Pictured at Cork County Hall on Friday were Helena Switzer of Kerry County Council with John Evoy of Social Innovation Fund Ireland and Elaine Kennedy and Courtney Sheehy of Foodshare Kerry. Picture: Jason Clarke
TRALEE-BASED Foodshare, is one of the 22 successful initiatives to have won a place on Ireland’s prestigious Accelerator Programme designed specifically for social enterprises.
Foodshare, based out of Waterloo Lane, addresses the issues of food poverty for people in low income households as well as food waste. It was set up to help local charity groups combat food poverty by rescuing quality surplus food from supermarkets and food producers and make it available to organisations who know how best to redistribute it to those in need.
The 22 winners will share €1.6 million from the Social Enterprise Development Fund which was set up to support social enterprises from across the country to achieve their goals and create measurable social impact that can be scaled all over Ireland.
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Chosen from over 100 applicants from almost every county in Ireland, eight of the 22 successful awardees, made up of a mixture of urban, town and rural social enterprises, will not only receive a place on the Accelerator Programme, but a cash grant of €50,000.
The Accelerator Programme is run in partnership with Local Authorities Ireland and provides intensive, expert and bespoke supports for social enterprises to hone their social impact, business skills and accelerate their growth.
Moira Murrell, Chief Executive of Kerry County Council, at a reception in Cork to announce the winners on Friday, said: “Social Enterprises hold the key to creating sustainable communities across Ireland and today’s awardees are excellent examples of how social enterprises such as theirs are achieving these goals. We are delighted to partner with Social Innovation Fund Ireland in creating this invaluable fund and to host this inspiring event today.”
