Over 6,000 people registered in the first hour after the launch of Start Up Nation

Registrations for the new edition of Start Up Nation have begun. In the first hour, over 6,200 people registered for the free entrepreneurial skills courses, the authorities announced.

Minister Bogdan Ivan launched registrations for the fourth edition of the Start Up Nation program on Tuesday, April 15. The launch took place during a press conference organized at the headquarters of the Ministry of Economy, Digitalization, Entrepreneurship and Tourism (MEDAT).

“Today we launched the IT platform dedicated to young entrepreneurs up to 35 years old who want to start a business. In the first hour, over 6,200 people signed up for the free entrepreneurial skills courses. Young people sign up for the platform to take an entrepreneurship course, which will last a minimum of 40 hours. Upon graduation from the course, they will become eligible to develop a business plan and, implicitly, for the Startup Nation 2025 program, which will finance at least 7,500 companies in Romania with 50,000 euros each, non-repayable funds, representing 90% of the total investment in a project,” said Bogdan Ivan.

One of the program’s goals is to create over 15,000 new jobs. For the first time, the IT platform will use state-of-the-art technologies to automate approximately 60% of the procedural and administrative flow.

“Supporting SMEs is a priority for our ministry. SMEs are the largest employer in the Romanian economy, with 40% of jobs. We will create over 15,000 new jobs through this program. For the first time, the IT platform will use state-of-the-art technologies to automate approximately 60% of the procedural and administrative flow, without human intervention – in terms of uploading documents and assessing the eligibility of applicants”, stated Minister Bogdan Ivan.

The total budget of the fourth edition of Start-Up Nation is 446.18 million euros, coming from non-reimbursable external funds.