Government gives graduates start up loans
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
19.03.2014 11:52
Poland's Ministry of Labour has confirmed that it has awarded its first twenty loans in a new pilot programme for graduates and students setting up businesses.
Photo: Glowimages
Loans of up to 60,000 zloty (14,270 euro) are available for setting up a business, and up to 20,000 zloty (4760 euro) towards the payment of an employee.
The first contract was signed just before Christmas, and since then, some 1.1 million zloty (261,663 euro) has been cleared in the 'Support at the Start' (Wsparcie w Starcie) programme.
Entrepreneurs are obliged to pay back the loans over a seven-year period, at an interest rate of 0.69 percent per year.
However, there is an an option to suspend the repayments for a maximum period of twelve months.
The first venture to be green-lit concerned a graduate of the Medical University of Bialystok. The applicant received 60,000 zloty towards the opening of a dental practice in Ceglow, 55 km east of Warsaw.
“The programme has enjoyed as great deal of interest from graduates and students who want to run their own business,” Minister of Labour Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
Another 108 applications are due to be reviewed, and among the twenty successful projects green-lit thus far are an online health food shop and a live streaming company. (nh)