In July 2014, my Department launched the Trading Online Voucher Scheme nationally, following a successful pilot in the Dublin area. The Scheme is funded by my Department and administered in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices (LEO) nationwide. It offers financial assistance of up to €2,500, subject to match funding, coupled with training, mentoring and networking supports to help small businesses to develop their ecommerce capability. Small businesses, with 10 or fewer employees and less than €2m in revenue, that have little or no capacity to trade online are eligible to apply.
Those interested in applying for the Scheme must first undertake mandatory training, provided nationwide by the Local Enterprise Office network. The training is mainly focused on basic ecommerce topics, steps for developing your business website, use of Social Media for business, and on specifics of the actual Scheme such as eligibility and allowable expenditure.
The number of businesses that have received the mandatory training provided under the Scheme per annum is below.
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019
|
Total
|
*
|
4,018
|
3,497
|
4,010
|
4,141
|
745
|
16,411
|
Once the mandatory training is completed, businesses can then decide to submit an application to the Scheme, if they so wish.
The number of businesses approved for funding under the Scheme, per county, can be found in the following table.
County
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019 (up to end June 2019)
|
TOTAL
|
Carlow
|
18
|
29
|
22
|
12
|
5
|
5
|
91
|
Cavan
|
6
|
12
|
14
|
20
|
15
|
6
|
73
|
Clare
|
3
|
21
|
37
|
32
|
33
|
19
|
145
|
Cork City
|
21
|
30
|
35
|
32
|
23
|
29
|
170
|
Cork North & West
|
20
|
83
|
55
|
44
|
47
|
30
|
279
|
Cork South
|
16
|
77
|
45
|
37
|
40
|
21
|
236
|
Donegal
|
28
|
35
|
24
|
48
|
47
|
24
|
206
|
Dublin City
|
40
|
97
|
98
|
140
|
114
|
65
|
554
|
Dublin South
|
8
|
24
|
37
|
38
|
33
|
24
|
164
|
DLR
|
30
|
91
|
75
|
78
|
56
|
40
|
370
|
Fingal
|
53
|
48
|
51
|
51
|
49
|
36
|
288
|
Galway
|
6
|
20
|
58
|
44
|
53
|
35
|
216
|
Kerry
|
33
|
52
|
85
|
59
|
56
|
36
|
321
|
Kildare
|
28
|
45
|
24
|
43
|
40
|
26
|
206
|
Kilkenny
|
26
|
42
|
27
|
28
|
39
|
12
|
174
|
Laois
|
5
|
20
|
18
|
11
|
23
|
17
|
94
|
Leitrim
|
22
|
15
|
18
|
12
|
11
|
6
|
84
|
Limerick
|
25
|
52
|
58
|
46
|
24
|
18
|
223
|
Longford
|
3
|
12
|
12
|
15
|
13
|
8
|
63
|
Louth
|
14
|
28
|
39
|
55
|
42
|
9
|
187
|
Mayo
|
13
|
21
|
22
|
29
|
43
|
18
|
146
|
Meath
|
6
|
15
|
11
|
31
|
22
|
29
|
114
|
Monaghan
|
2
|
21
|
23
|
18
|
19
|
13
|
96
|
Offaly
|
6
|
24
|
14
|
15
|
21
|
9
|
89
|
Roscommon
|
4
|
22
|
19
|
22
|
23
|
12
|
102
|
Sligo
|
32
|
25
|
23
|
22
|
22
|
13
|
137
|
Tipperary
|
19
|
44
|
33
|
37
|
40
|
21
|
194
|
Waterford
|
29
|
32
|
49
|
42
|
30
|
13
|
195
|
Westmeath
|
9
|
29
|
26
|
29
|
26
|
14
|
133
|
Wexford
|
16
|
38
|
44
|
38
|
32
|
20
|
188
|
Wicklow
|
50
|
82
|
58
|
68
|
66
|
16
|
340
|
Total
|
591
|
1186
|
1154
|
1196
|
1107
|
644
|
5878
|