LEO Fingal helps local SMEs develop their digital presence

LEO Fingal helps local SMEs develop their digital presence to get more online business

A recent survey carried out by Irish Domain Registry (IEDR), showed that Irish consumers spend over €9 billion online. But only 32% of SME websites can take sales orders online. The Local Enterprise Office Fingal has secured funding from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources to address this imbalance and help smaller businesses to sell more online. A grant of €2,500 is available to small businesses who wish to invest in growing their E-trading capabilities under the voucher scheme.

In support of this initiative, the Local Enterprise Office Fingal held a “Trading Online Voucher” seminar in the Riasc Centre, Swords on June 12^th to offer advice to local SMEs on how to develop their online and digital presence.

The information seminar gave 30 Fingal business owner/managers an insight into how they can use E-Commerce and digital marketing to attract new customers and boost sales. In addition, the businesses attending the event received information on how to apply for the grant of €2,500 towards their E-Commerce and website development costs.

Head Enterprise Oisín Geoghegan, complimented the businesses attending the seminar for taking this step towards improving their online presence. He urged other local business looking to sell online to follow their example and think strongly about applying for the Trading Online Voucher scheme. “We have seen the impact that improving your online presence can have on sales for small businesses, and the Trading Online Voucher scheme is one way for business to start the process. To date, we have approved 166 Online Voucher applications totalling €356,334 and I would like to see this increase further."

While the seminar highlighted the importance of applying for the Trading Online Voucher, it also gave an insight to the different courses and workshops available through the Local Enterprise Office Fingal, such as the six Week QQI Level 5 Certificate in Social Media & Digital Marketing and Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and WordPress one day workshops.

Fingal County Council Chief Executive Paul Reid said: “We are always striving to make Fingal a better place to do business and through LEO Fingal we actively promote and support a diverse range of enterprises who use both online and traditional sales methods. Businesses that invest in e-commerce are reaping benefits and we are keen to assist other businesses who want to go down this route.”