FITD and MBA Initiative to Create Opportunities for Additional Financial Support to Domestic Companies

The Fund for Innovation and Technology Development presented the instruments for financial support for the domestic companies to the members of the Macedonian Banking Association, which includes all banks and savings houses in the Republic of North Macedonia. The purpose of the FITD initiative is to find practical opportunities and models for additional funding that banks would offer to the companies to develop their business ideas and innovations.

The Directors and Members of the Boards of Directors of all banks in the country were presented with the results of the work that the Fund has done so far by analyzing the implementation of projects and effects on the domestic economy. Also, at the meeting it was discussed how to make the banking’s lending opportunities more accessible not only to FITD’s beneficiaries but also to companies whose project proposals were not approved for financing due to the Fund’s limited financial resources but have a good potential for growth.

“We want to see the banks as our supporting partners in the growth of the Macedonian economy”, stated the FITD Director Jovan Despotovski after the meeting.

The bank representatives positively assessed the work of FITD and expressed their readiness to consider all funding opportunities, as well as to establish a practice of information exchange between FITD and MBA for the successful implementation of these initiatives.

FITD’s portfolio over the past two years has had a seven-fold increase in the number of beneficiaries from 2014 – 2017 and now counts 250 companies with a total investment cycle of 40 million euros of which 23 million are co-financed by the Fund. In addition to its instruments, due to the growing interest and number of quality projects, FITD is constantly working to find an additional source of financial support for domestic companies.