The employment criteria within the Employment Committed SME Support Programme have been relieved in six provinces affected by the earthquake within Empowering the Private Sector to Foster Social and Economic Cohesion in Türkiye (FOSTER) which is financed by the European Union, managed by KfW Development Bank and implemented by KOSGEB.

The following conveniences have been provided to beneficiary SMEs in the earthquake affected FOSTER Project provinces, namely Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis and Şanlıurfa;

Revision in Job Creation Criteria in Six Provinces

The requirement that at least half of the jobs committed shall be created, will be skipped in six earthquake affected project provinces; namely Adana, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Kilis, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay. Winning SMEs within the SME Support Mechanism in these six provinces will be free to fulfil their commitments through job retention or job creation.

Flexibility in SSI Premium Days

Within the programme, SMEs are required to pay at least 80 SSI premium days for each created or retained employment within the respective 4-month period. The requirement has been reduced to 40 days for SMEs operating in Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis and Şanlıurfa. SMEs in Ankara, Bursa, İstanbul, İzmir, Kayseri, Kocaeli, Konya, Mardin and Mersin shall pay at least 40 SSI premium days only in the first monitoring period instead of 80 for each employment. For the remaining monitoring periods, at least 80 SSI premium days is required to be paid in these nine provinces.

One-third of the total SSI premium days for the 12 (twelve) months prior to the announcement date of the call for proposals will not be applied towards the fulfilment criteria.

The conditions have been relieved for beneficiary SMEs in six provinces affected by the earthquake on February 6, 2023 under the Employment Committed SME Finance Support Programme of FOSTER Project, financed by the European Union, managed by KfW Development Bank and implemented by KOSGEB.

The following conveniences have been provided to beneficiary SMEs in the earthquake affected FOSTER Project provinces Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis and Şanlıurfa.

Revision in 50% Job Creation Criterion in Six Provinces!

The requirement that at least half of the jobs committed shall be created, will be skipped in the earthquake affected project provinces, namely Adana, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Kilis, Kahramanmaraş and Hatay. Loan recipient SMEs within Interest Rate / Profit Share Subsidy Mechanism in these six provinces will be free to fulfil their commitments through job retention or job creation.

Flexibility in SSI Premium Days

A minimum of 60 SSI premium days must be paid for the new employee in the relevant quarter in order for them to qualify as a “job creation” under the Programme. The condition is revised for the SMEs in earthquake affected provinces as “at least 30 SSI premium days shall be paid for the new employee in respective quarter” instead of 60 days. SMEs that make the 30 SSI premium days payment for each “retained” or “created” employment in respective quarter will be deemed to fulfil the employment commitment. There will be no control and comparison of the previous year’s average SSI premium days paid for retained employees.

Environmental & Social Compliance Monitoring Will Not Be Conducted Until August 31^st!

Monitoring for the Environmental and Social Compliance that has been planned to be conducted in Adana, Gaziantep, Hatay, Kahramanmaraş, Kilis and Şanlıurfa will not be conducted between February 6, 2023 and August 31, 2023.

Flexibility in Exclusion Criteria

SMEs failing to fulfil their employment commitments for two consecutive quarters are excluded from the Employment Committed SME Finance Support Programme. The amendment extends the exclusion period for the beneficiary SMEs in six provinces to four consecutive quarters (or twelve consecutive months).

The Employment Committed SME Support Programme within FOSTER Project continues after an interruption due to earthquake disaster that hit six project provinces.

The second stage evaluation of the Employment Committed SME Support Programme within FOSTER Project will be held between May 24 and June 21, 2023. The independent committees formed for the second stage evaluation will evaluate the successful applications from the first stage.

The commencement date of implementation is August 1, 2023.

The updated Timeline of Call for Proposals is as follows;

* The commencement date of implementation for SMEs claiming they are unable to involve in support process in Hatay and Kahramanmaraş is 01.01.2024. The monitoring schedules will be determined based on the relevant commencement dates.

FOSTER Project is financed by the European Union, managed by KfW Development Bank and implemented by KOSGEB.