic, medicinal plants; pig farming).

At the same time, some of the companies selected for financing will develop innovative businesses: recycling used objects; manufacturing dental medical devices, apparatus and instruments (dentures, dental crowns, etc.); producing cereal plant juices (from frozen and prepackaged wheat grass juice); cultivating spices and herbs (growing saffron); preserving fruits and vegetables (cryogenics); providing specialized education services based on Soroban and mental arithmetic.

The Programme "Women in Business", managed by ODIMM, supports women to gain managerial skills by developing their businesses, provides access to personal development and counselling on behalf of professional mentors and grants non-reimbursable financial resources of up to 165 thousand lei, which can be used to purchase investment items and business development services.

The entrepreneurial support mechanism is intended for women who are planning to set up or expand their business, especially in villages, and also provides the possibility to benefit from a grant of up to 1,649,000 lei for growing companies, which aim at exporting goods and services.

So far, through the given Programme, 1100 women have been trained in entrepreneurship and guided in developing investment projects, and 618 investment projects have been financed in a cumulative amount of 95.63 million lei, which invested about 150 million lei in the economy and facilitated the creation or maintenance of over 2,000 jobs. The Programme is financed from the state budget and supplemented from the European Union funds.

See the list of winners

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