Business Vouchers: What Are the Walloon Business Vouchers (Cheques-Entreprises)?

What Are the Business Vouchers (Cheques-Entreprises)?

Business vouchers (cheques-entreprises) are a subsidy scheme established by the Walloon Region to support SMEs in their development, digitalization and transformation efforts. This modular system allows companies to receive partial funding for services provided by accredited service providers: consultants, trainers, cybersecurity experts and digital strategy coaches.

The principle is straightforward: the company selects an accredited provider in the relevant field, orders a business voucher covering part of the service cost, and only pays the difference. The system is designed to be accessible and fast, with lighter administrative management compared to traditional R&D subsidies.

For Walloon SMEs considering a custom software development project, business vouchers often represent the first step: a digital maturity assessment to identify needs, followed by strategic support to scope the project before launching the actual development.

Types of Vouchers

The Walloon Region offers several voucher categories, each addressing a specific SME need:

• Digital maturity voucher: funds a digital maturity assessment of the company by an accredited expert. The audit covers processes, tools, skills and digital strategy. This is the ideal starting point before any digitalization project. The subsidy covers up to 50% of the cost, with a ceiling of 5,000 euros.
• Cybersecurity voucher: enables an IT security audit and recommendations to strengthen data and system protection. This voucher covers up to 75% of the cost for small businesses, a particularly generous rate.
• Growth consulting voucher: funds strategic consulting services to support company growth, including the definition of a digitalization strategy. The subsidy covers up to 50% of the cost, with a ceiling of 20,000 euros.
• Training voucher: funds training for employees and managers in areas related to digital transformation, management, financial management or technical skills.
• Project management voucher: funds external support for transformation project management, ensuring professional change management.

Eligibility Criteria

To benefit from business vouchers, the following conditions must be met:

• Operating base in Wallonia: the company must have an establishment in the Walloon Region territory.
• SME status: the company must meet the European SME definition (fewer than 250 employees and turnover below 50 million euros).
• Accredited provider: the service must be performed by a provider listed in the catalogue of providers accredited by the Walloon Region.
• No excessive cumulation: annual ceilings limit the total amount of vouchers a company can use within a given period.

How It Works

The process for obtaining a business voucher is deliberately simplified:

1. The company identifies its need and selects an accredited provider from the online catalogue.
2. It orders the corresponding business voucher on the Walloon Region's digital platform.
3. The service is delivered by the accredited provider.
4. The company pays its share (the difference between the total cost and the subsidy amount).
5. The provider receives the subsidy payment directly from the Walloon Region.

The entire process is paperless and can be completed within a few days, making it one of the most agile subsidy mechanisms in Belgium.

Concrete Example

A Walloon SME with 25 employees in the agri-food sector realizes that its order management and production tracking processes are still manual and error-prone. It wants to digitalize but does not know where to start.

By engaging an accredited consultant through a digital maturity voucher (cost of 4,000 euros, subsidy of 2,000 euros), it obtains a complete digital maturity assessment and a prioritized action plan. The report recommends developing a business platform integrating order management, production tracking and batch traceability.

The company then uses a growth consulting voucher (cost of 15,000 euros, subsidy of 7,500 euros) to have a detailed specification document prepared with the support of a strategic consultant. This specification is then handed over to KERN-IT for custom platform development.

In total, the company has invested 9,500 euros out of pocket for a professional assessment and specification that would have cost 19,000 euros without subsidies. It approaches the development project with a clear vision and a controlled budget.

Combination with Other Subsidies

Business vouchers combine effectively with other funding mechanisms:

• Upstream phase: use vouchers to fund the project diagnostic and strategic scoping.
• Development phase: if the project has an R&D dimension, apply for a subsidy from SPW Research or, in case of inter-regional collaboration, the BEL-SME or BEL-COO program.
• Tax optimization phase: the R&D tax credit can apply as a complement if the company employs researchers.

This phased approach maximizes public funding at each stage of the project, while reducing risks by validating the concept before committing to development.

Conclusion

Walloon business vouchers are a pragmatic and accessible funding tool for SMEs looking to start or accelerate their digital transformation. Their strength lies in their ease of access, speed of implementation and complementarity with other more substantial subsidy mechanisms. For KERN-IT's Walloon clients, business vouchers represent the ideal first milestone: a professional diagnostic and structured specification document that lay the foundations for a successful and well-calibrated software development project.