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Financing a Business in the Netherlands

Apart from research, obtaining finance should be one of the most important elements to your business plan when setting up a business in the Netherlands. An ideal way to research your finance is to talk to your account. They can help with advice and research into what finance is available to you and ways of obtaining it.

Here are several possible ways of obtaining finance when starting a business in the Netherlands:

• Bank Financing Your bank maybe able to help your business financially. Although it is important to remember you must have a well planned and researched business proposal
• Floating your company on a public stock exchange is a way of raising money for future growth. AIM, the junior partner of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has established itself as the preferred route for younger companies wanting to go public.
• European Aid grants are direct financial contributions from the EU budget or from the European Development fund. It is worth checking out your possible grants, funds and programmes by following the link and looking under a particular section i.e. Agriculture, Energy or Audiovisual and Media. http://ec.europa.eu/grants/index_en.htm
• Tax Relief Depending on the country, there are various forms of tax relief. Its worth going to the Dutch Chamber of Commerce as they will be able to give advice on tax and incentives. http://www.kvk.

As the Netherlands is part of the EU its worth investigating what finance is available from various organisations such as the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the European Investment Bank and others. But bear in mind there are over 450 funding sources for reimbursable grants, aid schemes, individual fellow and traineeships, loans and guarantees. Helpful links are:

http://www.eubusiness.com/funding/eu-funding/european-funds/

and http://cordis.europa.eu/eu-funding-guide/finding-sources_en.html

For small to medium sized enterprises (SME) and the self employed there is The Participation Fund. These are EU backed loans that offer the following:

• The Starteo Loan for companies that have been operating for less than four years. The loan will be no more than €250,000 at a preferential rate of 3% for the first two years. The loan will be granted for five, seven, or ten years and will never be more than four times the investment made by the business.
• The Optimeo Loan Similar to the Starteo Loan is for companies of four years and over in age. The loan is limited to three times the investment made by the business.

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