Tipp Businesses Get Talking
Over 300 attend ‘Who to talk to’ Expo for Small Businesses in Premier County
Nenagh was in the enterprise spotlight on Wednesday May 30th with the staging of the first ever “Who to talk to” Expo for Irish businesses.
Organisers confirmed that a crowd of over 300 attended the event which involved workshops, supports seminars and information desks. Co-ordinated by the North Tipperary County Development Board in collaboration with various state and community support organisations, the landmark event was staged at the County Council Civic Offices in Nenagh. From the registration forms completed, it was evident that most were in search of information all keen to establish who they should be talking to. Another area in demand was Mentoring as many firms that attended needed help with improving the performance of their business, many needing to restructure their business entirely or others just wanting to talk to an outsider to get an objective insight into options for the future. A substantial number of those that attended were looking at starting a business and were keen to identify supports available such as grants and training.
Aimed at anyone in the region looking to grow their existing business or planning to start a new one, the “Who to talk to” event has being hailed as one of the most important events of 2012 for small businesses as it brought together every agency and organisation in a position to support enterprise creation and development.
During the course of the evening, representatives from seven state and local agencies outlined the range of grants and supports currently available for enterprise and job creation in the region. These include grants available around exports, cross border trade, research and development, micro-enterprise, rural development and tourism. A recently launched scheme from the Local Authority around a reduction in planning and development levies was also outlined.
Stemming from the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs, workshops were organised around the Revenue Commissioners’ Business Incentives, the recently expanded JobBridge Internship Programmes and around ‘ConnectIreland’, which encourages the use of global contacts to create new jobs in Ireland.
Forty support agencies, educational bodies, business organisations, financial institutions and Chambers all met visitors in the exhibition space, offering free information, guidance and advice.
Speaking at the enterprise event, Joe MacGrath, County Manager of North Tipperary County Council said: “Our goal is to help make North Tipperary one of the most enterprise-friendly regions in Ireland and to encourage as many small businesses as possible to set up a base here. By conveniently bringing all the state support organisations together under the same roof for this initiative, the small business community benefitted from having direct access to useful information, advice and guidance.”
North Tipperary has a proud history and record of creating jobs locally. The economic climate in which we now operate presents a significant challenge which calls us to draw on our resources more than ever to create jobs and provide employment opportunities. All of the enterprise agencies and local authorities are responding to this challenge through various initiatives, such as the “Who to talk to” Expo, aimed at igniting enterprise in the region.”
The event was organised by the North Tipperary County Development Board and supported by Tipperary North County Enterprise Board, Enterprise Ireland, Shannon Development, North Tipperary Leader Partnership, IDA, North Tipperary VEC, LIT Tipperary, FAS , Teagasc and the Department of Social Protection.
