Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
385. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if the Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur competition (details supplied) will recommence following its suspension due to the Covid-19 pandemic; if not, the reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36223/23]
View answerMy Department is reviewing the Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur programme to determine how best the concept can be used to encourage entrepreneurship and emerging entrepreneurs to start, sustain, and grow a business going forward.
A Working Group been established with representatives across the Enterprise Ireland Centre of Excellence & the Local Enterprise Office Network to consider the possibilities and opportunities of such an entrepreneurship programme. As part of these considerations the Working Group are:
• engaging with relevant stakeholders including with past winners of the competition to learn first-hand how their businesses have benefited from taking part in IBYE;
• reviewing the IBYE Stakeholder Review Report;
• utilising the findings of the OECD Report on Inclusive Entrepreneurship and considering the possibilities of such a programme in unlocking the entrepreneurial potential among groups such as women, immigrants, youth, seniors, the unemployed and people who experience disability;
• examining the current business landscape and challenges that emerging entrepreneurs are faced with today;
• considering digitisation opportunities in the design and delivery of such a programme.
The Working Group will report their findings and recommendations to the Department later this year. The network of Local Enterprise Offices continues to promote a positive entrepreneurship environment by providing a ‘first-stop-shop’ for anyone looking to start or grow their own business. Further to this, the role of LEOs has been expanded to provide support to businesses that have up to 50 employees, enabling them to continue in their business development to support their export journey.
In 2022 the LEOs provided financial assistance to new start-ups through Feasibility and Priming Grants, approving €6.7m in Priming grants to 231 client companies and €1.7m in Feasibility grants to 158 clients. The LEOs continue to assist entrepreneurs and business managers through focused training and development programmes including the flagship Start Your Own Business programmes which helped 4,500 aspiring entrepreneurs to develop their business ideas and assess their viability, helping them make informed decisions about whether, and how, to proceed.
The LEOs also provided Mentoring assignments to 12,201 individual business managers and owners along with numerous bespoke training programmes tailored to meet the needs of LEO client companies. LEOs also support youth entrepreneurship through the Student Enterprise where 25,011 students across 464 secondary schools took part in the 2022 Programme.
Enterprise Ireland also has a number of programmes to support entrepreneurs such HPSU Feasibility, the New Frontiers Entrepreneur Development Programme, mentoring grants, Pre-seed start fund and the Competitive Start Fund. Enterprise Ireland, through their LEO Centre of Excellence, are delivering the ‘Entrepreneurial Education Programmes’ to primary schools across Ireland, enriching the school curriculum by introducing entrepreneurial skills to primary school pupils from an early age.
