About 260,000 manat ($152,940) is planned to be allocated to fund 13 projects of SMEs on the development of online platforms, devices and women's entrepreneurship, and research activities, the Azerbaijan Small and Medium Business Development Agency (SMBDA) said.

According to the agency, funding of the winning projects of the 3rd grant competition announced by the SMBDA for financing projects of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the fields of education, science, and research has begun.

Each of the winning projects will be funded 20,000 manat ($11,760).

On March 16, at the Baku House of SMEs, organized by the agency, a meeting was held with the winners of the competition, with whom contracts were signed to fund their projects.

Congratulating the winners of the third grant competition, the SMBDA Board Chairman Orkhan Mammadov noted that 234 projects were submitted for the competition.

The decision to fund the above 13 projects was made by an expert committee composed of representatives of various structures. The corresponding funds will be transferred to the bank accounts of the winners in the coming days.

According to the results of the first and second grant competitions, projects of 26 SMEs were financed in the amount of about 500,000 manat ($294,120).

Within the framework of the event, a small exhibition of the products and services of entrepreneurs, whose projects were financed under the second grant competition, was also organized.

The acceptance of documents for the 3rd grant competition of projects was carried out from November 15 to December 14, 2022, and the examination and evaluation of projects took place from December 16, 2022, to February 10, 2023.

The SMBDA was established under the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev dated December 28, 2017.

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