12. Financial Assistance for Starting a Business in France

1. 12.1. Introduction
2. 12.2. Assistance to Unemployed
3. 12.3. Regional Development Schemes
4. 12.4. Bank Finance
5. 12.5. Assistance with Employee Costs

12.1. Introduction to Financial Assistance for Business Start-Ups in France

There are a range of schemes available that offer financial assistance to a business start-up.

Assistance is also available for existing business’s who wish to expand or recruit new employees.

The schemes are administered by a variety of different bodies at a national and a regional level. They are also poorly advertised and many new business owners fail to take advantage of the assistance that is available.

We can only sympathise with anyone seeking to find out whether or not they might be eligible for assistance!

It is, therefore, quite possible that a large part of your time on a business start-up could be spent doing the rounds of the various agencies and authorities, trying to establish if you might be eligible.

If you speak reasonable French then you should also work your way through the relevant web pages of the national business start up agency APCE, which has a list of most of the main schemes.

In general, most schemes offer a reduction or exoneration from tax or social contributions and few offer actual grant aid or soft loans towards the establishment of a business.

There are also a range of subsidised employment contracts for the young, elderly and unemployed, or to assist in the development of particular sectors of the economy. Thus, as a result of new measures introduced at the start of 2007, there are particularly attractive wage subsidies available to those running a hotel, restaurant, or cafe.

In pretty well all cases there is a lot of paperwork to complete to obtain assistance, so be prepared to be patient and diligent!

Some of the more common schemes are described below. There are a range of specific schemes for an agricultural based busienss, which we do not consider here.