As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, thousands of businesses throughout the country are moving their businesses online. The Local Enterprise Office in Fingal is at the forefront in enabling this transition to online selling and is very busy dealing with a large volume of small businesses that wish to explore how they can maintain their business by using technology and E-Commerce to service their client base.
Last month, in response to the need for businesses to continue to trade during the pandemic, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD, announced a substantial improvement to the “Trading Online Voucher” (TOV) scheme. This scheme provides funding and expertise to small businesses that wish to start trading online. Funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, as part of the National Digital Strategy, the TOV scheme supports local and established small businesses in enhancing their online offering. In her announcement, Minister Humphreys revealed that the match-funding element of the TOV was temporarily reduced from 50% to 10% until the end of September. In addition, previous TOV recipients would now be allowed to apply for a 2nd TOV to upgrade their eCommerce activities.
The Local Enterprise Office in Fingal has responded proactively to enable as many businesses as possible to gain access to the scheme and is running a series of webinars for all LEOs and qualifying businesses nationwide. These webinars commenced on Tuesday the 28th April with 478 participants, of which, 170 were Fingal businesses. By the end of this week over 2,000 businesses will have participated in one of the webinars, at which details of the scheme are provided, as well as an excellent training session where business owner/managers are advised how they can successfully move their business online. In a few short weeks, LEO Fingal has already approved 54 TOV applications with a further 67 currently under assessment. And it plans to approve much more during this crisis.
Commenting on the high volume off applications to the TOV scheme, Oisín Geoghegan, Chair of the LEO Network and Head of Enterprise in Fingal said: “While we’re starting on the road to recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, many local businesses still cannot trade from physical premises. It’s important now that businesses look at whether their business can be moved online and, if it can, they must know how they can do this to best effect”.
Meanwhile, other new initiatives such as the “Business Continuity Voucher” (BCV) have also seen a large volume of applications as businesses reach out to the Fingal Local Enterprise Office for support to help them survive the crisis. Worth up to €2,500 in third-party consultancy support, the BCV is designed is to help companies make informed decisions about what immediate measures and remedial actions should be taken, to protect staff and sales. To date, LEO Fingal has approved 109 BCV applications to Fingal Businesses with a further 160 being assessed.
Finally, businesses that need to access funding are encouraged to apply for MFI COVID-19 Business Loans, which have seen a substantial reduction in interest rates down to 4.5%, where applications are made through LEO Fingal. These loans of up to €50,000 are available from MFI with no repayments and no interest charged in the first six months, for eligible businesses that employ less than 10 people.
Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Eoghan O’Brien, has encouraged any small business that is experiencing trading difficulties to avail of the Local Enterprise Office supports:
“Our Local Enterprise Office is working extremely hard to help small businesses to survive the impacts of COVID-19. In Fingal County Council we want to make sure that our local businesses are given all of the supports that they need to survive the current crisis. I am proud that our LEO was very quick to respond in very practical ways, such as by moving all of their services online, by actively promoting new funded business continuity schemes and by providing a wide array of customised and practical supports for business”.
For a comprehensive list of the latest information and supports available to Fingal businesses in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, please visit the LEO Fingal website www.localenterprise.ie/Fingal and sign up to the “Fingal Enterprise News” ezine to receive updates straight to your inbox.
