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New fund to invest 40 mln euros in Macedonian companies

Xinhua, November 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

Macedonian Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Pesevski announced Thursday that Macedonian companies will be provided an amount of 40 million euros (43 million U.S. dollars) through the enterprise innovation fund (ENIF), intended for start up businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This initiative was announced in a press conference attended by ENIF Skopje office director Tatjana Zabasu and European Union Delegation Head of Cooperation Martin Klaucke.

"The government has recognized the significance of the regional fund as complementary to its Innovation Promotion Program, towards improvement of the competitiveness of the country's economy and business environment. We believe the ENIF office will make funds more available to Macedonian companies, along with facilitated administrative procedures," stated Pesevski.

According to him, Macedonian companies will be able to get direct funds for investments in technological development and improvement of product and service quality, thus enhancing their competitiveness in national, regional and European terms.

ENIF will cover 25 to 49 percent of the company's ownership, investing in a range of 500,000 euros to 2 million euros per company.

ENIF Skopje office director Tatjana Zabasu in her speech said: "We want to invest in Macedonia because we came across talent and innovation that can develop into competition. We want to listen to ideas and proposals by companies, they can come to us as at any time, but we will also regularly organize meetings."

Enterprise Innovation Fund is a venture capital fund focusing on an investment portfolio consisting of innovative SMEs at various stages of business development, from the seed to expansion phase, in the Western Balkans, with the aim to reinforce the financial structure of innovative businesses, resulting in a strong and bankable balance sheet. Endit