The House of Entrepreneurship has launched a dedicated Financing Unit to simplify access to public funding for businesses.
Despite Luxembourg’s rich ecosystem of state aid schemes, navigating them remains a challenge for many entrepreneurs. The new Financing Unit within the Chamber of Commerce aims to bring clarity, coordination, and efficiency to business support — starting with getting the timing right. Interview with Stéphanie Damgé, Director of Entrepreneurship, Chamber of Commerce.
“Many entrepreneurs submit their applications too late — often after a project has already launched or contracts have been signed. This mismatch renders businesses ineligible, even when their project perfectly meets the criteria.”
Stéphanie Damgé, Director of Entrepreneurship, Chamber of Commerce
Many entrepreneurs miss out on grants simply because they apply too late. What is the most common mistake you see, and how does the Financing Unit address it?
In a demanding economic environment — marked by high costs, rapid technological change and investment uncertainty — public support schemes are a vital lever for businesses to invest, innovate and remain competitive. The Luxembourg government offers an extensive range of state aid instruments covering business creation, investment, digitalisation, innovation, internationalisation and environmental transition.
Yet many entrepreneurs fail to access the support they are entitled to. The sheer number of schemes, the diversity of contact points and the administrative complexity all contribute to a lack of clarity that discourages uptake.
The most common mistake is a matter of timing. Many entrepreneurs submit their applications too late — often after a project has already launched or contracts have been signed. The majority of Luxembourg’s aid schemes require applications to be filed before any formal commitment is made. This mismatch renders businesses ineligible, even when their project perfectly meets the criteria.
The Financing Unit was created precisely to address this issue. Housed within the House of Entrepreneurship at the Chamber of Commerce, its mission is to make the funding landscape easier to navigate, to support businesses upstream of their administrative steps, and to simplify access to available procedures. By centralising information, raising awareness at the right moment, and applying a logic aligned with the “once only” principle, the Unit is helping make the system more accessible, more transparent and more effective. The goal is clear: to enable entrepreneurs to fully leverage existing schemes and maximise the overall impact of public financial support.
“The Financing Unit acts as a structured relay between the field and public decision-makers — feeding observed trends and recurring pain points directly back to the Ministry of the Economy.”
Stéphanie Damgé, Director of Entrepreneurship, Chamber of Commerce
The Unit is expected to channel field-level challenges back to decision-makers. How will that work in practice with the Ministry of the Economy?
The Financing Unit also acts as a structured relay between the field and public decision-makers. Each advisory session provides us with a clearer picture of the difficulties businesses actually face: questions around application deadlines, eligibility criteria, administrative complexity, identifying the right contact, or lack of clarity around available schemes.
This intelligence will feed into structured recommendations addressed to the Ministry of the Economy, contributing to the continuous improvement of public aid instruments. The Unit will be able to highlight observed trends and recurring pain points, propose areas for adjustment, and support broader thinking on how to make the system more accessible and effective.
This approach rests on ongoing dialogue between frontline actors and public authorities, ensuring that aid schemes remain properly aligned with the real needs of businesses. The House of Entrepreneurship’s proximity to entrepreneurs allows this field-level insight to be fed back in a structured, constructive way.
“Our ambition is that, in a year’s time, more entrepreneurs will be factoring financing questions into their plans early enough to fully benefit from the support available.”
Stéphanie Damgé, Director of Entrepreneurship, Chamber of Commerce
How will you measure the Unit’s success after its first year?
The success of the Financing Unit will not be measured solely by the number of appointments held, but above all by its tangible impact on businesses.
We will start by analysing service uptake: the number of businesses that have engaged with the Unit, whether for one-off queries or full advisory support. Profiling those businesses — by size, sector and development stage — will help us assess the Unit’s ability to reach a diverse and representative cross-section of the Luxembourg entrepreneurial ecosystem. We will also track the type of aid requested, so as to better understand real market needs and identify the most sought-after schemes.
We will also monitor the number of aid measures actually secured by businesses we have supported — including the proportion that go on to submit at least one formal application, and the total amount of funding mobilised thanks to our assistance.
Finally, we will maintain ongoing follow-up with businesses we have accompanied, to measure their satisfaction, the relevance of the advice provided, and the broader impact on their operations. Our ambition is that, in a year’s time, more entrepreneurs will be factoring financing questions into their plans early enough to fully benefit from the support available.
