KILKENNY BUSINESSES ENCOURAGED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF LOCAL ENTERPRISE WEEK
Businesses across County Kilkenny are being encouraged to take advantage of the array of events and topics at this year’s Local Enterprise Week. The initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOS0 takes place from the 7th to 11th March with over 220 events for businesses and entrepreneurs taking place in person and online across the country.
The theme of this year’s Week is “Making It Happen” and is focused on helping businesses to look forward and to future proof themselves for the years ahead. The full listings for the week have been announced with numerous events taking place in Kilkenny.
The IDEAS Kilkenny competition which is being organised by the Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny will be open for entries from Monday 7th March. This competition is aimed at people with a Tech related business idea who are pre-start up or very early stages of trading (less than 18 months). If you have an original and innovative idea within the technology sector(e.g. Agri-Tech, AI, Ecommerce, FinTech, Gaming, Healthcare, ICT, IOT, Robotics, etc.) and intend setting up a business in Kilkenny or already in the early stages of development, check out this competition. The initiative will involve a series of business programme workshops and one-to-one mentoring culminating to a finale comprising of an investor ready pitch towards an investment fund worth €10,000 for the winners (€6,000 for start-up category and €4,000 for the idea category) .
The first in our series of monthly green & sustainability workshops “Green for Business” will commence on Thursday morning 10th March. This free webinar aims to assist Kilkenny based small and medium sized businesses from any sector, who wish to learn how to improve their resource management and how to make a sustainability plan for the future. Guest speaker is Bobby Lambert, Director of EcoMerit who will share his experiences on savings achieved by small businesses in this area. This event will also highlight event how the LEO’s ‘Green For Micro’ initiative is helping participating businesses become more environmentally aware.
The Local Enterprise Office Kilkenny is also hosting a series of one-to-one mentoring clinics on an array of topics including tendering and procurement, apply for finance, digital marketing and the Trading Online Voucher Scheme. Along with the specific local events, there is 12 national spotlight events that are available online, taking place across the week and open to all small businesses and entrepreneurs across the country. These events are free to join online and cover everything from digitalisation and exporting to future proofing your business and boosting your business online.
Fiona Deegan, Head of Enterprise said “Local Enterprise Week is the perfect opportunity for many businesses to dip into a specific area of interest and gather information on a topic that may be relevant to their business now or in the future” She added “It also provides the perfect opportunity for someone who may be interested in starting a business to get an idea of some of the key areas of focus and how to take those first steps”.
The Local Enterprise Offices located in the local authorities and funded through Enterprise Ireland support thousands of small Irish businesses and entrepreneurs nationwide. Since their establishment in 2014 they have helped provide a range of supports to small businesses including mentoring, training, sector specific expert consultancy and financial supports to help guide businesses at any stage of their development.
For more information on Local Enterprise Week and to find information on the National Spotlight Events and specific events in your area go to www.LocalEnterprise.ie/Week
Kilkenny Schedule for the Week
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