"Smart Start USA" project officially launched

"Smart Start USA" project has been launched on Tuesday by former Romanian Minister for Business, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, Ilan Laufer, in collaboration with Romanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCIR), financial-banking institutions, and Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest. Program aims to support the financing and the presence of Romanian SMEs in the US market and beyond.

Project is set to give entrepreneurs the opportunities offered by the US market, to facilitate their access to this market, but also to raise funds for internationalization of their business.

Ilan Laufer: Program’s main target is to create Romania’s first ecosystem dedicated to the increase of the export and to internationalization of companies with Romanian capital, with priority access to the US market. We aim to offer not just financial support, we want to offer an ecosystem that can come up with more solutions ".

Practically, by enrolling on the program portal, if they meet a number of conditions related to the lack of state debt, business, profitability, turnover and type of spending, companies can access credits up to $ 200,000 and benefit from entrepreneurial guidance, education and training to develop export activity and expand on international markets.

Budget of the program is 500 million dollars. Beneficiary's own contribution is of at least 15% and the implementation time of maximum seven years.

Concrete benefits include: free participation in "Smart Start USA" events in Romania and abroad, free electronic signatures for all program applicants, as well as facilitating access to the network of Romanian economic attachés abroad, to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (CCIR).

US Ambassador to Bucharest, Hans Klemm, appreciated the interest that has been shown lately by companies in Romania to expand business to the American continent. "These are, in my opinion, positive signals primarily related to the health of the Romanian economy. If there had been no strong economic growth in recent years, there wouldn’t have been the resources and wealth needed for these potential Romanian investors interested in expanding abroad".

CCIR President Mihai Daraban said that at the moment, Romania is too dependent on trade relations with the EU, with almost 3/4 of all foreign trade. "America is worth $ 19.390 billion, an increase of almost two trillion in the last one year and a half. So it is a market that should tempt us more than the EU has so far, where we must admit that we have become a subcontractor economy".

Mihai Daraban says that steps are being taken to formulate a normative act that would allow the Chamber of Commerce to create a complementary structure of Romania's current commercial attachés abroad, by collecting a sum of EUR 20 from each company submitting a balance sheet.

Source:RRA.Translated by Miruna Matei