Hands up who wants to avail of a grant designed to help get your business trading online?
Sound to good to be true? Well I'm very happy to report that this is not a joke. Small businesses in Ireland can apply for the grant, your eligibility be assessed, and if you qualify you may be eligible to receive up to €2500, or up to 50% off eligible expenditure (whichever is less) towards your trading online project.
The Local Enterprise Office, also known as LEO, are offering the voucher to small businesses in Ireland which is designed to help give you a leg up and take some of the financial weight off starting or modernising your business with a focus on getting your business trading online.
What Can Businesses Use The Trading Online Voucher For?
The trading online voucher can be be used for one of the following:
Develop a new e-commerce website, or upgrade an existing one.
Get a specialist IT and/or digitalisation consultation.
Add online payments or booking systems to your website.
Develop an app.
Advertise online.
Subscribe to a retail platform solution.
So, How Do You Apply For The Trading Online Voucher?
Firstly, your business must meet the following criteria:
Your business has limited or no e-commerce presence;
10 or less employees;
Turnover less than €2M;
Your business must be trading for at least 6 months;
Your business needs to be located in the area serviced by the LEO office. For example, if you are based in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, you need to apply to the office in Dun Laoghaire.
If you meet all of the criteria above you should get in touch with the Local Enterprise Office in your area. Click here to find your nearest one. You can then fill out the trading online voucher application form and get the ball rolling.
Time To Get Quotes
Once you have applied and are approved, you will need to get three separate quotes from three separate website developers and submit them to LEO with all of the other paperwork they send you. Don't let the word "paperwork" throw you off, it really is a simple, straightforward process.
You then choose the quote from the website developer you want to go with (LEO have no input in this and it is your decision in regard to who you choose), and contact the developer to start the process with them.
You will need to pay for the website either in part or entirely up front so they can get your website started, and you also need to show LEO that you have paid for the work to be done before they will reimburse you.
As already mentioned, the Trading Online Voucher currently offers your business a 50% (up to €2500) refund on what you have paid for your website project. This means that if your website cost €2000 to build, you will get €1000 of your costs back which is fantastic news for SMEs in Ireland. All you have to do is then think of another area of your business that you can invest the other 50% into!
Solid Consulting Can Help You
At Solid Consulting we have helped businesses apply for the Trading Online Voucher, and we have developed websites for customers who have been through the process and received the funding.
Get in touch with us today by filling out a contact form here and let us know about your website project.
We would be more than happy to help you avail of this fantastic scheme.