Local Enterprise Week kicks off this year on March 4th and to celebrate, Fingal Local Enterprise Office has organised a wide range of events aimed at anyone thinking of starting a new business, new start-ups and growing SMEs.
The schedule of activities includes one-to-one business clinics, a start your own business Bootcamp, raising finance seminar, Fingal Enterprise Awards, a trading on-line seminar, business pitching competition and several business networking events. The week will also feature a series of sectoral events for businesses in tourism, food and retail and will culminate in a celebration of International Women’s Day with Fingal businesswomen.
The week kicks off on Monday morning 4th March with an intensive full-day Business Start-up Bootcamp in Blanchardstown, aimed at helping those with an idea for a new business, or anyone who has recently set up. Also on the first morning at the Riasc Centre in Swords, a Trading Online Voucher (TOV) seminar will offer small businesses the opportunity to develop their website or digital marketing strategy by availing of a grant of up to €2,500. Later that evening a tourism business seminar will be hosted at Howth yacht club.
On day 2, Tuesday 5th March, Fingal Dublin Chamber will host a business networking breakfast focusing on “interviews with Fingal entrepreneurs” in Portmarnock. Meanwhile in Balbriggan the BEAT Centre will be running two seminars helping businesses that wish to exploit social media. And in the evening on Tuesday over 100 local food producers are expected to join the Dublin Food Chain networking event.
Wednesday 6th March will see two events taking place, with the LINC in Blanchardstown running a business pitching session in the morning where start-ups have an opportunity to pitch their business idea to a panel of judges, with a prize to the winning pitch provided by the Local Enterprise Office. At noon, a “Raising Finance” event will take place in Ballycoolin, featuring state agencies Microfinance Ireland, SBCI, Enterprise Ireland and the Local Enterprise Office, among others.
On Thursday, Balbriggan Chamber will host a business networking breakfast focusing on Marketing, while nearby in Gormanston Fingal LEO is running a summit for retailers in conjunction with Louth and Meath. Thursday evening is back to County Hall in Swords, where the Fingal Enterprise Awards ceremony will take place.
Local Enterprise Week finishes up on Friday the 8th, with a breakfast morning hosted by Plato at the Clayton hotel at the M1/M50 Junction. Then at lunchtime Fingal Enterprising Women will celebrate international Women’s Day at a special business networking lunch at the Carlton Hotel Dublin Airport.
Most events are completely free of charge while some have a nominal booking fee. As with last year, many of the events are expected to book up quickly so early booking is strongly advised.