750 grants of up to EUR 4,000 each from EU4Business for micro-business resilience and recovery

The new wave of EU4Business grants for micro-business, financed by the European Union and the German Government in the amount of EUR 3 million, was launched on August 8, 2023.

The main goal of the grants is to support the recovery of the activities of micro-entrepreneurs in the territories of Ukraine that were most affected by hostilities and were de-occupied, as well as strengthening the resilience of micro-businesses from all other regions of Ukraine in the conditions of the ongoing war.

“The European Union steps up its support to Ukrainian businesses during wartime, especially to small entrepreneurs who are currently struggling the most. Already at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the EU successfully implemented a similar grant programme to help 300 relocated micro-enterprises affected by the war. With this new wave of micro-grants, we aim to help 750 more companies to cover their urgent liquidity needs, support their return home and recovery of business operations, particularly in the newly liberated territories of Ukraine,” said Remi Duflot, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

Under the new grant wave, micro-entrepreneurs will be able to receive financial support of up to EUR 4,000 in the hryvnia equivalent through three authorized banks: Oschadbank, Privatbank and Bank Lviv to implement measures to recover their business activities. Micro-grant funds can be used to purchase equipment, purchase raw materials, pay salaries, rent, and cover other urgent business expenses.

“We are building a country of entrepreneurs in Ukraine and are actively working towards European integration. Micro, small and medium-sized businesses are the main engine of the economy in the European Union. That is why we at the Ministry of Digital Transformation believe that the developed MSMEs are the key to the country’s stability and development, especially in times of war. Currently, grants are direct and effective support that is in huge demand among Ukrainian entrepreneurs. We thank our partners for their prompt financial assistance to businesses from the de-occupied and affected regions of Ukraine,” said Valeriia Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine for European Integration.

The selection of participants of the programme will be based on the results of competitions for the following categories of enterprises:

• About 250 grants for the regions most affected by the war: Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kyiv (except Kyiv city), Luhansk, Mykolaiiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson. Acceptance of applications – from 08.08.2023 to 21.08.2023.
• About 250 grants for de-occupied territories of regions of Donetsk, Kyiv (except Kyiv city), Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv and Kherson. Acceptance of applications – from 22.08.2023 to 04.09.2023.
• About 250 grants for entrepreneurs from all other regions of Ukraine, except temporarily occupied – applications are accepted from 05.09.2023 to 18.09.2023.

The winners of each category will be determined automatically on a rating basis along the following main criteria: the level of damage caused by the war, the potential for recovery and the quality of measures to recover the microenterprise’s activities.

Who can get a grant?

Micro-enterprises that:

• have up to 9 employees and an annual income of up to EUR 2 million;
• carry out their activities in the types of economic activity defined by the micro-grant programme, starting from 01.02.2021 or earlier;
• have a positive credit history;
• have no debts to the budget of Ukraine;
• have no international technical assistance since 01.02.2022.

How to participate?

1. Fill out an application on the Diia portal. In the application, correctly indicate information about the company’s performance before the war and during the hostilities.
2. Identify clear areas of use of the micro-grant funds that cannot be changed during their further funding.

No calculations or business plans are required. The rating system of the Business Development Fund will automatically calculate the rating and determine the winners of the competitions.

More information is provided on the grant competition page and in the video.

“The planned series of grants from EU4Business will help achieve the microenterprise development goals set by the government’s eRobota programme, which was implemented under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine. Grants for small businesses are an effective tool for the development of Ukraine’s regions, especially when it comes to the restoration of the de-occupied territories. Every successful story of an entrepreneur encourages others to return home and develop their region,” commented Oleksii Sobolev, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine.

“The resumption of business activity and its desire to succeed despite the war are important factors in our financial stability and further recovery. The EU4Business grants for microbusinesses are yet another proof of the reliable support of Ukraine and Ukrainians by our international partners, the European Union and the German Government. The Ministry of Finance of Ukraine continues to actively attract, including through the Entrepreneurship Development Fund, new programmes and projects for financial support for small businesses” said Yuriy Draganchuk, Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine for European Integration.

“Today, together with our partners, we are launching a new micro-grant scheme with innovative implementation procedures. The selection of beneficiaries from among the micro-businesses that apply will be automatic, speeding up the process of providing financial support and making it fully transparent,” said Hagen Ettner, Director of EU4Business programme, GIZ.

Background information:

The EU4Business microgrants will contribute to the goals of the Government’s initiative #eRobota implemented under the auspices of the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine.

The grant schemes are provided within the international cooperation programme “EU4Business: SME Recovery, Competitiveness and Internationalisation” which is funded by the European Union and the German Government and implemented by the German federal company Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The grant schemes are facilitated by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine. The implementing partner of the current scheme is the Business Development Fund. The applications are only accepted via a single portal of public services Diia. The information partners are the Entrepreneurship and Export Promotion Office, the Ukrainian national project for entrepreneurship and export development Diia.Business. The banks authorised to administer the current microgrants scheme are Oschadbank, Bank Lviv and PrivatBank.