Today Malta Enterprise has launched a stakeholder consultation process for a national Malta Startup Framework
With this strategy we want to create a framework that is really designed to cater exclusively for the needs of start-ups. This continues to reinforce the strong commitment that Government and Malta Enterprise have towards start-ups.
We want to reach out to each and every member of our start-up eco-system to listen and understand better what this framework should incorporate. The framework is divided into three main thematic areas being:
- Equity Simplification,
- Fiscal Environment, and
- Human capital
Each of these areas will look into a number of components such as share awards and share options, engagement with apprentices and interns to engage more actively with start-ups, support further R&D work carried by these companies, skills development and attraction of talent.
These are just some of the facets that the framework will look into. A staggered approach will be adopted where the most critical and important areas to enhance our competitiveness will be addressed first.
We will be kicking off our efforts by initially focusing our efforts to bolster our competitiveness. To do so we will initially determine what a start-up is. Internationally there is no single definition of what a start-up is. Thus, we will start by defining this concept.
Our attention will then go on equity simplification which will include efforts related to enhancing further incentives related to share options and awards, business angels, institutional and retail investors as well as mergers and acquisitions.
Through this task we will also seek to address different concepts related to administrative simplification. We do understand that over the years, a number of doing business elements have accumulated unnecessary bureaucratic processes.
This framework belongs to the start-up community and thus we are seeking to receive ideas as to the areas that we might not have identified but that should form an integral part of the work that we will be doing. We are relying on your business acumen to propose actual schemes that one could consider for implementation. This framework will be about discussing and implementing what is necessary to drive forward our start-up eco-system.
The Malta Startup Framework document is now available online for consultation. We will be announcing a number of sessions where Malta Enterprise will be hosting group consultation sessions. We also remain open to meet also on a one to one basis to discuss your ideas as to how together we can elevate further Malta’s attractiveness as a start-up hub so please do reach out to us. We are eager to receive valuable feedback from all stakeholders as it plays an integral role in our journey to nurture and enhance a thriving startup ecosystem.