Old plant becomes modern European enterprise

One of the oldest enterprises for wheat and rice processing in Bulgaria is about to become the most modern plant in the European Union. The history of the plant is told by Slavyanka Hatipova, member of the Board of Directors.

The enterprise is one of the few left from the times of socialism that has a chance for a new life. The owners decided to take advantage of the Rural Development Program (RDP) and turn the old plant into the most modern rice processing plant in Europe.

"Our company is applying under the RDP, Measure 123, for overall repairs – painting, replacement of roof panels and flooring," Slavyanka Hatipova says and further shares that the project completion dates put a little pressure on them because they were delayed trying to find funding for such a large-scale investment. It took them a while until they got to the information about the possibility to get security from the National Guarantee Fund.

"When applying for a loan, the function of the Guarantee Fund is, indeed, quite big, I would even say decisive. Banks look at you differently when you apply for a loan and have security provided by NGF. In our case, this really helped a lot," Hatipova explains.
In the old rice mill, they are already installing paddy processing machines. The project must be completed by September, after which there will inevitably be finishing works, which cannot be financed under Measure 123.

"When one starts to implement a project under an operational program, they see that not everything can be fully covered, there are things that cannot be 100% included in the relevant program, so the business needs additional extracurricular lending," Slavyanka Hatipova says.