Sofia Municipality and DSK Bank are financing innovative start-ups
The Mayor of Sofia Municipality Yordanka Fandakova and DSK Bank Chairwoman of the Management Board and CEO Violina Marinova have launched a new guarantee scheme to support entrepreneurship in Sofia. “Financing Innovative Start-ups Program ” – FISP Program will be implemented by the Municipal Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (MGFSME) at Sofia Municipality, the first partner bank being DSK Bank.
At the event of signing the Framework Agreement between MGFSME and DSK Bank were also present Doncho Barbalov – Deputy Mayor of Sofia Municipality, Irina Yordanova – Chairwoman of the Management Board of MGFSME, Diana Miteva – Member of the Management Board and Executive Director of DSK Bank, Nikolay Tsenkov – Manager of MGFSME and Anton Koichev – Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of MGFSME.
FISP Program is aimed at facilitating the access of start-up innovative enterprises to financial resources for the realization and development of their business projects. In implementation of the Program, the Municipal Guarantee Fund will issue guarantees for loans granted to finance innovative entrepreneurial ideas. The specialized guarantee scheme of MGFSME focuses on the main thematic priorities of the Innovative Strategy for Smart Specialization of Sofia, including Informatics and ICT, as well as new technologies in the creative and recreational industries.
According to the terms of the guarantee scheme, the Fund will partially share the credit risk with the lending bank, ensuring up to 50% of the principal of the loan and up to a maximum of BGN 30,000, regardless of the amount of the loan granted. The maximum guarantee portfolio or the amount under which the MGFSME will issue guarantees under the Program is BGN 600,000 until the end of 2018. With increased interest in this financial instrument and in case the defined limit of the guarantee portfolio is insufficient; it can be increased to meet the financing needs of innovative projects in the capital.
