The funds offered by the Irish government are dedicated to small businesses in the whole of Ireland and widely used by them. It’s mid-August 2020 and we are still in the process of helping businesses to build OR improve their online presence 🙂
The Government’s National Digital Strategy was developed to help SMEs long before the COVID-19, and dynamically changed to help in the current situation. The Trading Online Voucher Scheme available before now is modified to fit the needs. It is designed to assist small businesses with up to 10 employees to trade more online, boost sales and reach new markets.
Businesses that have already received a Trading Online Voucher can now apply for a second voucher, where upgrades are required.
TOV offers financial assistance of up to €2,500 with co-funding of 10% from the business* along with training and advice to help your business trade online. The schemes work on pay and get refund base – the business needs to secure the funds and pay upfront to get the refund from the government. What is worth to remember – no work will be refunded if paid before the approval of the voucher application (!). So first things first!
The profile of the businesses entitled commences of:
- Limited or no e-commerce presence;
- 10 or fewer employees;
- Turnover less than €2m;
- Applicant business must be trading for at least 6 Months**;
- Business must be located in the area covered by the LEO to whom they make their application i.e. LEOs cannot accept applications from businesses located outside their jurisdiction.
What can the voucher be used for?
- adding payment facilities
- booking systems
- developing new apps for customers.
- subscriptions to low-cost online retail platform solutions, to help companies quickly establish a retailing presence online
*For applications received from April 7th 2020 until September 30th 2020. Further eligibility, terms and conditions apply.
**applicant business must provide clear proof of trading for a minimum of 6 months to their Local Enterprise Office
The above information in the time of publishing the article. For more information, please remember to check your Local enterprise office website.
The link below leads to a short video which includes all support available to SMEs in Ireland.
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Thank you for reading!
