A Successful Local Enterprise Week 2022
Local Enterprise Week 2022 took place this year from the 7th – 11th March with dozens of online and in-person events for business owners and would be entrepreneurs to choose from.
Local Enterprise Week is a national event which runs across all 31 LEO’s and is aimed at anyone thinking of starting a business, new start-ups and growing SMEs. The week-long schedule of events included conferences, workshops, seminars, networking, and business advice clinics.
Among the events hosted by LEO South Cork were seminars covering a range of topics including “A Conversation With Your LEO”, “Benchmarking Your Business for Productivity, Digitalisation and Competitiveness”, “How to Set-Up Your Dream Business”, “First Steps to Exporting” and “Start Your Own Podcast Series” as well as individual business mentoring and advice clinics, which were all free of charge.
One of our stand-out events included “Innovation: The Key to Successful Business”. This event was hosted by Dr. Ray Nulty and Gabriel D’Arcy of Stratagem Partners. Stratagem Partners - who are leading our "Thrive for Micro Innovation" Programme - delivered an interactive session drawing on case studies and practical examples of how small firms are successfully innovating their businesses. These include successfully entering international markets, sourcing new suppliers, creating new products and services, finding new channels to market, collaborating with leading brands, attracting investment, recruiting and retaining staff. They also discussed some of the other less appreciated aspects of innovation which directly benefit the owner manager/entrepreneur, such as a work-life balance, reduced stress and personal risk.
We were delighted to return to hosting our first in-person event since the pandemic began. Our “SME Skills for Sustainability” workshop took place in the Fota Island Resort Hotel and was facilitated by the ERI and UCC. We invited some of our clients to join us in a skills mapping exercise in identifying the skills required to pursue sustainable strategies within their businesses. We were also joined by our inspiring client Máiréad O’ Donnell of Polar IceTech. Máiréad provided us with a case study on her experience with implementing sustainable and lean practices within her business and the benefits it has had – specifically referencing LEO supports such as our Green for Micro and our LEAN for Micro Programme.
