Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 December 2015
236. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will establish a stand-alone national office to support young business entrepreneurs of 18 to 25 years of age that would provide training, mentoring and financial assistance; and the cost of establishing such an office. [46424/15]
View answer237. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will establish a programme for first-time young entrepreneurs of over 18 years of age to provide training and counselling for persons interested in a self-employment career path and the cost of establishing such a programme. [46425/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 236 and 237 together.
The National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship was published in October 2014. It sets out the Government’s strategic objectives as a facilitator within the Irish entrepreneurship ecosystem. It covers the six key elements that impact on entrepreneurs and start-ups and signposts the direction that policy will take in the coming years. This Policy Statement has as one of its stated high level objectives that "we will ensure that greater numbers of people, particularly in underrepresented cohorts such as females, youths and older persons, start and run their own business".
The Policy Statement sets out the six elements of the ecosystem for entrepreneurship as:
- culture, human capital and education;
- business environment and supports;
- innovation;
- access to finance;
- entrepreneurial networks and mentoring; and
- access to markets.
It contains 96 key actions across a range of Government Departments and Agencies, which are designed to deliver improvements across the entire ecosystem. The ambition of the Policy Statement is to increase the number of startups by 25%, to increase the survival rate in the first five years and to improve the capacity to scale by 25% and early indications are that progress is being made on this ambition.
In terms of my own Department and its Agencies a number of supports are available, for those considering starting a business, regardless of age. In relation to business start-ups and expansions in the micro and small business sector the 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are the First Stop Shop for access to advice and support for this business cohort. Supports available include:
- Start-your-own-business training courses,
- Market research information,
- Business planning advice and templates,
- Access to experienced business mentors, and
- Feasibility grants and co-investment for your plans.
In addition to accessing the mainstream supports from the LEOs – where eligible – young entrepreneurs were specifically targeted with the roll-out of the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) competition in 2014 and 2015. The aim of IBYE is to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice and to encourage young people to set up new businesses which will ultimately create jobs.
The competition was open to people aged between the ages of 18-30. First time entrepreneurs were well catered for in the context of the IBYE programme. A €50,000 Investment Fund was made available to each of the 31 LEOs to run the competition in their area in line with the following three categories:
- Best Business Idea: companies that are not yet trading,
- Best Start-Up Business: companies that have already started trading but in business for up to 24 months, and
- Best Established Business: companies that are in business more than 24 months.
The National Final was held on 6th December last from which a national winner in each category was selected in addition to selecting an overall winner as “Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur 2015”.
The LEOs also run the highly successful and well established Student Enterprise Awards for second level students giving them the chance to set up and run their own business while at school. Students experience the realities of entrepreneurship from coming up with their business idea and writing a business plan to producing the product, research the marketing, promoting the business and managing the books. It opens up to second level student the possibility of starting their own business and seeing entrepreneurship as a career choice in years to come.
Enterprise Ireland (EI) offers a range of startup supports to entrepreneurs, regardless of age. In 2011, EI launched the Competitive Start Fund as a direct response to the needs of early-stage client companies regarding financing in the startup and market-launch process. 2011 also saw the introduction of EI’s High Potential Start-Ups (HPSU) Accelerated Growth Programme aimed at HPSUs to develop critical skills in international sales, raising finance and building teams. Another key programme is EI’s New Frontiers Programme which was developed to support entrepreneurs and accelerate the development of sustainable early stage businesses with strong employment and growth potential, and to provide a feedstock to EI’s HPSU programme. EI also regularly offers feasibility funding for business startups in various sectors and geographic regions to assist new startup companies or entrepreneurs, to investigate the viability of a new growth-orientated business proposition which has the potential to become a HPSU.
I have no proposals to establish a standalone national office to support young business entrepreneurs aged 18–25 years as I believe that the existing Agencies of the State, through a variety of programmes and supports, are best placed to deliver the objectives and targets of the National Entrepreneurship Policy Statement. The Supporting SMEs online tool is a valuable resource that will signpost the range of programmes and supports available, and can be found at: http://www.supportingsmes.ie/businessdetails.aspx
