Business start up grants

[padjoe]

Anyone here any experience on applying for business grants. Particularly start up.
Trying to help a family member establish his business and i keep hearing of business grants available for start ups but i can't find much information around.
What are the conditions of the grants etc.?

[dahamsta]

Presumably in IE and not NZ!? :)

Depends on the size of the startup to be honest. If it'll have more than 10 employees, get in touch with Enterprise Ireland and they'll walk you through it, I dealt with them years ago and despite the fact that they couldn't support me - too small - they were very helpful. For less than 10 employees you'll need to talk to a county enterprise board -- they may be a bit more hit and miss*, but they should be able to nudge you in the right direction anyway.

*I talked to Cork City CEB 13 years ago and the guy I met was a dismissive dhead that basically told me webdev was a terrible market to get into. Still here 13 years later, with zero support from anywhere.

[Eminence Grise]

Like Adam says, some are better than others...

EI, I think, is useful if you are in manufacturing and afaik trading overseas. County enterprise boards are worth looking into, although depending on what part of the country the business is in local Leader or Partnership boards might be worth contacting. Even if they don’t have grants themselves, they usually have information on sources. Depending on what the business is, it could be worth talking to institutes of technology or colleges that have incubation units or innovation centres. Dublin Business Innovation Centre could help if it’s in Dublin, and I think there are other BICs around the country. I don’t know if Chambers Ireland offers any financial supports. AFAIK, no there are no grants available for retail businesses.

[padjoe]

Sorry yeah.. in Ireland. I am always in Ireland when i'm on foot.ie any way.

He's set up a small personal training business. I'm just trying to help him where I can. I'm looking after the administration side of things from NZ. Next step is to get his website up and running. Actually I have come across this, http://www.gettingbusinessonline.ie/getstarted.
Adam, the stupid question to ask you is, even though it is a free website, do you think there is any market value in it to get a business across. He's doing quite well with the clients he has at the moment but he needs to keep people coming on board because people always fade away after the initial desire to get fit.

[dahamsta]

It's in my best interest to say it, but that doesn't stop me believing it: Every business needs a website. It's not just about bringing in new customers, it's about communicating with the customers you have and keeping them, with vendors that might give you a better deal on supplies, with casual passers-by that might remember you at just the right time. And let's be honest, who says no to more business? That's what staff are for.

I know the hosts behind the link above and they're good guys, but I don't believe in free. Free doesn't care about your business, doesn't represent your business, doesn't grow with your business. If you want a website that does those things, you need a developer that can do those things, and that means talking to a real person and paying them for their time. If they're good, they'll call you in 12 months to ask how you're getting on, how you'd like to get on, and how to actually make that happen.

My company does one page sites for as little as €175 including a domain name and web and email hosting; stock template packages for €375, commercial templates with maintenance for €575, and complete bespoke sites from €975. If a company can't afford that, hasn't budgeted for that, there's a hole in the business plan. A pretty big one!

Pardon the pitch. It's my job. :)

Adam

[padjoe]

I was kind of hinting at it any way.. i used to use vistaprint for my personal portfolio but i found very little value out of the premium page for 15 euro a month but looking back and looking at now I have only began to appreciate SFO and keywords

[dahamsta]

The problem with the industry is that there's a lot of con men out there. The "free" sites are a con, in that they don't - can't - provide what they promise. And at the other end of the spectrum you can be charged absolutely ridiculous amounts of money for essentially the same thing. The publisher of our favourite telephone reference is a case in point, you wouldn't believe the amount of money they charge for a "website". Like, the kind of money I charge for bespoke...

Me, I aim for a happy medium. :)