Demján Sándor Capital Programme amended, here is the list of changes

In just a few months, the government initiative has generated more interest than expected among Hungarian micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, they added. The range of businesses that have received capital funding covers a wide range of activities, including IT consultants, steel structure manufacturers, catering and healthcare providers.

Richárd Szabados, State Secretary for the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and Technology, stressed that one of the biggest advantages of the programme is that it offers capital at a return of 50-70% lower than the usual return on market capital investments, with an annual expected return of only 5%.

This also helps businesses to become more creditworthy, and businesses strengthened with fresh capital can more easily apply for other elements of the Demján Sándor Programme, such as the interest-free SME Technology Plus loan, or the Széchenyi Card or EXIM Export Promotion Loans, which are available at significantly lower interest rates than market rates.

In order to make the scheme more widely available to businesses, several changes have been made to the call for proposals today.

Among the changes is

• the possibility of follow-on investments, meaning that companies that have already successfully completed a project can apply again.
• Furthermore, acquisitions and buy-outs of owners and managers have been added to the eligible activities.
• A maintenance obligation has been added to the product specification,
• and the range of eligible costs has been further extended to include sales and marketing expenses, personnel costs, training, inventory financing, consultancy and expert fees.

"It is a great professional recognition for the new leadership of the Chamber, which has been in office since last autumn, that the Government has entrusted the implementation of the most unique programme point of the Demján Programme to the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MKIK). But even more important is the confirmation that the interest shown by businesses has exceeded all expectations - so far we have more than 1,320 registrations. The companies seem not to mind at all that the Chamber - although with only a 1% stake - is helping them to realise their plans as a development partner", emphasised Ádám Balog, Vice President of MKIK and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the MKIK Capital Fund Management.

Cover photo (for illustration purposes only): Getty Images