I. Metshin: “Concessional lending program will support businesses at start-up”

(Kazan City KZN.RU, February 24, Kseniya Shvetsova). Questions of concessional lending of business were discussed today in the City Hall at a meeting of the Coordination Council on development of small and medium businesses. The meeting was chaired by the Mayor of Kazan Ilsur Metshin. Deputy Head of the Executive Committee for Economic Development Ivan Kuznetsov told about new program of SMB support.

Preferential business lending program in Kazan has no analogues in other cities. As Kuznetsov told, in 2016 it was decided to increase the maximum amount of loan for one person from 5 million rubles to 10 million rubles. "Despite the additional burden on the budget, it will support the major new and, as a rule, capital-intensive projects of small business", - I.Kuznetsov explained. It should be noted that since 2007, 362 organizations and individual entrepreneurs entered the program, lending volume exceeded 1 billion rubles.

Also, according to Kuznetsov, the new program will be added with priority sectors of physical education, sports, culture. In addition, those industries will be included in the number of high-priority, support for which is now most needed. In particular, it is the tourism industry (creation of new hotels, hostels), manufacture of souvenir production, the organization of private preschools. Especially priorities will be credited to the individual conditions. During the first year zero interest rate will operate for them.

Every third representative of the working population of the city is working in small and medium businesses, and tax contribution of SMB is 18.2%. That is why the development of SMB support program is the most important work that influences the development of the whole city, I. Metshin stressed. "All the measures in the program were introduced not spontaneous, but as a result of systematic work to support small and medium businesses, and discussed directly with entrepreneurs, - the head of the city said. - We are ready to meet and deliberately build our work as transparently as possible, so that all the measures have been available for all entrepreneurs".

At a meeting business representatives were able to express their opinion on the planned changes. Director of the private educational institution "Psychological and Pedagogical Centre for early child development "Egoza" Natalia Resnyanskaya proposed to pay attention to the organization of the work of private preschools. "The crisis affects the population that is less solvent. It is important to consider the placement of municipal tasks on a competitive basis on which the enrollment of children in private kindergartens can take place. Not all parents can afford to pay for private preschool and the municipality support will allow solving this problem,"- N.Resnyanskaya suggested. She added that today more than 150 private preschools work in Kazan, they are visited by more than three thousand children. "We will note this question and consider the possibility of municipal contracts for private preschools," - I. Metshin said.

Among other things, a proposal to reduce the maximum loan amount to 1 million rubles from was received. However, this approach, according to participants of the Coordination Council, will prevent the development of many business sectors. As the president of the Association of hostels of Kazan Ilya Tsykunov told, due to domestic tourism demand for hotels has increased by 20-30% in recent years. In Kazan 55 hostels work today. This business usually requires a significant start-up capital.

"We want to support those areas that are still poorly represented in Kazan. Everything related to tourism, the same hostels - it is those industries that are just begin to "stand on their feet", and one million is not enough for the development of them. Let us not forget that first of all we are talking about the support of industries that are important in the development of our city", - the Mayor concluded.

The Mayor ordered to complete the discussion of changes in the program before March 1 and to begin to provide real help to businesses in April at the end of the competition procedure and the choice of operator-bank. "In early April we must start to issue the first loans for business development", - I. Metshin said.

The Council meeting was attended by First Deputy Head of the municipal formation of Kazan Rustam Nigmatullin, authorized representative of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan on protection of the rights of entrepreneurs Timur Nagumanov, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defense Kazan Eugeniya Lodvigova, deputy of Kazan City Duma, chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Company "Bank of Kazan" Oscar Prokopiev, heads of district city ​​administrations, heads of departments of the Executive Committee and others.