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Belarus’ entrepreneurs support fund to boost funding for SMEs
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MINSK, 24 December (BelTA) - The Belarusian Fund for Financial Support of Entrepreneurs will increase funding for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), BelTA learned from the Development Bank’s press service following a meeting of the fund’s board, which reviewed its 2025 performance and approved a strategic development plan for 2026–2030.
The Belarusian Fund for Financial Support of Entrepreneurs recently joined the Development Bank’s ecosystem. Chairman of the Board of the bank Sergei Stolyarchuk noted that this is the fund’s first strategic document, which fully aligns with the country’s social and economic development program for the next five years.
“The bank’s strategy, approved by the supervisory board earlier, envisions a significant increase in the fund’s role in supporting small and medium-sized businesses until 2030, both in terms of quantitative and qualitative indicators. Therefore, the coming years will be not only challenging for the fund but also productive for the entire SME sector of the country,” Sergei Stolyarchuk emphasized.
The fund’s Director General, Piotr Arushanyants, noted that the results for 2025 are marked by a multiple-fold growth in funding for entrepreneurial initiatives, the introduction of modern resource provision methods, and the adaptation of financial products to meet the needs of the economy and SMEs. “According to preliminary data, this year the volume of financial support for the country’s small and medium-sized businesses has doubled, reaching approximately Br40 million. The issuance of guarantees has tripled to over Br7 million. Work has also been done to increase the maximum loan amount from Br1 million to Br5 million and diversify the product portfolio,” he said.
In 2025, the fund established the “regional-initiative.bel” platform and continued work on launching a digital platform for SMEs, which will become available to users next year. A model for entrepreneurs to obtain financing online has been successfully tested.
“Today, businesses can apply for resources remotely. All necessary documents are uploaded via an online platform, and the verification and decision-making process takes only a few days. The contract signing also happens in electronic format, the entrepreneur doesn’t need to travel anywhere. This approach has already been tested in practice: the initial projects have successfully received financing through a fully digital document workflow,” Piotr Arushanyants emphasized.
Presenting the fund’s development strategy, he noted that the document calls for intensifying the organization’s activities in key areas. Specifically, over five years, predominantly using resources from the Development Bank, the volume of financial support provided is planned to increase sevenfold. The issuance of guarantees is also projected to grow fourfold.
“The strategy also provides for the ‘regionalization’ of financial support, meaning an increase in the share of SMEs in the regions relative to Minsk and Minsk District. Work will also continue on enhancing the digital platform for SMEs and engaging more entrepreneurs in using online financing,” Piotr Arushanyants outlined.
The synergy between the Development Bank and the Belarusian Fund for Financial Support of Entrepreneurs has, over the past year, given the country’s small and medium-sized businesses a powerful development boost. However, this is not the limit: the adopted strategic documents indicate a continued course towards maximizing effectiveness in the development of the SME sector.
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