Business Enhance grants:
every scheme in one guide
for Malta businesses.

Business Enhance is not one grant. It is a family of schemes, each with its own rules, caps and forms. They are part-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and run by the Measures and Support Division, not by Malta Enterprise (announcement of 4 May 2026). Digitalise your SME, the digital grant, sits in the same family and shares the same cut-off dates.

Every amount above is a ceiling, not an award. The grant is a share of what you actually spend on eligible items, and for SME Enhance the application is scored against selection criteria before any money is promised.

SME Enhance is the investment scheme of the family. It part-finances productive investment that helps a small or medium business expand, diversify or innovate. The budget is €6,000,000 and the scheme runs until 31 December 2026, subject to funds (Guidance Notes 1.4, 1.5).

• Grant size: at least €10,000 and at most €128,400, including a 7% flat rate for indirect costs. The €128,400 ceiling counts all your ongoing grants across the schemes, not just this one.
• Equipment and machinery: the main cost. The list includes furniture, fixtures and fittings, equipment, IT equipment (tangible and intangible) and some vehicles linked to your activity.
• Ancillary items: up to 10% of the equipment cost, with a grant of no more than €10,000.
• Premises lease: two years of lease on private operational premises, up to 10% of the equipment cost, or 20% for start-ups.
• Subscription software: two years of the subscription count as the eligible cost.
• Time to deliver: up to 24 months from the grant agreement.

Two limits matter for anyone buying technology. First, projects whose focus is digitalisation that Digitalise your SME would cover are not eligible under SME Enhance (Guidance Notes 2.6). Second, fees for design, marketing and other consultancy, repairs and maintenance, used equipment, mobile phones, network cabling, building works and VAT are excluded.

For quotes, you choose between an Investment Proposal that maps the market, or minimum technical specifications with three similar quotations from three unrelated suppliers for each item. The suppliers must be independent of you and of each other.

Answer four questions and the finder points you to the scheme to read first, with its cap, its share of the cost and the cut-off to aim for.

All the Business Enhance schemes use the fondi.eu application portal, and the basic order is the same. The documents differ by scheme, so treat this as the outline and the Guidance Notes as the rule book.

1. Pick the scheme and read its Guidance Notes. Each scheme has its own Guidance Notes, User Guide to the Application and practical guidelines on fondi.eu. They are binding.
2. Check your size and other aid. Confirm you are a micro, small or medium enterprise, and list any de minimis aid your group received in the last three years.
3. Get the quotation or proposal. For an advisory scheme, one quotation from a registered, unrelated provider. For SME Enhance, an Investment Proposal or three quotations from unrelated suppliers against the same minimum technical specifications.
4. Collect the official documents. The signed declaration, the de minimis declaration where it applies, and an MTCA tax compliance certificate issued no more than three months before you apply. SME Enhance also asks for financial statements.
5. Submit on fondi.eu before a cut-off. Fill in the online application, upload everything and submit before the cut-off date for your scheme.
6. Wait for the grant agreement. Do not sign, order or start anything for the project before the aid is granted. The start date is in the grant agreement.
7. Deliver and claim. Carry out the project within the agreed period, then claim with invoices and proof of payment. Grants are paid back against costs you have paid.

Aiming for 30 November? The tax compliance certificate and the quotations take the longest, so ask for them first. If you are starting now, 14 December is the more realistic date, and submitting a few days early leaves time to fix a file.

Malta Digital is a private company. We do not decide eligibility, we cannot promise funding, and the advisory schemes need a provider from the official register. The funding body decides every application, and you and your accountant handle the forms and the claim.

What we do is the supplier side. For software, systems and IT in an SME Enhance or Digitalise your SME project, we write the minimum technical specification and an itemised quotation, so it can be compared fairly with other suppliers. After the grant agreement is signed, we build it.

Websites. Our web design service in Malta starts with the Professional Website at €990, complete in 24 to 48 hours. The Business Website takes 2 to 4 days, the Growth Website 7 days, and the 24-Hour Premium Website is ready in 24 hours.

Systems and CRM. Custom business systems and CRM systems from €7,500, with the first working version of a custom system in 2 to 4 weeks.

AI and automation. AI automation that takes repetitive work off your team, scoped in writing before we start.

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