Press releases

The work of small and medium-sized enterprises in Ștefan Vodă, the challenges of the pandemic and the support tools that can be accessed for business development were the main topics on the agenda of the visit of the Minister of Economy and Infrastructure, Sergiu Railean, to the Business Incubator in Ștefan-Vodă.

Minister Railean met with the Director of ODIMM, Yulia Costin, the administration and residents of the Business Incubator, informed about the work of the institution, the difficulties it faces, encouraging entrepreneurs not to give up on difficulties and to trust that all the challenges of the pandemic would be overcome.

“Our time is a stress test for all the world’s economies. The future of business and the economy depends on the flexibility and ability to adapt our strategies to new conditions. To help you meet the current challenges, not stop halfway and become competitive, the government comes up with a number of support instruments on the ODIMM platform – Support Programme for the Digitalisation of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, the Eco SME Programme, the Programme for Supporting Businesses with High Potential for Growth and Internationalisation, etc. ", said Sergiu Railean.

Referring to the results of the work of the Business Incubator, the administrator of the institution, Adelina Barbăneagră, mentioned that in the first half of 2020 five companies had become residents of the incubator and in September two other companies were to be granted residence status. The administrator also informed Minister Railean that during the pandemic the Incubator had benefited from a partial subsidy granted by APL and the incubator’s residents were to receive a subsidy for April under the State Programme for Supporting the Business Incubators Network.

“While we are going through a challenging period as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are succeeding, in the first half of 2020, in starting a business at home by our young people. Under the ODIMM Youth Start Programme, nine young people received grants to develop and implement their business ideas. Another 20 young people were registered in the current second round of the programme, including 4 residents of the business incubator ", added Adelina Barbăneagră.

To support local producers during the pandemic crisis, Ștefan Vodă Business Incubator in partnership with the Young Entrepreneurs Development Association created an online platform on a social network – ‘Produce de Ștefan Vodă’. Its purpose is to promote a product of local origin and to ensure a closer connection between the producer or service provider and the local consumer.

Iulia Costin said that supporting and developing SMEs is a priority for ODSMEs: “With Business Incubators we manage to give not only entrepreneurs the chance to start up or expand their activities, but we also ensure economic growth in the regions. We are happy that we can contribute to a prosperous business environment in the south of the country”.

We would point out that 2012 resident companies benefited from the Ștefan-Vodă Business Incubator between 2020 and 62, of which 17 are current residents and 45 have graduated. A total of 35 jobs have been created, of which 19 are for women and 12 are for young people.