The Government set up a HUF 830 million programme aiming to assist young people to become entrepreneurs in the Central Hungary region. At the opening ceremony of the programme, Minister of State for Employment Sándor Czomba said that over the past years the Government has launched a number of specialized youth employment programmes.
The First Job Guarantee Programme, the student work programme and the housing allowance scheme have all been behind the positive youth employment and jobless trends in place since 2010, which run counter to the prevalent tendencies in most EU member states.
As the Minister of State pointed out the Government has decided to launch this programme because they want to provide the opportunity of setting up an own business for young people also from the Central Hungary region. He stressed that in the other regions of the country the business competence training of 3200 young people have already begun through the help of EU funding.
The Central Hungary programme will be financed by the National Employment Fund, and current calculations estimate the number of applicants to be around 1500.
Those natural persons aged 18-35 years aiming to launch their own businesses are eligible of applying for the grant that have their registered and habitual permanent residence in the Central Hungary region as well as the affinity, skills and a viable business concept required for the enterprise.
It is another requirement that applicants must not have a direct or indirect controlling ownership in any other enterprise or be the sole or majority owners.
The website www.mva.hu/segitunkinditani where potential participants can upload their applications until 30 April 2014 is already available.
After the application deadline expires, the participants will be selected and altogether some 350 young people will be offered theoretical and practical training courses, starting as of June, to develop business skills and knowledge.
By September, would-be entrepreneurs are required to complete a business plan, with which they can apply for a non-refundable grant which constitutes the second pillar of the programme. At least 200 applicants will be granted this option. Provided the business plan is approved, young people may apply for an unrefundable grant of HUF 3 million in case they have an own fund of 10 percent of their project’s total costs.
(Ministry for National Economy)
