Press releases

The results of the implementation of three SME support programmes (PARE 1 + 1, Women in Business and the SME Digitalisation Support Instrument) by the Organisation for Entrepreneurship Development (ODA) with the financial support of the European Union were presented today in an event in Chisinau.

The EU provided ODA support through the Programme “Support for SMEs in rural areas” between 2018 and 2021 to promote the development of entrepreneurship in rural areas of Moldova. With financial support of EUR 4.25 million, ODA implemented three SME support programmes, PARE 1 + 1, Women in Business and the SME Digitalisation Support Instrument. A total of 564 businesses benefited from direct grants, vouchers, training and free advice to develop business plans, resulting in the creation of 1582 jobs. EU funding has attracted over EUR 8 million in total investment in the national economy.

The above results were presented in detail to various stakeholders in a public event organised by ODA today in Chisinau, with the support of the EU technical assistance project “Rural SMEs Support Policy Window”.

In his opening speech, Minister of Economy Sergiu Gaibu thanked the European partners for all the support provided and presented the projects the Ministry is working on to simplify the work of entrepreneurs, especially in the regions.

“The Ministry of Economy has policies in place to prepare the toolkit to support entrepreneurship in the region. We are developing a number of programmes to support and develop local food processing. Here, I had a particular support from the EU-supported programme to develop a new component, the development of procedures for three sub-sectors: simplification of processing mechanisms for agricultural products, simplification of procedures for the HORECA field at regional and local level, and simplified requirements for the emergence of kindergartens closer to home to make it easier for mothers to find work, "said Minister Gaibu.

The interim Director ODA, Dumitru Pîntea, thanked the European Union for supporting the business environment in rural areas through the Direct Support Scheme and expressed interest in continuing to work with the EU on future projects. The interim Director ODA also presented new support programmes for entrepreneurs and updated conditions this year.

“ODA is being reformed and aims to strengthen its institutional capacity. New programmes have been launched this year and existing ones have been updated and improved to offer as many development opportunities as possible to the domestic business environment. With the new programmes we will support innovations, new technologies and the digital transformation of business. At the same time, the application processes for entrepreneurial support programmes are simplified by removing the obligation to submit more supporting documents. We will continue to identify and support innovative projects of entrepreneurial people that start from idea to export.”

The beneficiaries of the programmes were satisfied with the progress of the companies as a result of the projects implemented. Ion Arpintin, beneficiary PARE 1 + 1, says that he was helped to go through the stages from starting an agricultural business to development and expansion. Thanks to ODA support, it has avoided many mistakes and now has plans to grow. “As a result of the investment, we managed to expand the area of land under management. We plan to establish another modern walnut orchard on 5 consolidated hectares. We will plant another variety that is more productive and comes to fruition earlier”.

Victoria Bakery has received support under the Women in Business Programme. “With the money we received from the European Union, we got an Italian blender, who allowed us to expand production and employ more people. We also used the grant to develop a website, a Facebook page and an Instagram page, which helps us to promote and sell our production,” says Vera Julidova, one of the two founders of Victoria Bakery in Criuleni.

Through the SME Digitalisation Programme run by ODA and financially supported by the European Union, the Orhei uniforms sewing company, Textile Contact, bought its own plotter, which enabled all items produced by the company to be digitised. “We are now daring to produce more complicated models as well, and we coexisted no models until we develop the digital pattern. In this way, we have reduced costs by around 7 % and of course our sales have increased. Now I can say that we are almost ready to work on export as well,” says Pelagia Tipu.