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Raiffeisen Bank has completed the third edition of the Factory by Raiffeisen Bank programme whereby it finances businesses at the beginning of the road, regardless of the field of activity, and this year the bank is providing 112 financing plans to support startup companies, with a maximum budget of 50,000 euros, equivalent in lei, for each project, according to a press release from the bank.
"Our business idea factory has had an intense activity over the last two months. Together with colleagues in the SME, risk, PR, digital area, but also entrepreneurs from RBL (Raiffeisen Banca pentru Locuinte) we have had online discussions with over 200 entrepreneurs. We expected this health crisis to cut off the momentum of entrepreneurs with business ideas, but this has not been the case. We have convinced ourselves that Romania has many confident and courageous entrepreneurs, ready to carry out their plans," Vladimir Kalinov, retail Vice President at Raiffeisen Bank, was quoted as saying in the bank's press release sent to AGERPRES on Monday.
This year, as many as 368 projects were enlisted, of which 220 passed the interview stage. Of these, 27 are business ideas that take an active role in the fight against the effects of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
"We have extended the period of enrollment in the programme so that we can also finance businesses that produce goods or services that help us in the current context and we have assumed that we must analyze them and provide them with funding in a few working days. From this category we have financed companies that produce protective equipment, masks or disinfectants, but also educational projects," added Vladimir Kalinov.
The main industries in which the businesses credited in the Factory 2020 edition operate are: services, production, food, IT, education and health, and 70 pct of the funded entrepreneurs are under 40 years old.
Raiffeisen Bank had more than 2.1 million private customers as of 31 March 2020, approximately 93,000 SMEs and 5,700 large and medium-sized companies. There are also approximately 4,800 employees in the bank, in more than 350 units across the country. Raiffeisen Bank has extensive ATM networks (770), POSs (22,300) and multifunctional machinery (334) in Romania.
