Details about the ‘Change to Grow’ and ‘ReStart’ schemes announced
Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Sustainable Development Miriam Dalli launched a number of initiatives to help kickstart economic activity for Maltese and Gozitans businesses in a post-Covid scenario.
“To assist businesses post-Covid-19, we are encouraging enterprises to apply for these schemes to help them shift towards more digital and sustainable operations”, stated Minister Miriam Dalli during a press conference.
Managed by Malta Enterprise, these schemes are part of the package announced a few months ago whereby around €20 million were dedicated to support the regeneration of businesses.
Through the ReStart scheme, eligible businesses will benefit from €5,000 where they will be provided with professional consultancy services to start operating their businesses once again. Malta Enterprise will be extending this assistance for €10,000 so that businesses can implement the recommendations given by the advisory service.
“This will incorporate costs related to operations such as marketing, rent and other services related to recruitment of new employees”, explained the minister.
The Change to Grow scheme will see Malta Enterprise financing consultancy services for business to renew their business models to increase competitiveness. This incentive, originally at a maximum of €5,000 per business, has been doubled to €10,000, to also assist in implementing the recommendations received.
“We are looking ahead so that new businesses will be encouraged to invest in themselves while being innovative, sustainable and resilient”, the minister continued to emphasise.
From his end, Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia said that, “Malta Enterprise is working on two fronts – firstly to speed up the payment process of schemes already announced, such as the OneTime Grant and the rent scheme. In parallel, Malta Enterprise has launched these incentives focusing on the business side of things, to support enterprises with finding the right professional assistance to help with their regeneration”.
An established list of advisors has been compiled by the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, and is available on its website. However, eligible applicants are not restricted to choose from this list. Business First will also be giving guidance on these schemes and the application process.
Meanwhile, Malta Enterprise also announced the funding from the OneTime Grant will be disbursed in the coming days and encouraged businesses who received an email with an invitation to submit their application.
For more information, one can visit the website regeneration.maltaenterprise.com, send an email on regeneration@maltaenterprise.com, or call on 144.
Source: Office of the Prime Minister