Entrepreneurs, those intending to start their own business, and organisations providing business support will be able to access both grant funding and free advice, mentoring, entrepreneurship training and business incubation services.
Funding opportunities:
The municipal programme ‘START-UP pentru TINERI și MIGRANȚI’ continues to accept investment projects, offering grants of up to 250,000 lei, representing a maximum of 70 per cent of the project cost.
To date, 70 businesses have been funded under the programme, with over 13.9 million lei allocated in grants, whilst the total investment amounted to approximately 41.8 million lei. The supported businesses have helped to create and preserve 586 jobs. Thus, every leu provided by the municipality as a grant has generated approximately three lei invested in Chisinau’s economy.
New projects
New opportunities are being opened up by the cross-border EUroBridge_UA_MD project, funded by the European Union and implemented by CMDA in collaboration with partners from the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and Romania.
The first call for proposals, IMPACT NETWORKS, has a budget of 400,000 euros and offers grants of up to 50,000 euros per project, with 100 per cent of eligible costs covered. The call is open to clusters, digital innovation hubs and regional development agencies from the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. The deadline for submitting projects is 31 October 2026.
In the next phase, under the CAPACITY & INNOVATION mechanism, a budget of €1.1 million is earmarked to fund 110 projects with grants of up to €10,000 each. In total, the two mechanisms provide €1.5 million in grants to fund at least 118 projects.
Also in 2026, the ‘G.R.O.W. Chișinău – Sustainable Management and Sustainable Opportunities for Women-Led Businesses’ project will be launched, implemented by the CMDA with funding from UNDP Moldova and financial support from Sweden and Norway. The project is aimed at women entrepreneurs and those wishing to start their own business in the municipality of Chișinău and its 18 suburbs, with a focus on the agri-food sector and other sectors vulnerable to climate change. Beneficiaries will gain access to training, advice, mentoring and guidance, as well as grants of up to $5,000 per person to set up or develop a business and implement environmentally friendly and sustainable solutions.
Support for entrepreneurs – from idea to business development
In addition to funding opportunities, the CMDA is continuing to implement three municipal entrepreneurship support schemes in 2026:
The Municipal Programme for Consultation, Guidance and Mentoring offers free, personalised services on business start-up and development, business plan preparation, legal, tax and financial matters, marketing, sales and securing funding. Over the period 2024–2026, more than 6,200 individual consultations were provided.
The Municipal Entrepreneurship Education Programme offers free access to training courses, seminars and practical modules designed to develop entrepreneurial skills. Between 2024 and 2026, over 10,641 people took part in the training programmes and modules organised by the CMDA.
The municipal business incubator offers start-ups workspaces, infrastructure, advice, mentoring, training, networking and access to funding opportunities. To date, 14 companies have received support through the incubator, 11 of which are current residents. The combined turnover of the companies that have received support through the incubation programme has increased from approximately 126,000 lei to 3.37 million lei, whilst 23 jobs have been created.
Through these programmes, Chisinau City Hall and the CMDA offer a comprehensive approach to supporting entrepreneurship, ranging from skills development and business idea preparation to consultancy, mentoring, incubation and access to finance.
The implementation of these programmes is also important in the context of migration and the decline in the working-age population – issues that directly affect the availability of labour and the potential for economic development in the Republic of Moldova.
In this context, support for entrepreneurship at local level aims to create economic opportunities for young people and families, harness the experience and resources of returning migrants, promote the economic integration of refugees, and contribute to the creation and retention of jobs in Chișinău.
The aim is to expand entrepreneurs’ access to support tools, encourage the launch and development of sustainable businesses, attract investment into the municipality’s economy and create new jobs.
This story was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence.The translation was also reviewed by the Logos Press editorial team.
Follow our updates
Have information for the newsroom? Share it with Logos-Press
Comments
0No comments yet. You can start the conversation.
Comments are open to readers with a Logos Press account.
Sign in to comment