The Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted the Regulation on the Determination of the Program for Encouraging the Development of Entrepreneurship through Financial Support for Women’s Entrepreneurship and Single Mothers in 2024 (hereinafter referred to as the “Regulation“), which is one of six Regulations this year aimed at assisting small and medium-sized enterprises. The Program is implemented by the Ministry of Economy (hereinafter referred to as the “Ministry“) in cooperation with the Development Fund of the Republic of Serbia (hereinafter referred to as the “Fund“).
The Regulation plans the allocation of 100 million dinars, which are intended for the implementation of the Program and represent de minimis aid, or earmarked grants, out of a total amount of 2 billion dinars, as provided by the Law on the Budget of the Republic of Serbia for 2024 (“Official Gazette of RS”, No. 92/2023) for the realization of the Entrepreneurship Development Support project.
The grants allocated by the Program are intended for (1) newly established female entrepreneurs, (2) existing female entrepreneurs, and (3) micro and small enterprises registered with the Business Registers Agency whose founder or legal representative is a woman.
In a company with multiple founders, the minimum share that must be owned by one or more women is 50%, while in the case that the company has multiple legal representatives and managers, all of them must be women.
Beneficiaries who meet the Program conditions can receive grants amounting to 50% of the investment value, or up to 55% for businesses whose founders are women single parents. The remaining amount of the investment is financed either from own funds or loans from the Fund.
The funds allocated by the Program are intended for:
- The purchase of machines/equipment/tools, new computer equipment and software, and vehicles used for the transport of own products, raw materials, and other transport means involved in the production process and service provision (new or used, not older than five years). The equipment/vehicle that is the subject of financing under this Program, or for which grants are awarded, cannot be purchased from an individual, except if it is an entrepreneur;
- Current maintenance, adaptation of business and/or production premises up to an amount of 1,000,000.00 RSD, from the total investment funds, regardless of whether the premises where the current maintenance activities are conducted are leased or owned by the applicant;
- Operating costs, which can participate up to 25% in the structure of the total investment for which Fund funds are sought.
In accordance with the Regulation, the Ministry will announce a public call for submitting applications for grants, which will remain open until the amount of requested funds exceeds the amount of available funds by 35%, but no later than December 31, 2024.
All interested parties are entitled to submit only one application for grants under this Program, while a second application can be submitted, during the public call period, only if the initial application is rejected.