Louth Local Enterprise Office - open for business
Established by Louth County Council and Enterprise Ireland in 2014, the Local Enterprise Office (LEO Louth) plays a key role in driving the development of local enterprise. It promotes entrepreneurship, fosters business start-ups and develops existing micro and small businesses to drive job creation by providing supports for business ideas.
LEO Louth is the State’s First Stop Shop providing information and help for anyone starting or expanding a business in the county. Access to a range of Government supports provided by different bodies including; Louth County Council, MicroFinance Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Revenue, Department of Employment & Social Protection, Credit Review Office, Chambers of Commerce and various education and training bodies – all from one easily accessible point of contact within the local authority.
Commenting, Thomas McEvoy, Head of Enterprise at LEO Louth said ”We offer a wide range of services to support new start-ups such as start your own business programmes, one-to-one advice, direct grant aid, mentoring, and access to loan Louth Local Enterprise Office are on hand to support start-up and growing businesses across County Louth
finance from MicroFinance Ireland (MFI) and Louth County Enterprise Fund. For existing businesses there is advice, training, management development programmes, participation in business networks, and
access to financial supports such as MFI loans, trading online vouchers, export grants, InterTrade Ireland supports and direct grant aid”.
Since its inception over 3,000 people have attended business training courses, seminars and management development programmes, and over 300 local jobs have been created with assistance from LEO Louth. In 2018 almost half a million euro in grant applications were approved and over €80,000 paid out in Trading Online Vouchers.
LEO Louth is a key partner to MicroFinance Ireland, providing unsecured business loans up to €25,000, over a 3 to 5 year term, to start-ups and established businesses which may have difficulty in accessing finance from traditional credit institutions. Loans are provided for set up costs, working capital or business expansion, to support the creation and retention of jobs. All applicants are given a full and fair credit assessment and where appropriate, offered affordable loans while ensuring that no applicant takes on unsustainable levels of debt.
Keeping up to date with market changes is vital for any new or growing business. LEO Louth’s Management Development Programmes & Business Training Workshops provide local businesses with an opportunity to prepare for changes in areas as diverse as BREXIT, GDPR, social media, taxation and employment law. For convenience, courses are delivered year round across the county and topics are revised regularly to meet the needs of local business.
In 2018 LEO Louth supported Dunleer to claim a National Enterprising Town Award and Creative Spark in winning a prestigious Golden Spider Award for best co-working space in Ireland. Local Enterprise Week 2019 kicks off on March 4th so keep an eye on the LEO Louth website for details of events throughout the week. Entries for the Best Young Irish Entrepreneur will be accepted until Friday 15th March, so get those applications in.
If you are in business or thinking about starting a business why not call to arrange a friendly chat about how LEO Louth may be able to support you. For more information please visit www.localenterprise.ie/ louth and to arrange an appointment, please call 1890 202 303 or email: info@leo.louthcoco.ie and follow @leolouth and @louthcoco on Twitter.