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Uruguay will boost the creation of innovative new firms with IDB support

Loan for $8 million will also fund activities to encourage 10,000 people to start new businesses

Uruguay will increase private investment in innovation and boost the number of successful and innovative start-ups with the help of an $8 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.

The operation will finance the Program to Support Future Entrepreneurs, which will provide information and motivation to encourage 10,000 people to start new businesses.

It will also fund 20 new business incubators, which are projects carried out by entrepreneurs living abroad―Uruguayan or other nationalities―who are interested in setting up operations in Uruguay. These incubators will ensure continuity of value chains in the country, making it possible to support an additional 108 projects by entrepreneurs and new companies.

"This program will provide a new strategic framework for coordinating and strengthening efforts being made in Uruguay to build an environment that will support the development of new and innovative enterprises with global reach," said Pablo Angelelli, IDB project team leader.

The program aims to promote an entrepreneurial culture, coordinate and furnish expertise for a network of local institutions called the Entrepreneurship Network, and implement an entrepreneurship policy in the medium term. It will also support the initial development of enterprises through creation of new business incubators and provision of financing for new business ventures.

Actions will include awareness and media campaigns to increase information on the entrepreneurial program, foster entrepreneurial careers, encourage and support potential entrepreneurs, and develop a comprehensive plan to help implement an entrepreneurship policy.

An annual invitation to institutions working to foster entrepreneurship will be issued for projects to promote awareness of the entrepreneurial culture, support the design and management of new business, and back the pre-incubation of businesses.

The IDB loan for $8 million term was extended for a term of 25 years, with a five-year grace period, and an interest rate based on LIBOR.

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