Joint venture between the Malta Business Bureau and the University of Malta will now represent Malta at the European Enterprise Promotion Awards

Malta's first crowd-funding platform, Zaar.com.mt, has just been announced the winner of the first prize in its section at the National Enterprise Support Awards 2016.

This also means that Zaar will be one of two local projects that will represent Malta at the European equivalent of this contest - the European Enterprise Promotion Awards 2016, which will be held in Slovakia this coming November.

The Zaar crowd-funding platform, is a joint venture between the Malta Business Bureau and the University of Malta. Its name is an adaptation of the Maltese word żgħar meaning small, however its growth at this early stage has been far from that, particularly thanks to the support of the Ministry for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, the Malta Arts Council and Grant Thornton.

Reacting to this success in the awards, George Vella, chairman of Zaar, said: "This award gives us additional exposure and acknowledgement, as well as further credibility. As a result of this exposure, we will be able to make people more aware of the service we offer with regard to alternative finance."

Asked about the formula for Zaar.com.mt's success, Matthew Caruana, Zaar's newly-appointed manager, said that: "So far, this has been due to the commitment and service we offer and the support we give the teams behind our projects.

"Although crowd-funding in Malta is still a relatively new concept, the opportunities for local entrepreneurs and the local business community are endless. There is also excellent potential for local councils and NGOs to collaborate with the business sector on entrepreneurial and social initiatives. In other words, crowd-funding, spearheaded by Zaar in Malta, has truly opened the doors for public-private initiatives."

The National Enterprise Support Awards are organised by the Commerce Department together with the Enterprise Policy and Schemes Directorate within the Ministry of Economy, Investment and Small Business. Their aim is to reward entities that support entrepreneurship and the promotion of enterprise growth. The competition puts a spotlight on the role of the public sector at a local and national level, by creating the right environment for business and boosting their development with specially conceived projects.