Profit Academy-Assisting SMEs back to profit in post pandemic Carlow

Press Release for Immediate Release – 24th September 2021 - Profit Academy – Assisting SMEs back to profit in post pandemic Carlow



“The growth and sustainable development of businesses in Carlow as they emerge from the pandemic depends on their understanding of their financial strengths and weaknesses” says Cllr. Fintan Phelan, Cathaoirleach of Carlow County Council. He was speaking at the launch of “The Profit Academy” a financial development programme which supports the owners and key staff of Carlow businesses to appreciate the financial factors which impact their growth and profitability.
The Profit Academy, which is unique to County Carlow, gives companies the opportunity to develop their in-house capacity and build an understanding of their financial health which will help them to grow and develop.
Séamus Doran, Assistant Head of Economic Development & Enterprise with Carlow County Council’s Local Enterprise Office added “The need for this programme was identified in research we conducted with over 1200 Carlow businesses in 2019. There was strong message given by local business owners in our research that they saw the need for supports which would allow them to have a better appreciation of the financial strengths of their business and to better integrate financial planning into their business strategies. This need for better financial planning has been given an added impetus as the Irish economy enters a post-pandemic recovery phase and local businesses plan their return to a normal level of service and employment.”
The appropriateness of this innovative programme is confirmed by a recent OECD report which said “Financial skills and vision are a key element of the competences required by entrepreneurs and small business owners for growing their ventures and appear to be one of the constraints to the greater use of external finance among Irish SMEs”.
The programme will be delivered by the expert team at Bridgewater Consulting. Billy O’Connor trainer and mentor explained that “we plan to cover a host of relevant topics such as: cash flow, costing and pricing strategies, state supports, proper financial records and forms, proper procedures for employing people, manage bank positions and how to deal effectively with them, sales and profit growth. The programme is unique in that each company will attend three half day training sessions and will have four mentoring sessions each. This will enable you to apply the learning to your business and get your team involved in the decision making”.
O’Connor concluded by saying that “We are also including an additional half day session for all participating companies' staff (up to 3 each), covering the topic of ‘Finance for Non-Finance Managers’ managers so that the entire team are ‘on the same page’ when it comes to finance.”
A short free information session about the programme is being hosted online on 18th October 2021 and Carlow Companies are encouraged to sign up today.

Cllr. Phelan summarised the significance of The Profit Academy saying “I welcome this partnership between Carlow County Council’s Local Enterprise Office and the experienced team from Bridgewater Consulting. Understanding your business’s financial position is a key element of any strategy for growth and development. This is especially important as our economy starts to recover from a pandemic lasting almost two years. Many business owners and managers will admit they do not fully appreciate the financial aspects of their business and The Profit Academy was designed to support them in this needed upskilling. The Profit Academy will change the nature of how owners and managers understand and financially manage their business. I would strongly urge all Carlow businesses to sign up for the free online information session to see what The Profit Academy is about and how it can transform their business.”

To Sign up to the taster session log onto https://www.localenterprise.ie/Carlow/Training-Events/Online-Bookings/LE6019-The-Profit-Academy-Information-Session-18-Oct-2021.html


For further information contact - Séamus Doran, Assistant Head of Economic Development & Enterprise, Local Enterprise Office Carlow sdoran@carlowcoco.ie 086-4109079