As many as 14,000 business plans had been entered in the Start-Up Nation 2018 application by Wednesday, Minister for the Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship Stefan-Radu Oprea told a press conference.

“Up until now we have over 14,000 business plans in the system and over 20,000 registered users,” Oprea said, Agerpres reads.

The application was opened on December 27, 2018 and will close on February 12 at 20:00 hrs. The grants of a maximum of 200,000 RON per beneficiary can cover up to 100 percent of the eligible expenditures (including VAT for non-paying companies) related to the project.

The minimis scheme is mainly aimed at stimulating the establishment and development of small and medium-sized enterprises and at improving their economic performance, particularly in economically less-developed geographical areas where the density of SMEs is lower than the European average, job creation and the insertion on the labor market of disadvantaged people, unemployed and fresh graduates.

The Start-Up Nation 2018 program addresses companies set up after January 30, 2017 that operate in production, creative industries, services and commerce. In order to join the program, the companies must create at least one full-time job for an indefinite period and keep it filled for at least two years after the completion of the project implementation.