Malta Enterprise, the country’s economic development agency has been recognised for its work in ‘Promoting the Entrepreneurial Spirit’ at this year’s National Supporting Business Awards 2022. The award was presented to the Government entity for its work on the national start-up initiative ‘StartinMalta’.

Startups businesses may be defined as early business projects and might be eligible to receive financial aid including via Malta Enterprise.

Early-stage Startups may qualify for a €10,000 grant through Malta Enterprise’s Business Start Scheme for work on developing their business plan. This can then be expanded to a total of €200,000 grant in the subsequent stages whereby assistance can also part-cover wage costs. Another scheme Startup Finance  - is a repayable advance that may support highly innovative  start-ups and scaleups with up to €800,000 that will be repaid upon profitability.

‘Start in Malta’, the governmental vision for encouraging more businesses to startup their projects in Malta, was set up back in May 2021. The team at ME have expanded their endeavour to synergise, visualise and improve Malta’s startup offering encouraging local and international entrepreneurs to explore Malta as a potential location for business.

Malta Enterprise points to the organisation of the Startup Festival in November 2021, its support to the inaugural edition of Shark Tank Malta and the attraction of the Plug and Play Tech Centre accelerator onto the island as evidence of this.

The organisation is also currently collaborating with the Residency agency on a new Startup Visa and has initiated work on an expansive change in laws and regulations that shall be presented for consultation as a full-sclae ‘Startup Framework’.

Kurt Farrugia, CEO of Malta Enterprise, said: “We are humbled and honoured by this award which symbolizes the work implemented to attract more startup business projects to our island. Startups are a means of energising our economy and bringing innovators and new talent to Malta.”

Meanwhile the 2nd edition of Startup Festival Malta will be taking place between the 13th and 14th of October 2022. Registrations for the event and the business-investor matchmaking tool will soon be open for all interested to participate.

Malta Enterprise not only thanks the startups involved in this journey and all its internal teams on their contribution, but also the Ministry for Environment, Energy and Enterprise for the continuous support and the Commerce Department at the Ministry for the Economy for their organisation of these awards.