Small firms to benefit from entrepreneurship scheme
Around 2,000 small businesses across the country are to benefit from a special scheme to develop entrepreneurs, it emerged today.
A total of €2.2m will be invested by FAS and business developers Plato Ireland in firms in Dublin, Cork, Dundalk and Waterford over the next five years.
Bosses in small and medium enterprises will undergo management training as part of the first large-scale programme to help family businesses tackle issues of legacy, succession and business transference.
It is also hoped the training programme will increase the overall level of competency and skill throughout participating SMEs.
A total of 60% of the funding is being provided by FAS with the additional resources coming from large business and SMEs.
Work has begun in businesses in Dublin, Cork, Dundalk and Waterford and this will expand during the year. Seven other counties will be added to the Plato Ireland Business Development Network by the end of 2005.
Alf Smiddy, Plato Ireland chairman, said the investment proved a willingness to keep businesses moving at the same pace as the economy.
“FAS’s understanding and recognition of the issues arising will enable these enterprises to build the expertise to meet the challenges of the future,” he said.
“All too often in the past we have found ourselves reacting to change. For once it is good to be proactive and ahead of the curve.”
Rody Molloy, FAS director general, said there was an ever-growing need to provide good business management skills and future planning in order to sustain growth.
He said the scheme would allow the collective intelligence of homegrown entrepreneurs to be harnessed and shared for the benefit of employees and wider local economies.
