COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, April 13, 2015
QUESTION NO.10
QUESTION: Councillor P. Gogarty
To ask the Chief Executive to outline its current involvements in encouraging business start-ups and entrepeneurial activities in the County either directly or in consultation with other agencies?
REPLY:
The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) directly encourages business start-ups and entrepreneurial activities in the County through a combination of
- direct funding for start-up and expansion in eligible sectors
- a programme of non-financial supports such as:
- enterprise promotion,
- information and advice,
- training
- networking.
Among the results achieved by the LEO in 2014 and were the following:
- Approved €581,268 to 29 projects supporting the creation of 60 additional jobs in 2014
- Approved Business Step up Grants of €27,052 to 14 projects in 2014.
- Provided Mentoring clinics to 394 clients and one to one mentoring to 31 clients at a cost of €44,037 in 2014
- Youth Entrepreneurship: Academic year 2014-015 – Primary Second level & third level programmes underway, concluding in Q2 of 2015
- 40 training courses and seminars delivered to 482 participants at a cost of €50,090.
- Accelerate Management Development programme commenced November with 5 South Dublin businesses taking part
- Food Academy Start –. A third Academy commencing 3rd October – to date 7 early stage food companies.
- Plato network programme continuing with 15 South Dublin participants
- "State Supports for Business" seminar held in County Library Tallaght attended by 24 participants
The LEO operates under the Directorate of Economic Enterprise and Tourism Development which has a wider and more strategic remit but which also engages directly in providing supports to local small businesses. In particular, the LEO has been centrally involved in the Business Support Grant initiative, for which the Council in 2014 & 2015 has made c 1% of rate income available to directly support business in the county. Under this scheme agrant of up to €650 was offered to over 4500 compliant rate-paying businesses with a rates liability of €10,000 or less. The scheme has been continued into the current year and an approach to the spending of the fund available over and above the individual grants has been agreed under which 60% will be spent on capital upgrading works in commercial areas, 30% will be spent on support for Innovation, start-up advice and supports, including incubation space and 10% will be spend on training targeted at needs originally identified in the economic profile of the County in 2014 and further refined by a survey of skills needs among local businesses.
The services of a Sustainable Business Advisor is made available to South Dublin businesses, in conjunction with the South Dublin Chamber, to advise them on all aspects of reducing costs and increasing capacity/revenue through implementation of sustainable business principles in all aspects of their businesses and to promote the concepts of sustainable business generally
The Council has also cooperated with the South Dublin Chamber in commissioning a business survey incorporating 4500 businesses. The resulting direct contact with our business community, the empirical results of the survey and the resulting database of businesses has radically improved the Council’s engagement with business in the County.
The LEO will continue to develop and refine its approach to supporting businesses in the future, as part of the wider Economic Enterprise and Tourism Development Directorate and in cooperation with its local and national partners.