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Launching the new Enterprise Awards scheme at Aras an Phobail in Tralee last Thursday were Robert Carey, Margaret Dalaney, Noel Spillane, Joanne Griffin, Ailish Hanrahan and Eamon O’Reilly.
KERRY enterprises that have set up their businesses with assistance from the local development companies and Dept. of Social Protection through the Back to Work Area Enterprise Allowance Scheme (BTWEA) are being offered the opportunity to get national recognition for their efforts through a newly launched Enterprise Awards programme.
South Kerry Development Partnership and North East & West Kerry Development have this week launched a bid to find four candidate enterprises to represent the county at the Southern Regional Enterprise Awards event with the potential to progress right through and claim the overall national Enterprise award.
Speaking at the launch of the Kerry event this week, SKDP CEO Noel Spillane said the awards, which are being run in conjunction with the Irish Local Development Network, provide an excellent opportunity for Kerry to showcase the many successful new enterprises that have been set up in the county with support of the local development companies & the Dept. of Social Protection through the BTWEA over the last few years.
“We regularly hear about business closures but this awards programme gives us a chance to celebrate business success and recognise the hard work and vision of small enterprise owners in Kerry,” Noel said.
Both SKDP and NEWKD operate the Back to Work/Short Term Enterprise Allowance scheme in conjunction with the Department of Social Protection that provides support, advice and some small grant assistance to unemployed people wishing to set up their own business.
TraleeToday.ie is just one of many businesses which has benefitted from the assistance of NEWKD in the past few years.
The scheme has proven to be a tremendous success with a high percentage of the businesses set up through the programme still operating after five years.
NEWKD CEO Eamon O’Reilly said that this new awards initiative is open to businesses set up through this scheme since 2011 and he encouraged all eligible businesses to enter the competition. “These businesses are the backbone of rural Ireland in particular and we are delighted to be involved with this initiative to promote them at a regional and national level” Eamon said.
The closing date for applications is Friday, 29th April and the application form is available to download from both the SKDP www.southkerry.ie and NEWKD www.newkd.ie websites or by contacting your local SKDP or NEWKD office directly. The national awards ceremony will take place in Dublin in September.
