{"id":6126,"date":"2023-05-23T12:33:40","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T07:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126"},"modified":"2023-05-23T12:33:40","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T07:33:40","slug":"economic-ministry-to-grant-usd6500-to-200-smes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126","title":{"rendered":"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ministry of Economic Development has introduced initiatives to offer grants of USD6,500 to 200 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Maldives.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Maldives: Enhancing Employability and Resilience of Youth (MEERY) project, funded by the World Bank, the grants for women-led businesses and grants for tailoring businesses programs have been launched.<\/p>\n<p>The inaugural ceremony was held in Addu City, presided by the Minister of State for Economic Development Neeza Imad.<\/p>\n<p>The programs aim to foster and support SMEs by providing financial aid, training, and technical assistance. Moreover, the programs specifically target micro businesses registered under the Small and Medium Enterprises Act in Male&#8217;, Addu, Fuvahmulah, and Kulhudhuffushi cities. However, businesses not registered under the Act are also encouraged to participate as well.<\/p>\n<p>The women-led businesses program aims to extend financial aid and training for women seeking to expanding their existing businesses or ventures. The program for tailoring businesses seeks to provide support for entrepreneurs owning tailor businesses.<\/p>\n<p>Applicants must either be individuals aged between 18 and 65 or SMEs that are 100% Maldivian-owned. Additionally, the applicants should not have previously benefitted from grant programs launched under the MEERY project since January 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Interested applicants may submit their applications through the Job Center portal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ministry of Economic Development has introduced initiatives to offer grants of USD6,500 to 200 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Maldives. Under the Maldives: Enhancing Employability and Resilience of Youth (MEERY) project, funded by the World Bank, the grants for women-led businesses and grants for tailoring businesses programs have been launched. The inaugural<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2423],"tags":[1477,1903,1907,1912,1913],"class_list":{"0":"post-6126","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-ministry-of-economic-development","9":"tag-small-and-medium-businesses-smbs","10":"tag-small-to-medium-enterprises","11":"tag-sme-hub","12":"tag-smes"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs - Maldives Business Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs - Maldives Business Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Ministry of Economic Development has introduced initiatives to offer grants of USD6,500 to 200 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Maldives. Under the Maldives: Enhancing Employability and Resilience of Youth (MEERY) project, funded by the World Bank, the grants for women-led businesses and grants for tailoring businesses programs have been launched. The inaugural\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maldives Business Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mvbiztimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-23T07:33:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mohamed Reehaan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mvbiztimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mvbiztimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mohamed Reehaan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mohamed Reehaan\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/person\/a0eedc1134716e7c8e4da095494670c2\"},\"headline\":\"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-23T07:33:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126\"},\"wordCount\":207,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Ministry of Economic Development\",\"Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)\",\"small to medium enterprises\",\"SME Hub\",\"SMEs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"BUSINESS\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126\",\"name\":\"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs - Maldives Business Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-23T07:33:40+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/\",\"name\":\"Maldives Business Times\",\"description\":\"Maldives Business Times delivers timely and in-depth English news on business, economy, and breaking events in the Maldives.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Maldives Business Times\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/background_removed_image_x5KLRjOsQMGL6jgPS4Hiew.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/background_removed_image_x5KLRjOsQMGL6jgPS4Hiew.png\",\"width\":1312,\"height\":736,\"caption\":\"Maldives Business Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mvbiztimes\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/mvbiztimes\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/person\/a0eedc1134716e7c8e4da095494670c2\",\"name\":\"Mohamed Reehaan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac0f3a9111db774c387735910f0eeee4432a0db79cc936fe00f3f0fb05f1af6c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac0f3a9111db774c387735910f0eeee4432a0db79cc936fe00f3f0fb05f1af6c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mohamed Reehaan\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?author=4\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs - Maldives Business Times","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs - Maldives Business Times","og_description":"The Ministry of Economic Development has introduced initiatives to offer grants of USD6,500 to 200 small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Maldives. Under the Maldives: Enhancing Employability and Resilience of Youth (MEERY) project, funded by the World Bank, the grants for women-led businesses and grants for tailoring businesses programs have been launched. The inaugural","og_url":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126","og_site_name":"Maldives Business Times","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mvbiztimes","article_published_time":"2023-05-23T07:33:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mohamed Reehaan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mvbiztimes","twitter_site":"@mvbiztimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mohamed Reehaan","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126"},"author":{"name":"Mohamed Reehaan","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/person\/a0eedc1134716e7c8e4da095494670c2"},"headline":"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs","datePublished":"2023-05-23T07:33:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126"},"wordCount":207,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg","keywords":["Ministry of Economic Development","Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)","small to medium enterprises","SME Hub","SMEs"],"articleSection":["BUSINESS"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126","url":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126","name":"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs - Maldives Business Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg","datePublished":"2023-05-23T07:33:40+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/SME-Hub-Maldives-1.jpg","width":1024,"height":683},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=6126#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Economic Ministry to grant USD6,500 to 200 SMEs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/","name":"Maldives Business Times","description":"Maldives Business Times delivers timely and in-depth English news on business, economy, and breaking events in the Maldives.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#organization","name":"Maldives Business Times","url":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/background_removed_image_x5KLRjOsQMGL6jgPS4Hiew.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/background_removed_image_x5KLRjOsQMGL6jgPS4Hiew.png","width":1312,"height":736,"caption":"Maldives Business Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mvbiztimes","https:\/\/x.com\/mvbiztimes"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/person\/a0eedc1134716e7c8e4da095494670c2","name":"Mohamed Reehaan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac0f3a9111db774c387735910f0eeee4432a0db79cc936fe00f3f0fb05f1af6c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac0f3a9111db774c387735910f0eeee4432a0db79cc936fe00f3f0fb05f1af6c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mohamed Reehaan"},"url":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?author=4"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}