The Local Enterprise Offices in each County are the ‘first-stop-shop’ for advice and guidance on financial and other assistance on starting or growing a business. They offer direct grant aid to microenterprises (10 employees or fewer) in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors for business expansion or which have the potential to develop their export potential.
The Local Enterprise Offices are not, however, mandated to provide direct grant-aid in areas such as retail, personal services, local professional services, construction or local building services due to the risk of displacing other similar businesses. In such cases, the Local Enterprise Offices offer ‘soft’ support in the form of training such as the "Start Your Own Business" course, a mentor to work with the business proposer or targeted programmes such as "Lean for Micro" (to help boost business productivity and competitiveness).
Anyone with a viable business proposal can also use the Local Enterprise Office to make an application to MicroFinance Ireland, which offers support in the form of loans of up to €25,000 to start-ups with viable business propositions that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by the banks. Successful applicants can avail of a more favourable interest rate from MFI if they make their application through the Local Enterprise Office. The Local Enterprise Offices also offer extensive management training programs, workshops and networking meet-ups which can now be applied for and accessed online.
