Jerusalem Mayor Leon completes the business reform with an additional benefit for the business owners: The Jerusalem Municipality will distribute grants up to NIS 280,000 in order to upgrade the facades of commercial centers – In an important message to business owners in the shopping centers in the neighborhoods of the city, the Jerusalem Municipality announced its plan. After extensive preparatory work and understanding of the business owners’ needs as part of the upgrade of the commercial centers, the Business Promotion Division, together with the Eden Company, is publishing the financial grants for upgrading storefronts this week.

The grants program is part of a comprehensive move to improve and upgrade the businesses and centers in the neighborhoods, which contribute greatly to local trade and the interaction between business owners and residents.

Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Leon: “As a direct continuation of the business reform, and after renovations that have undergone many commercial centers in the city, today we announce another significant relief for the small and medium business owners in the city. This is a project that will improve the visibility of the public space and will also upgrade the businesses themselves.”

Yair Gabbai, Director of the Business Administration Department at the Jerusalem Municipality’s Business Promotion Division, said: “The new grants will help both the business owners and the commercial centers, and I hope that the business owners will realize the offered grants.”

As noted, the grants program is part of an ongoing process of the Jerusalem Municipality under the heading “Returning the businesses to the neighborhood.” Only recently was the small business reform initiated by the mayor at its center, the cancellation of the signage fee for the central sign for each business, the reduction of fees levied on businesses and the easing of the municipal bureaucracy that made it difficult for business owners. In recent months, the municipality has been renovating the shopping centers in the neighborhoods, with a total investment of approximately NIS 16 million, out of the concept of commercial centers as an economic, cultural and community anchor in the neighborhood.

In addition to the renewal and physical and cultural nurturing, with the cooperation of the Division for the Advancement of Business in the Municipality, a program of training and professional courses for business owners will be conducted, such as upgrading the shop window, business management, inventory management, online sales etc. This will be a basic and comprehensive guide for anyone interested in starting a business in a commercial center and will include all the information necessary for a business owner in the fields of supervision, licensing, architecture and more.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)