Public incentives are essential in launching new ideas and products, enabling inventors to establish a company and realize their initiatives. Especially, novice entrepreneurs are becoming much more competent in their entrepreneurial journeys with financial and moral support in fields such as education, mentoring, and seed funding. At this stage, entrepreneurs with innovative product and service ideas can benefit from an incentive that KOSGEB provides.
Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization of Türkiye (“KOSGEB”) is a government agency that facilitates the growth and competitiveness of small and medium-sized businesses in Türkiye. It supports entrepreneurs in encouraging, promoting, and guaranteeing their entrepreneurial activities’ success. KOSGEB’s incentives for entrepreneurship activities aim to support and expand entrepreneurship, the main relief for economic development and employment problems, to enable their success. Entrepreneurs who meet the conditions specified in the legislation can benefit from the incentives determined below by selecting the program that fits their needs.
Entrepreneurship support program includes Applied Entrepreneurship Training, New Entrepreneur Support, Business Development Center Support, and Business Plan Award.
Applied Entrepreneurship Training is implemented to spread the entrepreneurial culture, give entrepreneurs the knowledge and skills to establish and run a business, and gain knowledge and experience to prepare a business plan regarding their business ideas. In this context, the training to be given is Applied Entrepreneurship Training organized by KOSGEB Units, Applied Entrepreneurship Training conducted by KOSGEB within the scope of national or international projects, Applied Entrepreneurship Training/Entrepreneurship Programs organized by institutions/organizations and approved by KOSGEB, entrepreneurship courses given by Higher Education or Secondary Education Institutions within the scope of formal education and approved by KOSGEB.
New Entrepreneur Support; Businesses established by entrepreneurs who have completed the Applied Entrepreneurship Training and Businesses located in business development centers (without participating in the Applied Entrepreneurship Training of their owners or partners) can apply for the New Entrepreneur Support. To benefit from the incentive, the entrepreneur must have a business established by the Turkish Commercial Code, and as of the establishment date of the company, the entrepreneur must:
- Not have a sole proprietorship or a partnership of more than 50% in a business about the same activity in the last year
- not have any other business in the status of a natural person,
- not have more than 50% partnership in any business currently established as a legal person.
New Entrepreneurship Support includes business establishment support, machinery, equipment, software, and office hardware support, operating costs, and fixed investment support during the establishment period.
Business Development Support: This support assists enterprises in going through their initial and most vulnerable years of business and in growing during that time by providing business development mentoring, access to support and financial resources, suitable workplaces, shared office equipment, offices, and services such as consulting and mentoring as part of operations under business development centers. Business Development Centers are individually or jointly established by universities, higher education institutions, private administrations, incubators, and professional organizations.
Enterprises wishing to benefit from the Support of the Business Development Center must submit their application for the support to the relevant department. Applicants of İŞGEM Establishment Support cannot apply for İŞGEM Enterprise Support. Only the Operating Organizations that have utilized İŞGEM Establishment Support or completed establishment operations without İŞGEM Establishment Support can apply for İŞGEM Enterprise Support.
The Business Plan Reward Support is granted to the winners of the Business Plan Reward that have set up their businesses, operating in the field of activity specified in the business plan evaluated in cooperation with higher education institutions, and to the winners of the Business Plan Reward in awarded/non-awarded competitions organized by domestic and foreign institutions and organizations and approved by KOSGEB. Those winners can apply for the Business Plan Reward Support Programme for their future or existing enterprises in Türkiye.
Each support is granted based on a monetary upper limit and can be utilized only once; therefore, all the application documents must be complete. We recommend that entrepreneurs seek professional assistance while applying for and using these venture capital supports.
