6 Awesome Secrets To Help You Do Business In Malta

You might be forgiven for overlooking Malta as the ideal place to start a business. It comes 26th in a Forbes list of best countries for business. Whilst there is certainly room for improvement, there are several incentives to doing business in Malta. It is one of the safest countries in the world in terms of crimes and natural disasters. It also enjoys great weather all year round, internet and travel connectivity, and a welcoming economy. To help your business succeed, there are many highly skilled and motivated workers here. If these incentives are not enough for you, then allow me to present to you 6 awesome ones.

1. €25,000 grant to help get you off your feet

The Business START (or B.Start in short) offers eligible businesses a one-time grant of up to €25,000 to start or develop their business idea. The application is fairly simple to fill in. The adjudicating board will go through your business plan and see if the business is viable. If it is, you will first be given a grant of €10,000, followed by multiple, smaller grants depending on the number of employed persons and target achievement. If you are planning to do business in Malta this grant gives you a great head start to ensure your success.

2. Valuable advice from professionals

As all entrepreneurs know, starting out is hard. If this is your first business then you definitely don’t know all that you should. Fortunately, there is a Business Advisory incentive which is aimed to fill your knowledge gap. Whether you need a marketing specialist, a tax professional or a growth strategist, Malta Enterprise will do its best to provide this person. A consultant of theirs will meet you on several occasions and will size up your business in order to come up with the best advice. This incentive is completely free and the time taken from application to your first meeting can be as short as a few weeks.

3. Re-invest in your business

All business owners should be re-investing their profits into their business. This helps grow the business quicker, without the need of borrowing money. Just like in most countries, businesses in Malta need to pay corporation tax, at 35% of profits. Although this might seem high, there a numerous tax grants to encourage you to do business in Malta. Micro Invest, for example, is ideal if you own a small to medium-sized business. You can buy new machinery, invest in marketing and employ workers, whilst getting a discount in tax.

4. Create new products or services

Research and development are probably the two most important words in business. If you do not invest in R&D then you risk losing market share to your competitors. This is why Malta Enterprise issued the Research and Development grant. Through this grant, you will receive funds to cover part of the costs of R&D. The application is long and detailed and you could risk doing it all for nothing. Malta Enterprise came up with a solution for that too. The R&D Feasibility Studies Application allows you to give a brief overview of your R&D project for consideration. If Malta Enterprise approve your overview then you can have some confidence that your full application will be accepted.

5. Growing business needs more space

It is a well-known fact that you can never have too much space in a successful business. To encourage you to do business in Malta, Malta Enterprise offers two great support measures. If you have an eligible business you can apply for a government-owned industrial space or for a plot. This is great if you have big future plans. Alternatively, if you only need to rent, you can look at the Rent Subsidy scheme. These are both very useful in a country where finding suitable business space can be tricky.

6. You need to grow beyond our Island

Of course you do! Malta’s size is small and so is its market size. However, the country is surrounded by massive markets, some of these emerging. Exporting your products is not easy. It is expensive, time-consuming and risky. Here again, Malta Enterprise has stepped in and is offering the Strengthening Market Entry and Internationalisation assistance. You can get part financing for exhibiting in international fairs, get free consultations and a range of other useful measures. You can really grow your small business by entering foreign, bigger markets.