Sligo County Enterprise Board Supports for Start-ups and SMEs Liam Kiely

 35 County & City Boards, one per Local Authority area  Statutory government agency providing small business supports to micro-enterprise (under 10) – Enterprise Ireland (home owned over 10), IDA (Foreign owned)  A 14 members voluntary board(local business, voluntary groups, business & trade union reps, state agencies, locally elected reps)  Government Restructuring of the CEBs in 2014  Micro-Enterprise and Small Business Division established within Enterprise Ireland  Creation of an enhanced ‘one-stop-shop’ micro-enterprise and small business support model to be delivered through a network of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) located within Local Authorities. The County Enterprise Board Network

Training for Small Business Mentoring and Business Advisory services Financial Supports External programmes Promoting an Enterprise Culture Sligo CEB

Objective: To ensure Owner/Managers & staff have relevant, up to date business skills 2013 Training Programmes  Start your Own Business Programmes  Basic Book-Keeping & Taxation Programmes  Costing & Pricing Workshops  Finance and Taxation Management Programme  Practical Sales & Marketing Programme  Customer Service – the Key to Business Success  Facebook for Business (Beginners & Advanced)  Using LinkedIn to benefit your Business  Innovation & Competitiveness Programme  Financial Accounting Software Training  Tips & Techniques to increase your Sales  Business Website review clinics

Objective: To support businesses with an identified problem/opportunity  General advisory services at office  Targeted Mentoring in a variety of areas: Business Planning, Marketing, Market Research, Sales, Financial Management, Sourcing Finance, Human Resources, Operations, IP & patenting, product development, Quality, Safety, Consolidating costs, Social Media & Online Marketing, E-commerce & web etc. or sector specific mentoring  Up to 85% funded  Extensive Mentoring Panel (50+)  Mentoring is focussing on current difficulties facing businesses  cost savings & restructuring, financial management, accessing finance, marketing & new market development Mentoring & Advisory Services

Objective: To assist eligible businesses with the costs of start-up or expansion Targeting eligible businesses  Main Eligibility Criteria:  Value added product or service  Cannot duplicate or displace existing business  Capability, Market, Own financing  Certain sectors ineligible - Professional services, retail, agriculture, trades 1. Priming Grants/Business Expansionary Grants up to 50%  Costs covered Capital,Employment,Marketing,Consultancy,Training,Utility  Generally no more than €10k grant per new job created 2. Feasibility/Innovation Grants 60%, No more than €20k  Costs covered prototype design & development, consultancy, patenting, third level etc. Financial Supports (Grants) Available

 Market Development/Export Support 50%  External Training Support 50%  Sligo Women in Business Programme facilitated network  Tradelinks Programme – cross border mentoring supports Other Supports Other Supports include:

Additional Supports for SME’s  Microfinance Ireland – lending to higher risk businesses turned down by banks apply through CEB  Seed Capital Scheme – tax refunds for PAYE workers starting up new eligible companies –search IT15  Back to Work Enterprise Allowance unemployed starting in business retain their benefits  JobBridge – 9 month placement for unemployed in business  Revenue JobPlus – payments(€7500/€10000) for those employing unemployed*

Business Planning  To convince others  Banks - for finance  Grant Agencies – for finance/business supports  Investors – for investment/expertise  Suppliers – for supplies  To convince me Why?

Business Planning  Qualifications/Experience - To show you know what your doing  Product Service Description - To tell exactly what your doing(and how you are doing it better/cheaper)  Market Research & Marketing – to show how you are going to make sales  Finance – to show  How you will finance start-up costs  How you will manage cashflow What?

Business Planning  CCAB & Irish Banking Federation Guide  Enterprise Ireland Business Plan Template  Cashflow template How?

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Sligo County Enterprise Board Sligo Development Centre Cleveragh Road Sligo  Search Sligo County Enterprise Board Follow us at: SligoEnterprise-