The Entrepreneurs Association for Small and Medium Enterprises placed 14 demands on the table of the National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises Development, to end what the association described as the “tragic situation” of failed entrepreneurs as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and its repercussions.
The demands come in the context of a 10-day deadline, which the SMEs owners had given to the Fund to correct their situation, threatening that failure to respond to the demands would lead them to consequences.
The association demanded that the grace period and payment be calculated separately (3 years of grace, and 15 years of payment), with the initiator entitled to choose the number of years that suits his project, especially since Article 25 of the Fund’s Law stipulates that the financing be paid for no more than 15 years without mentioning the grace period.
The demands stated, “The grace period for disbursing all the prescribed financing payments begins, and in the event that the initiator requests an increase in financing, the increase will have other grace periods.”
The demands call for “the approval of increasing funding requests for funded initiators according to the project’s needs within 45 days of submitting the request to ensure the continuity of projects and not to stumble,” in addition to “opening the funding door for those whose funding increase was previously refused on the pretext that the funding ceiling is 400,000 dinars.”
The sources pointed out the importance of “allowing the initiators to attend the evaluation committee even once to respond to inquiries, to ensure the continuity of projects and to discuss what is not clear and to avoid delaying the completion of transactions for secondary reasons.”
The sources pointed to the necessity of “allowing employees to return to their jobs again and setting up a mechanism for project management and receipt by the fund, and enabling failed initiators to hand over projects until the stumbling factors are removed or liquidated.”
The most prominent demands include:
• Separating calculation periods — 3 years grace period and 15 years for repayment
• Allowance is calculated after the disbursement of payments and a new allowance when financing is increased
• Increasing funding requests according to the project’s needs within 45 days of the request
• Opening the door to funding for those who were refused an increase and returning employees to their jobs
• Enabling defaulters to receive projects until the factors of default are removed or liquidated
• The investment should be parallel to the fund’s sponsorship period and not withdrawn before its expiry
• Handing over to the initiators the available industrial, commercial and agricultural land without delay
• Incubating industrial projects in the fund’s incubators until the lands are prepared
• Addressing the authorities to allocate 10% of project owners as a subcontractor
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