"NISIDA" program
About this good practice
Enterprises of the South Aegean Region are facing liquidity shortages and are suffering significant economic losses due to the measures implemented to reduce the outbreak of COVID19. Even healthy enterprises, well-prepared against business risks, faced difficulties which put at risk their viability.
The primary objective of the "NISIDA" program, through which funding was approved for at least 10 transport SMEs related to terrestrial and maritime transport, was to tackle COVID 19 losses and related instability and risks. Thus, this program offered funding in the form of a non-repayable grant.
The program is under priority axis 01 “Support competitiveness and innovation”, thematic objective 03 “Improving the competitiveness”, investment priority 3a “Promoting entrepreneurship, in particular by facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas and strengthening the creation of new businesses" of the South Aegean ROP.
The grant per beneficiary was set between 2000€ and 10000€ and was designated to cover a Working Capital equal to 50% of the enterprise’s expenses in 2019. The provided funding was calculated based on the sum of the following:
-purchase of consumer goods per year
-purchases of Raw Materials and Consumables
-total Expenditures for Provision of Services
-total Rents paid by the company
-all Benefits to employees (except those employed in Agricultural-Biological activities)
-various Operating Expenses.
The paid-up working capital can be spent during 2022.
Resources needed
The total budget of public funding reached 39.500.000 € and was funded by the European Regional Development Fund, under the South Aegean Regional Operational Program.
Evidence of success
The amount allocated to the South Aegean is the highest in relation to the other 12 Greek Regions.
In total, 3.705 small and micro-enterprises were funded from 4 different economy sectors:
-379 of the secondary sector-manufacturing/processing-wholesale, out of 772 applications
-1.398 of the tertiary sector-tourism-services, out of 6410 applications
-1.381 of the tertiary sector-retail, out of 1835 applications
-547 of the tertiary sector-hotels, restaurants, catering out of 1142 applications
Potential for learning or transfer
The simplicity of the eligibility criteria used for the granting of this funding, makes it highly and easily transferable to other regions and countries. The fact that it applies to small and micro-enterprises is ideal for its implementation in insular or sparsely populated regions/areas that lack major companies and industries.
The best proof of this practice’s transferability is that similar measures have already been implemented at national, regional and local level by most EU countries hit by COVID 19.
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.