Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2013
369. Deputy Dominic Hannigan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if any consideration has been given by him to the idea of a small business Saturday which has been running in the United States since 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27775/13]
View answerI would like to thank the Deputy for bringing this campaign to my attention. In 2010 American Express created the Small Business Saturday movement to encourage people to shop at their local business on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
To reach as many people as possible, American Express made Facebook the hub of its marketing efforts for the initiative. Both multinationals have promoted this initiative through incentivised measures for participants such as free advertising on Facebook or free credit from American Express when dealing with participating merchants.
The Deputy will be aware that a similar initiative, Fiver Friday, is already underway in Ireland. This campaign was established by an Irish entrepreneur, Mark Beggs, with the aim of promoting and supporting local Irish businesses. This campaign encourages consumers to spend just five euros locally in order to support local enterprises and jobs. The Fiver Friday has also utilised social media networks such as Facebook to garner support across Ireland.
While the campaign in the United States has been established and promoted by two multinationals, the Irish campaign is the result of small scale private enterprise coming together to stimulate and protect small businesses in their local economy. It is clear that both campaigns have been very successful in their objective to stimulate and promote small business in their local economies. Such initiatives are of course very welcome and are valuable tools in continuing efforts to reinvigorate economies across the globe.
