Small and medium-sized enterprises

Small and medium-sized enterprises are enterprises whose average number of employees does not exceed 250, whose net turnover is less than EUR 40,000,000, or the value of whose assets does not exceed EUR 20,000,000.

Public support to the growth and development of small and medium-sized enterprises

The state supports the growth and development of small and medium-sized enterprises through financial incentives from the Ministry of the Economy, Tourism and Sport and institutions specialising in corporate financing: Slovenian Enterprise Fund and SID Bank. Support is also provided by SPIRIT Slovenia and entrepreneurs may find various information on the SPOT portal. 

The main areas of incentives for small and medium enterprises in Slovenia are:

• provision of efficient business environment for enterprises,
• access to appropriate funds for projects of enterprises,
• incentives to development and innovation projects of enterprises,
• promotion of digitalisation of enterprises,
• provision of suitable infrastructure for the operation of enterprises,
• incentives for training of employees,
• providing assistance in appearance on foreign markets.

Vouchers for small and medium-sized enterprises

Vouchers greatly facilitate the access of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises to co-financing of individual services, which allows these enterprises to strengthen their competitiveness and competencies.

Vouchers can be obtained throughout the year in a very simple way, without excessive approval procedures, and processing is very fast.

Basic characteristics of vouchers

The basic characteristics of vouchers are the following:

• Simple low-value incentives for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
• Fast processing.
• Vouchers are available all year round, public calls are open until 2023 or until funds are exhausted.
• Co-financing to the amount of 60 per cent or up to 9,999 EUR per voucher.
• The total value of vouchers that can be spent by an enterprise is 30,000 EUR a year.
• Costs of vouchers for most areas are eligible from 1 January 2019. There are exceptions, so it is imperative to read every public call.
• Applications are submitted to the Slovenian Enterprise Fund on the basis of public calls.
• The Slovenian Entrepreneurship Fund has also established the so-called e-voucher system, which allows an enterprise to apply and complete the application process in e-form through the Slovenian Enterprise Fund portal.

Start:up Slovenia

Start:up Slovenia is a platform of the Slovenian start-up ecosystem that supports innovative entrepreneurship in Slovenia. 

The platform is the contact, coordinator and promoter of the stakeholder network of the Slovenian start-up ecosystem in Slovenia and abroad; this includes startups, investors, supportive environments and entrepreneurial experts. 

It is focused on informing, promoting, connecting and collaborating, thus paving the way for entrepreneurship to become integral in Slovenian society. 

The Start:up Slovenia project, which dates back to 2004, is managed by the Venture Factory, with the Slovenian Enterprise Fund and the Ministry of the Economy, Toursim and Sport partnering for many years. Members of the start-up community and other public and private partners are intensively involved in the activities.

Leading political EU initiative for small and medium-sized enterprises

The Small Business Act for Europe (SBA) is the EU's flagship policy initiative to support small and medium-sized enterprises in the European Union. It includes a set of policy actions organised around ten principles, from entrepreneurship and responsive administration to internationalisation.

The European Commission monitors the implementation of enterprise policies and the situation of small and medium-sized enterprises in each EU Member State using the Small Business Acts Fact Sheet.