It's all about the money!

I was at a very interesting Dungarvan & West Waterford Chamber event this morning about the Funding available to enterprise in Ireland. There were speakers there from Enterprise Ireland, LEO, Waterford LEADER Partnership, Department of Social Protection, Glor na nGael and RIKON, all of whom have attractive funding and enterprise support services on offer.





The following is a summary of my key takeaways from this morning, along with links to the various agencies - there is help out there

Enterprise Ireland 

Enterprise Ireland supports high potential start-ups and existing businesses with propensity to trade internationally. They work mainly with manufacturing and internationally traded services, with the potential to create >10 jobs within a short timeframe. Grants include:

Competitive Start: Aimed at start-ups this grant is for €50,000 with the client raising €5000 themselves. The trade-off is 10% equity goes to Enterprise Ireland. The fund accommodates 15 businesses per call and is a highly competitive process.

New Frontiers: Aimed at individuals with innovative business ideas the programme is delivered over two phases. Phase 1 is a 6 week free training programme and phase 2 is an intensive fulltime development programme with a €15,000 stipend paid to participants

Get more information on the various Enterprise Ireland supports available here

LEO 

LEO supports micro business (<10 employees) from start-up through all stages of business. Their supports are broken into two measures; Measure 1 and Measure 2

Measure 1
Measure 1 supports are open to manufacturing (including craft, software & food) clients and can be used for innovation and capital projects.

Measure 2 
Measure 2 supports are broader and can be used by any micro enterprise. The following are some very attractive grants available:

• Trading Online Vouchers: 50% of up to €5,000 to be used for website development, e-commerce, web photography, online advertising and digital marketing 
• Marketing Assistance Grant: 50% of €800-€2,000 for marketing, can be used for trade fairs, marketing collateral, etc 
• Employment Grant: Between €8,000 to €15,000 for creating a job 

Get more information on the various LEO supports here


Department of Social Protection 

Employment Services through the Department of Social Protection incentivises the creation of jobs.

• There is a free recruitment website called www.jobsireland.ie where employers can advertise roles for free. 
• The Jobbridge scheme allows enterprises to take on an intern for a period of 6-9 months www.jobbridge.ie
• The Jobsplus scheme rewards employers for taking on someone from the live register with grants of up to €10,000 www.jobsplus.ie 
• If a small business owner is self-employed and encounters a serious drop in turnover, that person may be eligible for a Jobseekers payment www.welfare.ie 

Waterford LEADER Partnership 

Waterford LEADER Partnership support rural development and regeneration. Their next funding cycle will run from 2015-2020 but hasn't been finalised yet.

They are eager to hear from you so that you can start your application process prior to the release of funds - contact your local office here

Udaras na Gaeltachta 

• There is limited funding available for gno as Gaeilge 
• Signage: 50% of up to €6,000 
• Bilingual website or literature: 50% of up to €2,000 

More information here 

Glor na nGael 

Glor na nGael are a new support centre for those who wish to work through Irish and you can contact them here  

RIKON 

RIKON help to design sustainable business models. They have a raft of expertise in business, marketing, operations, lean manufacturing and other business related areas. There are 45 members of staff, each with specialist knowledge. RIKON administer the Innovation Voucher Scheme on behalf of Enterprise Ireland - a fund worth up to €5,000 per voucher 

More information here