According to Portugal SME Fact Sheet 2021Portugal performs above the EU average when it comes to entrepreneurship, having made significant progress since 2008.
However, although entrepreneurship is a fundamental component of a globalised and competitive market economy, as a driver of employment and economic growth, being an entrepreneur is not easy, starting with the need for funding.
Main support for entrepreneurship and business creation
If you want to set up your own business or bring an innovative idea to life, but are struggling with funding problems, take note of the list of the main support programmes for entrepreneurship and business creation in Portugal.
PAECE - IEFP Support Programme for Entrepreneurship and the Creation of Own Employment
This support programme for entrepreneurship and creating your own job The Institute for Employment and Vocational Training (IEFP) provides the following support measures:
a) Support for business creation
This is support for the creation of small, profit-making companies, regardless of their legal form, including cooperatives, which create jobs and contribute to boosting local economies.
In financial terms, this support for entrepreneurship in Portugal offers two credit lines (MICROINVEST and INVEST+) that provide between 20,000 and 100,000 euros (95% of the investment and 50,000 euros per full-time job created) with payment terms of 7 years, with a 2-year grace period on the capital and a 1-year full interest subsidy.
To be eligible for this support, entrepreneurs must be registered with the IEFP Job Centres and meet one of the following requirements:
- Unemployed people registered for 9 months or less, involuntarily unemployed or registered for more than 9 months, regardless of the reason for registration;
- Young people looking for their first job between the ages of 18 and 35 inclusive, with a minimum of completed secondary education or level 3 qualification or attending a qualification process leading to that level of education or qualification, and who have not had an open-ended employment contract;
- Never worked as an employee or self-employed person;
- Self-employed worker whose average monthly income in the last year of activity is less than the guaranteed minimum monthly wage.
b) National Microcredit Plan
Aimed at all those unemployed entrepreneurs who have special difficulties in accessing the labour market and are at risk of social exclusion, the National Microcredit Plan guarantees these people access to credit with a guarantee and an interest rate subsidy under the terms of MICROINVEST.
In concrete terms, this means full coverage for investments of up to 20,000 euros with payment terms of 7 years, with a 2-year grace period on the capital and a 1-year full interest subsidy. The interest rate is indexed to the 30-day Euribor plus 0.25%, with a minimum rate of 1.5% and a maximum of 3.5%.
c) Support for the creation of own jobs by recipients of unemployment benefits
This support is aimed at recipients of unemployment benefits who present a project that will at least lead to the creation of full-time employment.
This measure will allow entrepreneurs to benefit from the early payment of the total amount of unemployment benefits, alone or in combination with subsidised and guaranteed credit (MICROINVEST or INVEST+).
Personal Loans and UNIBANCO Lines of Credit
If you don't fit the requirements and investment options sponsored by the IEFP, the entrepreneur won't be left empty-handed, like the large number of Portuguese who rely on the personal loans to realise their professional plans.
In general, this credit instrument offers consumers between 250 euros and 75,000 euros, money that can be used for any purpose, including, as we mentioned, creating your own job.
In addition to its scope and the competitiveness of its interest rates, personal loans are also a very fast solution as a result of the digitalisation of Portuguese banks' financial services.
The personal loan solution of UNIBANCO, a financial credit institution - UNICRE, gives the customer the possibility of having access to a personal loan simulator, which will allow you to calculate the monthly instalments for loans between €5,000 and €75,000 by cross-referencing it with the term you want to take out (between 24 and 84 months) and the specific interest rates for each choice.
In addition to personal loans, UNIBANCO offers the credit line UNIBANCO supports new entrepreneurs by transferring amounts between 500 and 4,500 euros to their current account, with a choice of four payment dates: the 7th, 15th, 22nd or 29th of each month.
And because entrepreneurship is not just about creating new businesses, but also about the ability to find new solutions in established companies, this funding can be used to adopt technologies that allow the business to adapt to Portuguese consumer habits and consequently sell more, as is the case with the payment methods REDUNQ (online and physical).
For entrepreneurs who want to open a physical business that is completely mobile and digital, REDUNIQ offers the innovative Android payment terminal – REDUNIQ Smartwhich, in addition to accepting contactless paymentschip and MB WAY, comes with a set of built-in apps that help businesses manage and allow, for example, the consumer to consult the catalogue on the terminal, select the product they want, pay by card and print or scan a ticket using a QR Code.
If the main objective is to capitalise on the potential of E-Commerce, entrepreneurs will find REDUNIQ to be the perfect partner for them. online payments adjusted not only to consumer habits, but also to the specific needs of each business, allowing them to increase their sales volume.
This is the case with REDUNIQ E-Commerce and the REDUNIQ@Payments.
While the first of these means allows an e-commerce site to receive e-commerce payments with Visa and Mastercard debit and credit cards from customers all over the world, with no membership costs or monthly fees, the second is aimed at those who want to sell online without a website through social networks or marketplaces, allowing this type of business to receive online payments by e-mail, SMS, WhatsApp, Visa and Mastercard, Multibanco reference or MB WAY.
IEFP's Investe Jovem
When support for entrepreneurship comes into being, it's for everyone, including young people. This is exactly what IEFP's Investe Jovem Programme proposes.
Created with the aim of promoting entrepreneurship and job creation, Investe Jovem offers support to younger entrepreneurs not only in creating their own jobs, but also technical support in the area of entrepreneurship to strengthen skills and structure the project, as well as consolidating it.
Anyone wishing to take advantage of this programme, which provides financial support of up to 75% of the total eligible investment up to a maximum of 100 IAS (Social Value Index), must meet the following requirements:
- Be registered as unemployed with the IEFP;
- Aged over 18 and under 30 (at the time of submission of the application);
- Have a viable business idea and adequate training to develop the business.
IAPMEI
O IAPMEIThe Portuguese Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation offers Portuguese entrepreneurs three main incentive systems, which correspond to three areas of business development: Business Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Qualification and Internationalisation of SMEs and Research and Technological Development.
The aim is to boost the development of national companies, making them competitive, through financial incentives that can take two forms: Non-Refundable Incentive (non-repayable, subject to the fulfilment of objectives defined in the contract); and Refundable Incentive (interest-free loan, subject to repayment conditions defined in the contract).
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