The application for online registration in the Woman Entrepreneur 2024 program has opened

On Tuesday, July 30, at 10:00 AM, the application for online registration in the Woman Entrepreneur 2024 program opened, through which eligible Romanian companies can receive grants of up to 200,000 lei each from the state budget.

The registration period remains open for 45 working days, starting at 10:00 AM on the first day and until 8:00 PM on the last day. The deadline may be extended depending on the availability of funds. Applications will be submitted exclusively online, through the dedicated IT platform, available HERE.

The budget allocated to the “Woman Entrepreneur” program for the current year is 200,000,000 lei, with an estimated 1,000 beneficiaries.

According to the program, financing is provided for funding requests completed through the registration form, in descending order of the scores obtained, under the following conditions:

Non-refundable Financial Allocation (AFN) – maximum 200,000 lei/beneficiary, an amount which can represent a maximum of 90% of the value of the eligible expenses related to the project.

Beneficiary companies must also contribute at least 10% of the eligible value of the project, under penalty of not receiving the non-refundable financial aid.

According to the procedure, eligible expenses from the grant include financial expenses related to credits/guarantees obtained for credits contracted by beneficiaries for the realization of the accepted projects under the Program, for applicants who use credit to implement the project.

The main objective of the de minimis aid scheme is to stimulate and support the establishment and development of SMEs founded and led by women, to improve their economic performance, to achieve smart, sustainable, and inclusive economic growth based on digitalization, sustainable development, innovation, and entrepreneurial training, in the context of issues related to balancing family and professional obligations and existing local prejudices.

Woman Entrepreneur 2024: Eligibility Conditions

Beneficiary companies must meet a series of cumulative conditions, including:

• They are registered in accordance with Law no. 31/1990 on companies, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions, or based on Law no. 1/2005 on the organization and functioning of cooperatives, republished, with subsequent amendments, or based on the Emergency Ordinance of the Romanian Government no. 6/2011 for stimulating the establishment and development of micro-enterprises by start-up entrepreneurs, approved with amendments by Law no. 301/2011, with subsequent amendments and completions;
• They are SMEs, according to the provisions of art. 2 and art. 4 para. (1) lit. a), b) or c) of Law no. 346/2004 on stimulating the establishment and development of small and medium enterprises, with subsequent amendments and completions;
• They are considered autonomous, linked, or partner enterprises;
• They have fully private share capital;
• Persons who are associates/shareholders in multiple companies can only apply within this Program with a single company;
• They were established until 31.12.2021, inclusive, and are registered with the National Trade Register Office, have their registered office/branch and carry out their activity on Romanian territory;
• The CAEN code Rev. 2 for which they request funding is eligible within the Program and authorized at the implementation location, by the time the payment agreement is issued by AIMMT, according to art. 15 of Law no. 359/2004 on simplifying formalities for registering with the Trade Register of individuals, family associations, and legal entities, their fiscal registration, as well as authorizing the functioning of legal entities, with subsequent amendments and completions. The funding request is made on a single CAEN code;
• At least 50% of the social shares/stocks of the applicant company are owned by women. For companies established under Law no. 1/2005 on the organization and functioning of cooperatives, the condition is considered met if the majority of cooperative members in the Board of Directors are women;
• They have no debts to the consolidated general budget, both for the registered office and for all branches, at the time of administrative and eligibility verification. Applicants with rescheduled debts are not eligible to access the Program;
• They have not exceeded the de minimis threshold of 300,000.00 Euros over the last 3 years for a single enterprise. The thresholds apply regardless of the form of the de minimis aid or the objective pursued and whether the aid is granted from state budget funds or European funds. The 3-year period to be considered should be evaluated continuously. For each new de minimis aid granted, the total value of de minimis aid granted over the last 3 years must be considered. If granting new de minimis aid would exceed the maximum threshold mentioned, the new aid will not benefit from the provisions of Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2023/2831 of 15 December 2023;
• They are not in a state of dissolution, judicial reorganization, liquidation, forced execution, operational closure, insolvency, bankruptcy, or temporary suspension of activity;
• They have not been the subject of a decision issued by the European Commission / AIMMT / another state aid provider / Competition Council, to recover state aid/de minimis aid or, if they have been subject to such a decision, it has already been executed and the debt fully recovered, with applicable penalties;
• They create at least two full-time jobs, for an indefinite period after the funding agreement comes into force and maintain the jobs occupied for at least 12 months from the moment the payment agreement is issued by AIMMT.

Excluded from funding are companies engaged in activities:

• Processing and marketing of fishery and aquaculture products, where the amount of aid is determined based on the price or quantity of products purchased or placed on the market;
• Related to primary production of agricultural products;
• Related to primary production of fishery and aquaculture products;
• Processing and marketing of agricultural products, in the following cases:
  • When the value of the aid is determined based on the price or quantity of such products purchased from primary producers or placed on the market by the enterprises concerned;
  • When the aid is conditional on being partially or entirely transferred to primary producers;
• Production or marketing of armaments, ammunition, explosives, tobacco, alcohol, substances under national control, plants, substances, and preparations that are narcotic and psychotropic;
• Production or marketing of energy products defined according to Law no. 227/2015 on the Fiscal Code, with subsequent amendments and completions, leasing activities;
• Related to export to third countries or other member states, namely aid directly linked to the quantities exported, aid intended for establishing and operating a distribution network, or other current expenses linked to export activity;
• Aid conditioned by the preferential use of national over imported goods and services.

Eligible expenses list – Woman Entrepreneur 2024

Within the Woman Entrepreneur 2024 financing program, a wide range of eligible expenses can be made, including:

• Technological equipment, excluding mechanical, electrical, electronic gambling games, billiard tables, jukeboxes. Eligible technological equipment also includes tangible assets in the category of fixed assets for playgrounds, sports halls, fitness halls, drones, x-body halls, and gyms, equipment, and systems specific to achieving energy savings, systems that use renewable energy sources to improve the efficiency of the activities for which funding was requested, including IT equipment, PC, central unit, server, monitor, printer/copier/multifunctional, portable systems, smart phones, tablets;
• Purchase of workspaces, production spaces, and spaces for services and trade. The value of the asset to be purchased under the Program will be based on an evaluation by an ANEVAR expert, except for mobile work/production/service/trade spaces;
• Means of transport, cars, buses, minibuses, bicycles, mopeds, motorcycles, go-karts, UTVs, ATVs, trailers with or without a motor, trailers and semi-trailers, isothermal and refrigerated platforms, floating docks, maritime passenger boats, recreational boats, aircraft, utility vehicles, and special purpose vehicles, except all G-symbol vehicles, according to MLPTL Order 211/2003 with subsequent amendments and completions. For rent-a-car activities, driving schools, pilot training, and taxi transport, there is no maximum value limit per car and no limit on the number of cars purchased;
• Purchase of furniture, office equipment, and systems for the protection of human and material values, according to group no. 3 from HG 2139/2004;
• Salaries, utilities (electricity, water, gas, sanitation, phone, and internet subscription), accounting services, and rent expenses for workspaces, production spaces, or service and trade spaces, representing a lump sum of up to 60,000 lei from the value of eligible expenses approved after verifying the funding request, respectively from the amount of approved expenses for reimbursement. Reimbursement is made based on the beneficiary’s request accompanied by documents proving the creation of at least 2 jobs;
• Presentation website, online store, domain registration expenses without hosting, software necessary for the activity, electronic signature, licenses necessary for the activity. The expense with the electronic signature is eligible even before signing the financing agreement;
• Courses for developing entrepreneurial skills conducted in Romania or another EU member state – for the associate/shareholder/administrator of the company, with an eligible value of up to 5,000 lei/person;
• Consultancy for preparing the documentation to obtain financing under this Program and for project implementation, with an eligible value of up to 10,000 lei. This activity can be performed before signing the financing agreement. Eligible consultancy service providers under the Program can only be consultancy organizations legally entitled to carry out this type of activity, respectively have consultancy activity in their statute or are enterprises authorized to carry out one of the activities included in CAEN-Rev2, division 70. Companies providing consultancy services under the Program cannot also supply other eligible expenses under the project. If it is found that the consultancy service provider