EU funding for business support services

Ljubljana, 29 September 2017 – Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy, the Managing Authority for ERDF, ESF and Cohesion Fund, issued a grant decision for the ‘’Call for proposals for provision of comprehensive business support services to potential entrepreneurs and businesses in the scope of Slovenian business points – SPOT REGIONS 2018–2022’’ which is to be published today by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology. The call makes close to EUR 13.9 million available, of which over EUR 10 million comes from the ERDF.    

The call aims to provide support to potential entrepreneurs, micro enterprises and SMEs across Slovenia which are facing entrepreneurial challenges. To this end, free advice and support services will be financed between January 1 2018 and 31 December 2022 and offered at 12 Slovenian business points (SPOT regions) in each of the twelve statistical regions. 

The call seeks to build the knowledge of the existing businesses or those intending to start a business, to build strong foundations and encourage growth, and to empower participants to successfully tackle the challenges and obstacles on their entrepreneurship path, to increase early-stage entrepreneurial activity and to contribute to business development. 

The business points will support the promotion of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture, deliver comprehensive support services for potential entrepreneurs and SMEs and bring together different institutions through creation of partnerships promoting entrepreneurship at the local and regional level. Moreover, the business points will conduct local- and regional-level needs monitoring and assessment and will report on identified administrative barriers to start-up and operation of businesses.  

For more information, please refer to the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.