More than 3.6 million euros have been made available by the Ave Intermunicipal Community (CIM do Ave), a multipurpose organisation of municipalities which aims to support the administration of inter-municipal initiatives within the Ave territory, to assist micro and small enterprises in the eight municipalities that comprise the territory. The fund is meant to be used for expansion and modernisation initiatives.
Ave Municipality has told Lusa news agency that, “Micro and small businesses in the Ave Municipality have access to support of between 25,000 and 300,000 euros for modernisation and expansion projects. The Territorial-Based Incentive System (IT) – Ave Municipality has applications open until the end of 2024 and is a program to support small investments that aim to create jobs and strengthen local economies”.
The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) co-finances 60% of the fund’s total value of over 3.6 million euros in low-density territories, which correspond to the municipalities of Cabeceiras de Basto, Fafe, Mondim de Basto, Póvoa de Lanhoso and Vieira do Minho, with over 1.1 million euros set aside for this purpose, plus it will also co-finance half of the nearly 2.5 million euros that will be distributed to the other areas – municipalities of Guimarães, Vila Nova de Famalicão and Vizela.
Candidates must have organised accounting for 2023 and show that they have funding sources to support the operation’s execution, which, unless there are special circumstances, must take no more than 24 months, according to CIM do Ave.