EI — Local Enterprise Offices 2023

he most committed business owners meet day-to-day challenges head-on. It’s all in a day’s work when your focus is providing the best product or service for your customers. Along with these challenges, however, come opportunities, and your nearest Local Enterprise Office (LEO) can help your business face the future with confidence. Nobody does more for Irish businesses than the Local Enterprise Offices dotted around the country: these essential hubs are the number one provider of competitiveness and productivity support to small and medium enterprises across Ireland. The 31 Local Enterprise Offices nationwide offer a number of supports to small businesses that are seeking to start, grow or scale and have had numerous success stories so far. Grants from the LEO can help to make your business leaner, greener and more efficient, saving you time and money that can be invested back into the business.

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Small wonders Ireland's SMEs are the lifeblood of their communities, and benefit hugely from the support of their Local Enterprise Offices (LEO)

In the know LEOs are as local as the businesses they support, with one in every county in Ireland, including in beautiful County Mayo, above

One of the key things about the LEOs is that we are local - we're in every county — and we're working with local businesses

It's all in a busy day for SMEs

Many of these supports outlined by John and offered by your local LEO office are free or heavily subsidised, so there is a compelling economic case to be made for finding out what resources are available to you. The various grants on offer have all been specifically designed by people with experience across each sector of the Irish economy.

John Magee, head of the Mayo LEO and chair of the national network of Local Enterprise Offices sees the benefits of the All in a Day’s Work campaign first-hand. Magee has a passion for helping businesses at a local level and has witnessed for himself the journey of many fledgling start-ups that have been developed through various LEO programmes. “What we're trying to do is to tailor and target our supports to key issues that the small business community are meeting and engaging with on a daily basis,” Magee says. Right now, those key issues are those that are highly familiar to small business-owners: staffing, competitiveness and costs. The focus of the LEO is to address all of these concerns for each individual company, curating a business plan that will help them save time, money and energy, so they can concentrate on growth, both domestically and abroad for exporters of all kinds. The LEO can support every type of business of 50 employees or less, across any sector. In Ireland, those are the types of businesses that make up the vast majority of our commercial landscape; the shops and suppliers that are ingrained in the civic life of the nation. “If you go up the main street of any town or village in Ireland, any business on that street that employs less than 50 people, we can engage with. We can support them. Crucially, every business will be able to get something from their Local Enterprise Office.” The mentors that are assigned to SMEs have been carefully selected from a panel of like-minded, experienced experts who have worked in a similar field and understand the pitfalls and opportunities that lie ahead.

Sustainability plays a huge part in the LEO remit. Businesses can apply to their LEO for a package that helps them along the path to a greener and leaner process. “We can help businesses take those initial first steps along the sustainability journey effectively with a small grant of up to €5,000; a 50% grant to support their early stage sustainability journey,” says Magee. “Crucially, we'll help them to identify where the savings are for them in terms of time, money and energy and we can back that up with some ground support.” For Magee, it is a rewarding process to encourage and promote the type of businesses that make up the lifeblood of urban and rural Irish communities. “That’s the best part of the job. It is absolutely fantastic, because one of the key things about the LEOs is that we are local - we're in every county working with local businesses. Very often we know the business from the communities that we live in, and it is hugely rewarding to work with them, see their progress and know that we played some small part in helping that business to grow and scale.” The infectious enthusiasm that small business owners have for improvement and innovation in their offerings is what motivates the LEOs to help people who demonstrate that drive. “You're working with people who are trying to make something happen; people who are bringing positivity, being innovative, creative and entrepreneurial. We see that right the way through from our Start Your Own Business programme to those businesses that are growing, scaling, then often transferring to Enterprise Ireland and doing very, very well. It’s hugely rewarding and a fantastic place to work,” says Magee.

Save time, energy and money with your Local Enterprise Office

It's all in a day's work for busy Irish SMEs

SEE HOW THE LEO CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS HERE

SUPPORTING IRISH SMEs AT A LOCAL LEVEL

GREEN FOR BUSINESS focuses on the growing importance of sustainability, both in business and in the world around us and the significant benefits that it can have for your company, on everything from efficiencies to cost savings.

DIGITAL FOR BUSINESS Shows how you can improve your digital offering and get the edge over the competition, wherever you are in your digital development.

LEAN FOR BUSINESS is about being effective and efficient - doing things quicker, better, cheaper together. Lean strives to stamp out waste and to continually improve.

Case studies

LOCAL ENTERPRISE & ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

SUSTAINING A BUSINESS IN THE CURRENT CLIMATE

Each scheme can help, depending on the stage your company is at. There are other grants available too and after discussing your specific needs with you, your dedicated LEO officer can devise the right plan for your business's current stage of development. The Local Enterprise Office exists to help SMEs become more competitive and more productive without losing sight of quality. To this end, the supports that are available can be tailored to each specific sector. Becoming leaner, greener and more digitally aware can help your business face the many challenges of the marketplace with renewed confidence and vigour. The current economic climate, cost of living crisis and war in Ukraine and the Middle East can all have an impact on the competitiveness and productivity of Irish businesses, so anything the LEO can do to alleviate these pressures can only be a bonus to business owners and product developers. To better understand how the team at your nearest LEO can assist your business venture, visit allinadayswork.ie where you can find a list of supports available and sign up in less than two minutes, to start saving time, money and energy.

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