EU Funding

It appears that news stories featuring small businesses & the help available from Europe are like the 46A...none for ages and then 2 come along at once.



Not long after I had the pleasure of posting this about the European Commission, I find something else to be cheerful about.



I have just started following Eoin Ryan on Twitter (I posted about that last week too) and found this interesting tit bit - the European Investment Fund's new programme, called Jeremie.



Think not that I am nailing political support to any flagpoles - this I will never do. I'm too flaky. I am, however, delighted that anyone at all is starting the odd initiative that actually might bring some good to the small and micro enterprise sector. Hoo-bleedin-rah I say. It's not like we don't need it!



So - Jeremie - stands for the Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises. No wonder they abbreviated it. I won't ramble about which EU Fund it's coming from (Structural) but the basic gist is that rather than getting a once-off grant, money will be invested, and then can be reinvested in the same business at a later date. The money is not then linked to a specific project, just the financial health of an enterprise.



This makes a lot of sense, since at the moment you have to be incurring a specific cost in your near future when you apply to EI or a CEB. They always ask "well, what do you need the money for?" when truthfully you just need to be keeping your cashflow healthy and could do with a boost.



Now just to clarify - none of the details have been churned out yet. I'm trying very hard to gag the cynic in me that thinks this in reality this will take so long to put in place that the recession will be over by then, or that the hoops and loops people will have to jump through to get the finance in the first place will still be a pain in the -



But! I am tentatively thrilled that something is happening on the funding front. Hopefully it will come to something - at the moment they are only talking about "a range of financial instruments" so when I hear more I will elaborate!



Oh goodie for more good news... On a Monday too! The shock.



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Footnote of Great Import:

JEREMIE funds are not issued directly to small businesses (SMEs).SMEs should therefore not apply to EIF or the EC for financial support.In due course, SMEs interested in obtaining finance will be able to identify and contact financial intermediaries in their countries based on information provided in this website, which will be provided as and when the JEREMIE initiative becomes active in Member States and Regions.