Business Partnership Support can now be used to develop existing business

October 12th, 2022

Finnpartnership’s grant support, Business Partnership Support, can now also be utilized to develop existing business in a developing country. A new project phase, “development of existing business”, enables companies to deepen or continue their long-term commitment in their target country.

Here are some key points:

• To be able to apply support for the new project phase, the applicant must attach a registration certificate of a company established in the project country, or a cooperation agreement (e.g. subcontracting agreement) concluded with a developing country partner

• The support may be applied through the company registered in Finland (if it has at least 20 % Finnish ownership), or through the Finnish parent company (if the parent company is a direct financial beneficiary of the project)
  • The support applicant must have valid Suomi.fi credentials. Companies registered abroad can find instructions for acquiring these credentials from the website of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.
  • The support is granted for expenses that will be accrued by the support recipient (Finnish/Finnish owned company). Therefore, the support cannot be used to cover the expenses of business partners

• Support for the new project phase may be applied for even if the project has not previously utilized Business Partnership Support

• If Business Partnership Support has been used for the earlier phases of the project, the earlier instances of the Support are counted towards the project specific maximum quota (200 000 € for de minimis projects / 400 000 € for non-de minimis projects)

• The support can be used to cover assessment or training expenses related to one or more of the following:

• a. expansion of a product portfolio
  • b. finding new suppliers and
  • c. subcontracting and similar partners
  • d. development of activities so they are easier to scale
  • e. determining investment needs and their funding
  • f. improvement/development of working conditions
  • g. development activities so they are more responsible.

The support cannot be used for e.g., investments, product development or recruitment costs.

• Please see the terms and conditions of Business Partnership Support For more specific information on the criteria of the new project phase

Want to hear more? Please join our monthly online application workshops (next workshop is on November 17^th,) or get in touch with our Business Partnership Support staff members.