Waterford city has won the Irish Times best place to live in Ireland contest for 2021. The city beat stiff competition from four other shortlisted locations: Clonakilty, Co Cork; Galway city; Glaslough, Co Monaghan; and Killarney, Co Kerry.

The Local Enterprise Office in Waterford knows that liveability is a huge factor when choosing where to start a new business. All its clients live and work in Waterford too.

As Head of Enterprise, Richie Walsh explains, “Our clients all live in Waterford, they go out, enjoy the city, the arts, the Greenway, the beaches and the quality of life in the county. They rear their families here and have chosen Waterford as a place to live as much as a place to do business.”

Our job is to help them start up their new enterprises or expand them to a larger scale. This is so much easier when there is an enterprise culture, and having such a great county, whole county, it’s easier again.”

For the Irish Times video Sinead Gunnigle of Nest, on the quay, spoke about business in Waterford, “We opened our business in February 2020, so we couldn’t have timed it worse. But there is a real community spirit in Waterford. That has absolutely kept my door open for the last two years.”

Mr. Walsh expands on that point, “A support structure in business is so important, friends and family. But there are other supports too, The Local Enterprise Office is just one of the many supports for small businesses in Waterford. We’ve two fantastic Chambers of Commerce in the city and in the west, a proactive county council, along with other organisations like Waterford Leader Partnership, SEBIC, WIT & their Technology Gateways, plus all the Co-working options in the county.

Organisations like this are all jigsaw pieces that make Waterford city, and county the best place to live and do business.”

The Local Enterprise Office Waterford serves as a ‘first stop shop’ to provide strategic, administrative, technical and financial support and services to start, grow and develop micro and small business in Waterford.

It’s here to help you start a business, expand an existing business or reach new markets. It provides advice, information and supports in starting up or growing your business as part of a network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices across Ireland. 

Contact your Local Enterprise Office Waterford for their latest training programmes and events schedule on here.