$30,000 subsidy program by the Government of Japan
Do you know Japanese Government really wants to attract international entrepreneurs to boost Japanese economy?
Still so many things to improve, but the Government is really making effort to support entrepreneurs, and distributing financial support to those who aim.
One of the entrepreneurs from the US successfully received 3-million-yen investment (grant) from the Government of Japan, and he shares his story.
→ Jump to his story on Disrupting Japan Podcast
創業助成事業 (So-gyo-jo-sei-ji-gyo) is one of the most useful subsidy program for the individuals planning to start business as a sole-proprietor and launch a company soon, and early-stage startups (less than 5 years after starting a business). Let’s just call it “Entrepreneurs’ subsidy” for now.
You can cover various kinds of expenses like
- Office rent, equipment in your office
- Human Resource
- PR tools, advertisement
and so on!
You will create a business plan with financial sheet for the up coming 3 years. Based on the financial sheet, you can ask how much subsidy you would like to get up to 3 million yen. It can cover no more than 2/3 of the total expenses.
The application period is usually twice in a year, and each of the local governments accepts the application in Spring and Autumn.
For example, on 2018 the first application period was from April 13th to 23rd, and the second will be open on November 1st and closed on 9th.
You have to fill out many criteria to apply for this subsidy based on their guideline, for instance, moving into one of the incubation offices offered by Tokyo Metropolitan Government, completing “plan consulting” offered by Tokyo Metropolitan Small and Medium Enterprise Support Center (the supplier of this subsidy), receiving loan of “TMG’s loan program for SME and startups” … etc.
There are 16 criteria and you can choose either one of them to match the criteria. It approximately takes half a year to prepare for the application, so let’s get ready for FY2019 application.
There are 2,000-3,000 kinds of subsidy programs in all over Japan, but all the information is in Japanese for now.
I, in collaboration with TOSBEC (Tokyo One-Stop Business Establishment Center), organize events to let entrepreneurs in Tokyo know about these subsidy programs as well as some methods to raise fund, get visa, and some tips for startups. All the information is on our Facebook Page.
Hope we can create a better startup environment for entrepreneurs.
