Finnpartnership Business Partnership Support for Ukraine: who can apply, funding rates and why applications are rejected

Business Partnership Support (BPS) is a discretionary government grant from Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, paid from development cooperation funds. It helps Finnish companies and organisations build long-term, profitable business and partnerships in developing markets that also have development impacts; a “particular aim is to create sustainable and decent jobs”. The Finnpartnership programme, managed by Finnfund, gives the Ministry a statement on each application, and the Ministry makes the decision.

BPS can be applied for throughout the year. There is no call deadline.

1. Ukraine track record

• As of 10 September 2026, Finnpartnership had supported “over 80 projects in Ukraine, totalling nearly 14 million euros”. That is “around one-third of all funding granted between 2022 and 2026”, and Ukraine has become the programme’s most popular target country. (On 4 June 2026 the figures were 70 projects and €11.9 million.)
• The most popular sectors for Ukraine projects are construction and energy, alongside IT, education and healthcare.
• The first Ukraine grant, in early 2023, went to RTL Inductives, which moved its production from Russia to Ukraine. Other published examples include Peikko Group, Niemi Palvelut and Sirav.

2. Who can apply

Only entities registered or operating in Finland can apply:

• a company registered in Finland (limited company, general or limited partnership, or sole proprietor)
• a public institution registered in Finland
• a research institution, university, cooperative, chamber of commerce or similar operating in Finland
• an NGO or association registered in Finland
• a consortium of these, in which each member applies separately

“The grant applicant must be the implementer of the project and the project must be significant to its operations.”

Companies from other Nordic countries cannot apply directly. They would need a Finnish entity.

3. Project types and supported phases

Under the terms in force from 1 January 2026, BPS supports five project types:

1. Long-term business partnership: a joint venture, a subsidiary, imports to Finland, subcontracting, maintenance, franchising or licensing, or developing an existing business.
2. Piloting with an ODA-eligible international organisation. A signed letter of intent is required.
3. Feasibility study for an investment project. The project must be eligible for Finland’s Public Sector Investment Facility (PIF), or, at the Ministry’s discretion in least developed and lower-middle-income countries, involve an investment of at least €1 million and a letter of intent with the financier.
4. Support functions by civil society organisations and educational or research institutions linked to a company’s BPS project.
5. Innovation financing linked to an R&D project funded by Business Finland or an ELY Centre. A favourable statement from them is required.

Phases that can be supported: partner identification; feasibility study; business plan; environmental and social impact assessment; piloting and demonstrations; training of local staff (up to 300 workdays per project); and development of an existing business (up to 100 training workdays, and only if there is a local company registration or cooperation agreement and one year of substantial turnover).

Limits on repeat funding in the 2025–2027 programme period: at most two pilots per recipient per project type; one feasibility study at a time, and at most two every three years; innovation funding one at a time, at most two.

4. Funding rates and limits for Ukraine

In the 2026 terms, Ukraine is grouped with lower-middle-income, low-income, least developed and extremely fragile countries, which receive the higher support rates:

Two project types have a single rate that is the same in both country categories and does not depend on company size:

• Support functions (civil society organisations, educational institutions and research institutes): 85%.
• Innovation funding (all enterprises, including large enterprises): 70%.

*EU SME definition: fewer than 250 employees, and turnover of no more than €50 million or a balance sheet of no more than €43 million.

Not all Ukraine projects get 70%: Finnpartnership’s Ukraine page highlights 70% for SMEs, but that rate applies to long-term partnership and piloting projects. Feasibility studies get 50% (SMEs) or 30% (large enterprises).

Amounts:

• Minimum €15,000 per application.
• Maximum €400,000 per project, or €150,000 for feasibility studies of investment projects.
• Self-financing of 15–70% is required, and it cannot come from another grant.

The €400,000 maximum applies when the support is not granted as de minimis aid. Under de minimis, the €300,000 ceiling, which includes the company’s other de minimis aid, limits the amount.

De minimis aid: “In principle, Business Partnership Support is de minimis aid.” The terms set a limit of €300,000 per undertaking over the current and previous two fiscal years, counting all de minimis aid the company has received (for example from Finnvera, ELY Centres or Business Finland). Projects whose impacts do not affect the European Economic Area do not fall under de minimis.

Check the de minimis limit with Finnpartnership: the terms refer to Regulation (EU) No 1407/2013 but give a €300,000 limit. Since 1 January 2024 de minimis aid falls under Regulation (EU) 2023/2831: €300,000 over any rolling three-year period. Regulation 1407/2013 had €200,000 over the current and previous two fiscal years. Finnpartnership’s terms still cite 1407/2013 and use the fiscal-year wording, but its 2026 de minimis application form (appendix 4) says €300,000 “over a three-year period … continuously assessed”. Confirm with Finnpartnership how the limit is applied in your case.

5. Costs: what is and is not eligible

• Costs are eligible from the date the application is registered. Do not start spending before that.
• Own staff costs are capped at €500 per day.
• Costs are calculated without VAT, unless VAT is a final cost for the applicant.
• Normal business costs are not eligible.
• An application is rejected if eligible BPS costs are 30% or less of the project’s total costs.
• No double funding with other Ministry for Foreign Affairs instruments. A separate statement is required.

6. How to apply, step by step

1. Attend a monthly virtual application workshop. Finnpartnership recommends this for Ukraine applicants.
2. Log in to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs e-services as a private individual. Your company must give you a Suomi.fi mandate with the right mandate theme (“Applying for subsidies”), so that the “Development cooperation cases” tab is visible in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs e-service.
3. Fill in the Basic Information Sheet and attach: a trade register extract (no more than three months old); the two latest financial statements (plus the latest available profit and loss account and balance sheet if at least six months have passed since the end of the last financial period); and the group parent company’s statements, if applicable. Registration usually takes 1–3 days.
4. Fill in the project application (“application for discretionary government transfer”) and attach: the budgeted costs (Excel); the development impact questionnaire; the Employers’ Sanctions Directive affirmation; the de minimis non-applicability form (if relevant); and the R&D-link form (for innovation funding).
5. Wait for processing. You receive an acknowledgement with a UHA code and an eight-digit intervention code. Answer any requests for more information. The decision arrives via the e-service. Appeals go to the Ministry’s Registry, not through the e-service.

Finnpartnership’s Ukraine page names Ville Jokinen, Senior Programme Officer, as the contact for Ukraine.

7. Why Ukraine applications get rejected

According to Finnpartnership (10 September 2026):

• The rejection rate for Ukraine applications has been slightly higher than for other countries.
• The most common reasons are the applicant’s insufficient financial resources or poor financial situation, and lack of experience in the project’s sector.
• Projects implemented entirely by consultants do not comply with the terms. The company needs “its own genuine capacity to establish itself in Ukraine and the desire to implement the project on the ground itself”.

From the terms: applications in which eligible BPS costs are 30% or less of the total are rejected automatically.

Our own advice – before applying, check that: your latest financial statements show you can carry your share of the costs; your team has relevant sector experience; the company has its own genuine capacity and takes part in the work on the ground itself (projects done entirely by consultants are rejected); eligible costs clearly exceed 30% of total project costs; and you can pre-finance the whole project, because the grant is paid afterwards.

8. After the grant: payment, reporting and risks

• The grant is paid afterwards, in one or two instalments, against audited actual costs. You must pre-finance the project.
• The payment request must be submitted within 24 months of being notified of the grant decision.
• A follow-up questionnaire arrives no later than two years after the project ends. Records must be kept for 10 years.
• Risk clause: if a country is removed from the OECD/DAC list of ODA recipients, the Ministry cannot make payments for projects there.

Programme period: the repeat-funding limits refer to the 2025–2027 programme period. We have not checked what applies after 2027.

9. Next steps after Finnpartnership

• For investments of €5 million or more in a private Ukrainian company, see our Finnfund guide.
• For export credit risk, see our Finnvera and SISU guide.
• For market advice and partner search, see our Business Finland and Team Finland guide.