125 new jobs to be created in Fingal with €500K grant investment

125 new jobs to be created in Fingal with €500K grant investment

A €503,000 cash injection has been announced by the Fingal Local Enterprise Office (LEO) through a number of its grant schemes aimed at supporting 47 small and start-up businesses.

Fingal Local Enterprise Office has announced that 47 small businesses and start-ups have been approved for financial support. This will result in 25 direct new jobs immediately, with more than 125 new jobs planned over the coming three years in some of these businesses.[i]

The latest funding figures announced by Fingal LEO today will also result in significant additional spending in the local economy, boosting the local supply chain. 

Announcing the latest LEO investment of over €503,000 in small businesses in the first half of this year, LEO Fingal stated that 2018 has seen significant growth in employment in the small business sector.

The Mayor of Fingal Cllr. Anthony Lavin and the Fingal Chief Executive, Paul Reid, presented grant approval letters of offer to the successful businesses at a specially convened awards event in Swords Castle today. The businesses were approved for business priming grants (for start-ups), feasibility study grants, business expansion grants, Trading Online Vouchers and Micro-Exporters’ grants.

Presenting letters of offer to each of the grant approved businesses, the Mayor commented on the announcement:

“Indigenous SME growth is crucial to ensuring secure and sustainable employment for the people of Fingal. This news is reflective of the level of work being undertaken by the Local Enterprise Offices. In Fingal our LEO is crucial in ensuring that local businesses have the best chance to scale. We have many economic assets in the County and the LEO very actively ensures that our small businesses are recognised as crucial to our continued economic growth”.

Many diverse sectors feature among the 47 approved businesses including: food and beverage manufacturers, digital communications, producers of bespoke signage, an online platform to source fixed-price trade suppliers, film equipment hire, manufacturing of natural oil diffusers, producers of children’s clothes, corporate wellbeing, and process streamlining and automation, among others.

Announcing the latest grant approvals for the Fingal businesses, Paul Reid, Chief Executive of Fingal County Council said: “I want to congratulate all the entrepreneurs and businesses that are receiving their letters of offer today. In receiving this funding, they have demonstrated to the LEO that they have the potential to grow their business and create jobs in the local economy. The diverse mix of small businesses approved for funding is a very positive indicator that our businesses are succeeding in various different sectors. We should ensure that our local and national economic policy encourages sectoral diversity in our economy.”

Commenting on the latest round of LEO funding, the Head of Enterprise in Fingal and Chair of the national Network of Local Enterprise Offices, Oisin Geoghegan said:  “The national economy and labour market is continuing to grow and I’m delighted that this trend is reflected in Fingal, underpinned by the support of the LEO office. I can’t emphasise enough how important it is for prospective entrepreneurs, and existing small businesses, to engage with their Local Enterprise Office and avail of the supports and resources available. In addition to the 47 businesses receiving funding today, many hundreds more have already attended LEO events and management training courses this year in Fingal and this is replicated in LEOs all around the country.”

 Swords Castle announcement

Note on the types of funding provided:

A Business ‘Priming Grant’ is a business start-up grant for qualifying small businesses.  The ‘Business Expansion grant’ is designed to assist the business in its growth phase after the initial 18 month start-up period. Both the ‘Business Priming Grant’ and the ‘Business Expansion Grant’ are strongly linked to job creation with a prerequisite of each being that a portion of the grant must be used to support new employment. Feasibility Study Grant assistance is provided to individuals or businesses that wish to develop new products or services or explore international markets. Business Priming and Expansion grants are ordinarily capped at €80,000 per application, while Feasibility Study grants are €20,000 maximum. The Trading Online Vouchers grant is part of the National Digital strategy aimed at supporting Irish small businesses while they enhance their online presence. It provides up to €2,500 to assist companies to develop an e-commerce platform and in so doing increases their market reach by enabling them to trade online. The Technical Assistance for Micro-Exporters grant provides up to €2,500 in matched funding to businesses who are looking to expand their export lines. All funding is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. TOV funding is provided by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment.

ENDS

[i] The 125 projected job creation figure is based solely upon job creation anticipated in the 15 businesses approved for Business Priming, Expansion and Feasibility Study grant assistance. It does not include additional job creation in businesses funded by TAME/TOV grant assistance.