EIF can help you only indirectly. EIF does not provide direct funding or grants to SMEs or individuals. EIF indirectly supports SMEs by working with a wide range of financial intermediaries (banks, guarantee, microfinance institutions, private equity and venture capital funds, etc) that provide a wide range of financial products to SMEs, such as:
The EU supports individuals facing uncertainty in the job market who wish to set up their own micro-enterprise or opt for self-employment through the European Progress Microfinance Facility. If you are a (future) entrepreneur or a micro-enterprise with up to 10 employees and are looking for a micro-loan below € 25.000 you can get further information from a microfinance provider in your country participating in the Facility and acting as EIF intermediary. The EIF does not provide direct financing to entrepreneurs. The financial intermediary will inform you about specific application requirements and procedures, varying accordingly to each local market. You can benefit from more than one micro-credit under the initiative.
The European Union (EU) supports financing for SMEs to help their business start up or develop through the EU Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP Programme 2007-2013). You will find a list of EIF financial intermediaries providing loans and venture capital to SMEs on the multilingual website: http://www.accesstofinance.eu
If you wish to apply for an equity investment you need to contact the private equity and venture capital funds that have signed an agreement with the EIF to submit your investment proposal and business plan. These funds make investment decisions based on normal commercial criteria. Find the fund managers in your country by clicking on "Where to access finance".
If you wish to apply for guaranteed financing you should contact one of the EIF financial intermediaries in your country that signed up an agreement with the EIF under the CIP Programme. Please refer to http://www.accesstofinance.eu for more information.
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