Financial support for MINATO-KU business owners!
As all of you in Tokyo know, MINATO-KU (港区) is the richest ward in Tokyo. Some of the top tech companies (like Google) moved to Shibuya-ku, most of the financial institutions concentrate in Chiyoda-ku, but Minato-ku still holds the biggest number of “rich” companies in Tokyo.
Since these companies are concentrated in Minato-ku, it seems like Minato-ku holds enough cash to distribute for SMEs based in Minato-ku. As far as I researched, it has more subsidy programs than the other wards, municipalities and cities and provides loan programs for SMEs. Let’s take a look one by one. Usually the information is uploaded after April (when the financial year starts every year), and the below is the information in FY2019. Minato-ku offers the similar subsidy programs every year, so the information should not change too much this year from last year. The important criteria — ALL THE SUBSIDY/LOAN APPLICANTS NEED TO BE BASED IN MINATO-KU!
1. Subsidy to exhibit at some exhibition
1/2 of the total expense will be covered up to 150,000 JPY for exhibitions in Japan, and 500,000 JPY for exhibitions in abroad. The below is the expense that Minato-ku based SMEs can cover.
- Space rental fee
- Decoration for the space
- Transportation fee
- Printing brochure
- Fee for translators and interpretators
2. Subsidy to create a website
1/2 of the total expense will be covered up to 100,000 JPY. The below is the expense that you can cover.
- Contents creation
- Contract with a provider
- Server fee
- Domain fee
- Software to create a website
3. Subsidy to develop a new technology
2/3 of the total expense will be covered up to 100,000 JPY. The below is the expense that you can cover.
- Use of equipment
- Experiment
- Implementation of technical assistance
4. Subsidy to get patent
1/2 of the total expense will be covered up to 250,000 JPY to get patent. The below is the expense that you can cover.
- Application fee
- Examination process
- Registration fee
- Consultation fee for Patent Attorney
5. Subsidy for succession of a business for Small Business
1/2 of the total expense will be covered up to 3 million JPY. The below is the expense that you can cover.
*The budget for this subsidy is restricted.
*Only for manufacturer, retailer, restaurant, laundry, barber, hair salon, or any services attached to service that we use in our daily life.
- Renewing old equipments
- Renovating equipments and interiors
- Buying new equipments to innovate the business
6. Subsidy to support office rent
1/3 of the office rent will be covered up to 50,000 JPY per month for 12 months. Only for 25 Minato-ku companies!!
All the detailed information is on MINATO A LA CARTE website.
https://www.minato-ala.net/guide/
Please keep your eyes on this website in April!!
