Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi visited a company from the manufacturing sector, SAW Ltd., which benefitted from the SME Diversification and Innovation Grant Scheme.
The Parliamentary Secretary said that the scheme for diversification and innovation forms part of the European Fund of Business Enhance, which gives the opportunity to small and medium enterprises to grow their operations by incentivising further investment. He mentioned how this company acknowledged the potential of this scheme, whilst managing to make good use of these funds in order to be able to grow its operations. He stated that these funds were intended for small and medium enterprises and start-ups. During this visit, Parliamentary Secretary Azzopardi announced that, for this fund, there are 50 million euro allocated in grants spread over different schemes.
Mark Cassar, one of SAW Ltd.’s managers, stated that these funds were essential for the growth in operations through which they could invest in new machinery, which led to an increase in production. He continued saying that through the investment brought about by European funds, the company managed to reach new heights whilst improving the environmental footprint.