More than 3,000 people will attend business events in Cork from Monday March 6th to Friday 10th as part of Local Enterprise Week.
MORE than 3,000 people will attend business events in Cork from Monday March 6th to Friday 10th as part of Local Enterprise Week.
The Local Enterprise Offices of South Cork, Cork North and West and Cork City have announced details of the national event which runs across all 31 LEOs and is aimed at anyone thinking of starting a business, new start-ups and growing SMEs.
The week will include conferences, workshops, seminars, networking, and business advice clinics.
Cork’s Local Enterprise Offices take over 9,000 calls each year from businesses throughout the county and they provided almost €1.8m of financial supports in 2016 for manufacturing and internationally-traded micro-enterprises throughout the city and county.
A further €423,975 of funding was awarded to aid micro-enterprises to improve their e-commerce capabilities.
Cork’s LEOs also hosted more than 250 training courses and events in 2016, including Start Your Own Business programmes, Management Development courses, Kickstart Your Food Business, Women in Business, Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur programme, and online and social media courses.
More than 1,000 business owners also availed of free business advice clinics in their offices, with over 2,500 hours of one-to-one mentoring with a business adviser approved for micro-enterprises.
Add to this the creation of over 400 jobs by Cork Micro Enterprise Businesses which were supported by the LEOs in 2016. The offices also engage with 50 schools and more than 3,500 students who participate in their Schools Enterprise Programme. Among the events being hosted throughout Local Enterprise Week will be a female entrepreneurship conference, featuring Ireland’s leading upcoming and established female entrepreneurs, a Taste Cork event, and a digital conference on trading online, on March 8th.
Most events are free of charge and can be booked through Cork’s Local Enterprise Office websites, with early booking recommended. Follow LEO on social media or search #localenterprise.
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