ArmInfo. The Small and medium Business national Development Fund and United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) business projects of Industrial Work for Youth program participants in Gyumri
According to the information shared with Arminfo at the press office of the NDC SME , based on the results of the contest held I Gyumri 20 of 40 participants have been elected to go for the next stage of the program - "Successful Start", for startupers in MSE sector ( free trainings conduction), 13 of them have also presented projects in the field of chicken growing, cheese processing, furniture and toilet paper, operated units and machinery spare parts renovation, as well as of catering objects.
The program is being implemented by NDC and UNIDO within the financial support of Austrian Government and is aimed at startups development in the regions of Armenia (from 18 to 35 years old), within the purpose of unemployment threat reduction and complex industrial development. The participants of the program will be provide with financial and non-financial support, which assumes conduction of free courses and business development programs. The most feasible projects will be supported with loan assets. Within 1 year, the successful startup company will get also a consulting support. The main criterion of young specialists election will be the availability of clearly formulated and feasible business idea, which should be innovative, should possess growth potential and new jobs creation resource. To mention, the
National Center for Small and Medium Enterprises Development was created by Armenian Government in 2002. The Center activities are aimed at the establishment of relations between state entities and SME subjects, increase of efficiency and competitiveness of SME activities, providing accessibility of services on business and financial tools development, support in implementation of innovative and research projects, bringing those to the international platform, as well as establishment and support of new SME objects.
According to different estimates, the SME share in Armenian GDP forms about 30%, at that the tax incomes of the sector forming about 8-10%. For comparison, in European countries the SME share in GDP forms about 60-70%.