The state is changing its approach to selecting grant applications for small businesses: instead of arbitrary business plans, a single structured form is being introduced. This should reduce bureaucracy for entrepreneurs and at the same time make commission decisions more transparent and comparable.
The state is changing its approach to selecting grant applications for small businesses: instead of arbitrary business plans, a single structured form is being introduced. This should reduce bureaucracy for entrepreneurs and at the same time make commission decisions more transparent and comparable.
According to the Ministry of Digital Affairs, the new requirements apply to participants in the «Own Business» and «Grants for Veterans and Their Family Members» programs and are enshrined in a government resolution.
Previously, applicants could submit business plans in any form: some described their idea for several dozen pages without clear calculations, while others limited themselves to a few pages of text without figures or market analysis. This complicated the work of the commissions, delayed the consideration of applications, and left a wide margin for subjective decisions.
Now, every business plan must follow a single template and must disclose four blocks: the essence of the idea, the financial model, the team, and key risks. The entrepreneur must clearly explain what exactly he is launching, why he needs a grant, how the funds will be used, who will work on the project, and how the team will act in case of problems.
Separately, the state will look at specific figures: how many new jobs the business will create, what taxes it will bring to the budget, and how long it will take for the investment to pay off in months. This approach should weed out formal applications «for the sake of a grant» and prioritize those projects that are actually able to work and scale.
The unified structure actually turns into a checklist for applicants: if the entrepreneur has filled out all the sections, the risk of «bombing» the application due to incorrect formatting is significantly reduced. For expert committees, this means less «water» and more standardized data that is easy to compare.
The new rules will apply only to applications submitted after the official publication of the resolution. Those who have already applied for a grant do not have to redo anything, as their documents will be considered under the old conditions. Against the background of growing interest in support programs in «Diya», the unification of business plans may be the first step towards a more systematic and predictable approach of the state to working with novice entrepreneurs.
Earlier, dev.ua wrote about how, for the first time in over 12 years, clear rules for the operation of the lottery business were established in Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers approved licensing conditions that should bring operators out of the shadows, force them to pay fixed contributions to the budget, and work under the supervision of state accounting systems.
