Record results for Local Enterprise
THE Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in Louth has announced record results in their recent year-end review.
The results were announced last week during a visit to Listoke Distillery in Drogheda, recent winner of the Best Start-Up Award in Co Louth.
Announcing the results from Leo Louth, which is part of Louth County Council, Head of Enterprise Thomas McEvoy said: ‘83 new jobs were created in 2016 by LEO supported companies. These are not projected figures, but actual real jobs that already exist. This figure is up from 45 in 2014 and 65 in 2015, a really good indicator of growth in the county.’
The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in Louth exists to support the needs of local business and help drive job creation and growth in the region. In their recent year-end review, some really interesting results emerged from LEO Louth, which is part of Louth County Council.
The Local Enterprise Office Louth has 200 grant aided clients with an average of 4 employees per client.
One of the aims of the Local Enterprise Office is to provide support to companies that can scale up, thus helping to create strong employment growth in the county.
Nationally, 10% of the companies that progressed from being Local Enterprise Office clients to Enterprise Ireland clients in 2016 came from Louth. This is a very significant achievement for Ireland’s smallest county. It’s also a sign that indigenous local companies have the potential for strong national and international growth.
Over €310,000 of grant aid was approved by the Local Enterprise Office Louth in 2016. Grant aid is normally to fund capital, helping local companies to invest in plant or equipment to aid their development.
Bronagh Conlon of Listoke Distillery explained: ‘ The grant aid we received from LEO Louth enabled us to invest in our distilling equipment. This directly led to the launch last year of the Listoke 1777 Gin, which is now available countrywide and in duty free. We’re growing rapidly, now employing 3 full-time and 3 part-time staff, and attracting visitors from far and wide to our Gin School.’
Training is another area where there has been significant growth.
Thomas said: ‘We are delighted to see a huge surge in bookings for training supports in Louth. In 2015, 413 people took part in Local Enterprise Office training. By 2016 that figure had grown to 1,116 participants taking part in 62 different training events. We work hard to ensure that our training and management development programmes are tailored to suit the changing needs of business. Business advice is a very important service offered to clients by the Local Enterprise Office. ‘Last year, we provided 214 mentor appointments to businesses.’