By : Bakinam Khaled

In 2021, the EU disbursed €140 million to support a total of nearly 78,000 SMEs, a third of which are owned by women. This resulted in over 66,000 new jobs and €2 billion in extra income generated by EU-supported SMEs in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

These are the results presented by the European Commission in its annual report on the EU4Business initiative, covering all EU support for SMEs in the six Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. 

The 2022 report provides detailed information of EU assistance across all three priority areas of the programme: access to finance, business development services and the business enabling environment. 

Around 18,000 SMEs received financial support in the form of loans, totalling over €259 million, through national partner financial institutions. The average loan size was about €14,000. 

About €52 million was allocated to help EaP SMEs develop their professional skills in 2021, which is 38% of the total sum disbursed. Around 55,000 consultancy services were provided, and 600 business support organisations were trained.

In addition, the EU disbursed about €25 million to improve the business environment. With this support, 227 government institutions, including policymakers, regulators, and enforcement agencies, were able to improve their capacity, and almost 600 laws, regulations, and procedures were reformed.

EU4Business is an umbrella initiative that includes all EU support to small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in the Eastern Partnership countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. EU4Business supports SME growth by improving access to finance and business development services, and by promoting better business regulation.