Romanian startup entrepreneurs ask for more grants from state

After consulting hundreds of entrepreneurs and dozens of professional and entrepreneurial organizations, the European Association of Young Entrepreneurs urged the Romanian Government to speed launching another edition of the Start-Up Nation program, under which the state extends grants to start-ups launched by young entrepreneurs, Start-up.ro reported.

At the beginning of this year, the Government planned the third edition of the Start-Up Nation program with a RON 1 billion (EUR 200 mln) budget. Still, it never earmarked money for it and eventually replaced it with Start-Tech Nation 2020 program, again with no funds earmarked, under the budget revision in mid-August.

Under the program's previous editions, entrepreneurs received grants worth up to RON 200,000 (EUR 40,000) per project.

The European Association of Young Entrepreneurs argues that more such grants would help absorb those left without a job during the pandemic.

In the meantime, a more critical approach to public start-ups emerged. Firstly, those who lost their jobs during the pandemic rarely come from the tech sector but more likely from HoReCa and light industry - sectors that have not recovered yet to become fertile for start-up projects. Secondly, the Romanian association of the IT&C industry, ANIS, brought into the spotlight the efficiency of extending grants to start-ups initiated by students. Furthermore, the number of jobs created should not be a criterion (as it was under previous editions of the Start-Up Nation programs).

ANIS, quoting extensive studies carried in the United States, revealed that the success ratio of start-ups initiated by entrepreneurs aged 30 and below is half that of start-ups launched by entrepreneurs in the 50-60 age bracket, Mediafax reported.

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