Grants for the Development of Rural Women’s Entrepreneurship in Serbia

Objectives

• The overall goal of the Program is to encourage the development of women’s entrepreneurship and sustainable economic development.
• The specific objectives of the Program are:
  • encouraging the development of women’s entrepreneurship in rural areas and
  • encouraging employment in rural areas.

Funding Information

• The maximum amount of the approved grant cannot be higher than 500,000.00 dinars, nor lower than 300,000.00 dinars. The share of raw material costs in the structure of the total investment for which funds from the Program are requested cannot be higher than 25%.

Uses of the Fund

• Funds from the Program are intended to finance the procurement of:
  • new equipment used for storage, processing and packaging of agricultural products and
  • raw materials whose procurement costs can account for up to 25% of the total investment structure for which Program funds are requested.
• Funds for the implementation of the Program cannot be used for:
  • covering costs related to the procurement of equipment, such as: customs and administrative costs, transport, forwarding , storage and handling costs, etc.;
  • refund of funds for already purchased (advanced, paid or delivered) equipment and raw materials;
  • loan and installments for loan repayment, as well as for reschedulingcredit ;
  • procurement of equipment that the applicant for the grant application produces himself;
  • other costs that are not in accordance with the purpose of the Program.

Beneficiaries

• The funds allocated by the Program are intended for financial support to existing female entrepreneurs, cooperatives, as well as micro-enterprises, which are registered with the Business Registers Agency (hereinafter: BRA ), and whose founder, legal representative, other representative and manager are women. In a business company with more than one founder, the minimum share that must be owned by one or more women is 50%. In a business company with more than one legal representative and manager, all of them must be women.
• The founder of a business entity can only be a natural person. Business entities whose founders are natural persons who are foreign citizens residing in the Republic of Serbia also have the right to apply for the public call, provided that all other conditions of the Program are met.

Conditions

• The right to use grants is granted to economic entities. Beneficiaries of Funds that meet the following conditions:
  • that they have submitted a completed Application for Grants with the necessary documentation;
  • that they are registered in the APR in accordance with the law governing the registration of business entities, no later than December 31, 2024;
  • that they have provided proof of performing the activity for which the equipment is being purchased, namely:
    • pictures of the workspace and existing machines;
    • a fixed assets card, as of December 31, 2024, which lists the equipment used to perform the activity being proven and for which images have been submitted. Entrepreneurs who are not legally required to have a fixed assets card may submit an Inventory List as of December 31, 2024;
    • three invoices for delivered own product, from the previous two years, from a customer with whom they are not in a group of related parties;
  • that no bankruptcy or liquidation proceedings have been initiated against them;
  • that they have settled their due public revenue obligations;
  • that they are in majority private ownership;
  • that the economic activity for the implementation of which funds are requested is carried out in a rural area that does not belong to those defined;
  • to carry out an activity that, according to the current classification, falls into SECTOR C – processing industry, AREA 10 – Production of food products;
  • that in the current fiscal year and in the previous two years (i.e. in 2025, 2024 and 2023) they, together with related persons, did not receive state aid and de minimis aid the amount of which, together with the requested grants, would exceed the amount of 23,000,000.00 dinars;
  • that they are not in difficulty according to the following definition:
    • A business entity in difficulty is a business entity that is unable to prevent losses with its own funds, the funds of its owners/shareholders or creditors, or funds from other sources on the market, and which, without state intervention, would endanger its survival in the short or medium term.
  • that based on the available information, it can be concluded that the applicant and all related parties have a good business reputation, and the implementation of the investment does not carry a reputational risk;
  • that equipment and raw materials are purchased only from a credible supplier. The seller of the equipment must be an equipment manufacturer, importer or distributor of the equipment. The seller of the equipment must not be a person related to the beneficiary of the grant within the meaning of the law governing companies and the law governing banks. If the equipment is of domestic origin, it must be purchased directly from the manufacturer. The supplier of the equipment must be an entrepreneur or a company;
  • that the business entity has secured free space and all conditions for installing and putting into operation the equipment being procured;
  • that the business entity has not been issued a permanent or temporary legally binding measure prohibiting the performance of activities in the last two years;
  • that the subject of funding for which the application is being made will not be financed in part or in whole from any other source of public funds.

For more information, visit Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Serbia.