Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia

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Presentation of a new program "Young Entrepreneurs" was conducted to support young entrepreneurs living in rural areas

Under the initiative of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and through financial support of the Danish Government (DANIDA), the Agriculture Projects Management Agency has started implementing a new program "Young Entrepreneurs". The program budget amounts to 4,110,000 USD. (10,000,000 GEL).
Young entrepreneurs' support program "Young Entrepreneur" is intended for young people, Georgian citizens who wish to do business in Georgia. The aim of the program is to provide financial and technical support to young people and facilitate their engagement in the business sector. The official presentation of the program was held today, in which the Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili together with the Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture introduced young entrepreneurs with the new projects. After the presentation, the discussion went into the question-answer session.
Young entrepreneurs registered in Georgia (men aged 18-35 and 18-40 years old) or their agricultural cooperatives will be financed under the frame of the program. The program envisages financing only new business (startup).
Within the framework of the program, the 10 million GEL grant funding will finance only 40 percent of the project cost, however the project cost should not exceed over 60,000 GEL and not be less than 10,000 GEL. The sum of participation can be retrieved both by own funds and by bank credit (including preferential agrocredit).
The program envisages funding of both agriculture and non-agricultural business. The share of agriculture business activity does not exceed 20% of the total financing portfolio.
Within the program, any agriculture direction will be financed except for those fields that are already financed by agricultural grant programs.
Applications and accompanying documentation at the Agency will be delivered electronically via www.apma.ge and www.danida.apma.ge.
Under the frame of the program, when a potential beneficiary submits his/her business plan, in case of an approval, the qualified consulting company will be selected to provide a beneficiary with measures that are necessary for successful implementation of the project, including: collecting documents necessary for co-financing agreement, drawing up an action plan for the implementation of the business idea in the relevant time frame, accounting of funds, which will be purposefully spent within the project, sorting of relevant documents, implementation of the accounting program / system and conducting training for business management.
The program "Young Entrepreneur" is implemented within the frame of the " Unified Agro Project", with the support of the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). "Unified Agro Project" is intended for long-term development and its purpose is to create an environment that will promote competitiveness of the agricultural sector, contribute to the stable growth of high quality products and introduction of food safety international standards.