Self-employed income support program

COVID-19 took the world by surprise in 2020 as the outbreak turned into a pandemic, causing a global lockdown. Businesses slowly shut down, dining-in and service appointments were no longer available face-to-face and the world was forced into embracing online interactions.

Everything from catching up with families to doctor appointments was conducted through online applications such as Zoom and Google Meet. And while a lot of big businesses adapted to this form of conducting their business regardless of the struggles  - not everyone had the means to instantly move their business to an e-commerce platform.

Many local and small businesses were faced with the difficulty of managing everything from home and this was a bigger task than many could imagine. Much of the resources that people needed to produce goods were no longer within reach as borders and stores closed down, meaning people had to get creative with what was available: which would not work for all businesses as they might require specific raw materials to produce their final product. 

And with that, the world saw many businesses facing financial hardship and some local favourites going out of business due to difficulties faced during the pandemic. While some people built their businesses during the free time they got during COVID-19, this was not the reality for everyone as many were also going out of business.

In order to help self-employed businesses that were financially affected due to the pandemic, the Ministry of Economic Development  of the Maldives in partnership with the World Bank has started a project named the ‘COVID-19 emergency income support project’.

The application for the grant of MVR 60,000 is now open for specific sectors.

Sectors opened for the grant include:

The application for the  500 slots that are open to receive for the first round of grants are open until the 31st of October 2022.