The President’s Office has on Monday announced its founding of the Business Center Corporation Limited, which holds itself especially to regulate institutions on small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The state-owned corporation, with a share capital comprising of five million – each worth MVR 10, will also preside over loan schemes and is a commercial entity by itself, and as such is entitled to commence business as stipulated under the Companies Act.

The government had launched a loan-scheme for SMEs in 2015, which allows recipients to draw up to MVR 50 million. The scheme, as it was described by the President’s Office, prioritizes import and export and aims at aiding businesses belonging to women and the youth.

Only businesses with total local ownership is entitled to this loan – meaning that all partners should be Maldivian.

The law on SMEs cover micro, small, and medium enterprises. It specifies that, to be a micro-enterprise, a business can only have six employees or less employees and generate an annual profit not exceeding MVR 500,000.

To be classified a small-enterprise, a business should have less than 30 employees and generate not more than MVR 500,000 annually. A medium-sized-enterprise can only have a hundred employees and generate up to MVR 20 million annually.