Carole Mancel-Blanchard, Deputy-Head of Legal Affairs Unit, DG REGIO, European Commission, talks in this video about the clarification of rules applicable to financial instruments, according to public procurement rules and principles, as well as identifying exceptions to the rules.
Audrius Zabotka, the former INVEGA CEO, speaks of the Entrepreneurship Promotion Fund, that provided start-ups operating for less than a year with financing for growth purposes. This fund, supported by the European Social Fund, allowed the creation of new jobs and provided the final recipients with a platform for future growth. The success of the fund led the Lithuanian government to extend it to the 2014-2020 programming period.
Tautvydas Bitinas, owner of the Cat Café in Lithuania and European Social Fund (ESF) final recipient, describes how using an ESF financial instrument helped him and his business partners to access financing for setting up the café business.
Laure Blanchrad-Brunac, DG ECFIN, European Commission, talks about ESIF projects which are of a riskier and more innovative nature, particularly in the agriculture and rural development sector where there is a lot of potential, including in the domain of sustainable agriculture.
Pilar Durán, Ministry of Finance and Public Administration, Governement of Extremadura (Spain) talks about her experiences of launching a financial instrument in that region involving public-private collaboration. She also debunks the theory that financial instruments are complicated.
Marie Degrand-Guillaud, ADIE (France) talks about setting up microfinance in European countries which helps the unemployed and those with low education levels to be able to find a job.
Sine Linderstrøn, Senior Consultant, Vækstfonden (Denmark) talks about the relevance of the fi-compass conferences and explains how she is looking at new initiatives to help young farmers in Denmark.
Karen Wilson from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) talks about social impact investment and explains the concept of expectation of both a financial and a social return.
