BCR Social Finance and EIF: RON 75 mill available for financing SMEs, NGOs and individuals looking to invest in education, upskilling and reskilling the Romanian workforce

BCR Social Finance announces the agreement with European Investment Fund, for a RON 75 mill financing available for SMEs, NGOs and individuals involved in education and skills development, according to a bank statement.

This partnership sets the foundation for BCR Social Finance to launch three new types of credit products that focus on financing for SMEs investing in the upskilling of their employees, for organisations supplying education and trainings (kindergartens, schools, and NGOs), and for students.

This initiative comes to stimulate the investments in education, training, and skills, as a response to economy’s changing needs. The pandemic context and the digital transformation have accelerated the demand for a more skilled workforce, foretelling that the future of work is based on upskilling and reskilling. In the next three years, BCR Social Finance, with the guarantee agreement under the EFSI Skills & Education Guarantee Pilot, a new initiative dedicated to stimulating access to finance in education, training and skills, backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), aims to improve access to education and training opportunities, making a call to action for all the stakeholders to access funds in order to ensure smooth and continued educational pathways for all those that strive to improve their know how.

“The European Investment Fund is pleased to back pioneering new investment to improve education, training and skills across Romania and represents one of the first initiatives by a Romanian institution to finance upskilling and reskilling. This visionary targeted financing provided by BCR Social Finance will help small business, civil society, students and learners invest in the future”, said Alain Godard, Chief Executive of the European Investment Fund.

BCR Social Finance offers up to RON 600,000 financing for working capital and investments loans, with a maximum repayment period of 84 months for investment credit and 36 months for the working capital loan.

“Our core belief is that a society’s chance to develop lies in education. The partnership with EIF is sealed by our common vision of making education a priority and we take pride in being one of the first Romanian institutions offering funding instruments for upskilling and reskilling, supporting the SMEs adapt to a new and very different working environment. The pandemic context showed us that the value of education rises in crisis, while the investments in this are falling. So, let’s take advantage of this moment and change this paradigm. We have the chance to address learning gaps, and to support people develop the right skills to manage the digital evolution we live by doing the jobs machines cannot. We hope that more organisations supplying education and training will access this financial support and will help us build a stronger community and a better future, because education is the only wealth we have”, said Ștefan Buciuc, CEO BCR Social Finance.

The new BCR Social Finance credit products, and their most important features:

– The Skills and Education financing for SMEs – aimed for SMEs interested in investing for the future training and reskilling of the workforce, is covering working capital and investment in intangible assets. This funding instrument comes to help SMEs secure job continuity for their employees, and even business growth.

– Minimum 1 fiscal year activity, with at least 1 annual balance sheet submitted to ANAF

– Up to RON 370,000 financing for working capital and investments loans

– 12 months minimum credit period

– Available starting 1st of July 2021

The Skills and Education financing for educational institution – designed for SMEs, NGOs and foundations engaged in education, offers credit solutions for working capital and investments, for tangible and intangibles assets. This funding instrument comes to support entrepreneurs who run an educational institution, private school, kindergarten, or private training and professional skills development business and need financing for their activity.

– Minimum 2 fiscal year activity for NGOs, with at least 2 annual balance sheets submitted to ANAF and minimum 1 fiscal year for SMEs clients, with at least 1 annual balance sheet submitted to ANAF

– Up to RON 600,000 financing for NGOs and up to RON 370,000 financing for SMEs, for working capital and investments loans

– 12 months minimum credit period

– Available starting 1st of July 2021

– Loans for students – designed for students to access it for educational purposes. The student loans will be available starting 2022.