It has been a while since I have written a post - too long, way too long. To be honest I have been very busy and neglected my blogging completely. However, just a moment ago I was reading a blog post by Conor O’Neill that has spurned me into action again. I read a lot of Conor’s web writings and he is definitely a guy that gives back a lot of his entrepreneurial and technology expertise and experiences to all who are willing to listen.
Conor’s post on the Argolon blog (a technology consultancy firm of which he is a director) highlights his frustration at the lack of business take-up on the Tech Check programme offered by the County Enterprise Board. I share Conor’s frustration and strongly encourage all eligible businesses (and that’s most) to apply. However, I am also frustrated with the County Enterprise Boards for not doing more to promote the programme. I work with quite a few small businesses in the jurisdiction of a few CEBs and I am always surprised at how few know anything about the programme and how it could benefit them. I would love to see a breakdown of the number of Tech Checks carried out by each of the CEBs.
Conor highlights some of the great work the CEBs do with regard to training and funding support (Feasibility Study, Small Exporters Scheme, eCommerce support). If I may, I would like to also encourage small businesses out there to look into the Innovation Vouchers scheme run by Enterprise Ireland. This is a great scheme that provides businesses an opportunity to avail of a 5000 Euro voucher to help them with an innovation opportunity.
According to the CSO (2007), in 2004:
- 82% of industrial enterprises were small firms (less than 50 employees), accounting for a quarter of total industrial employment.
- 98% of service sector enterprises were small firms, accounting for more than half of total service sector employment.
In addition, the CSO also reported that “small businesses in Ireland tend to have a lower and less sophisticated usage of Information and Communication Technologies than larger enterprises” (Central Statistics Office, 2007, pg. 43).
Furthermore 87% of small enterprises in Ireland are estimated as falling within the micro enterprise classification (Observatory of European SMEs, 2003, pg. 77) of employing less that 10 people and with these micro enterprises estimated at accounting for 52% of all employees in Irish small enterprises (averaging 3 per enterprise).
I think small, and in particular micro enterprises, deserve a lot more support, especially those that don’t fall under the Enterprise Ireland radar (and that’s an awful lot of enterprises).
Central Statictics Office (2007) Small Business in Ireland, Stationary Office, Dublin, Ireland.
Internet law is a new frontier where SMEs fear to tread, or so says the European Commissions’ ICT Research newsletter ICT Results. The reason, they say, is due to a lack of reliable information about their online legal obligations. To this end, European researchers have just launched an internet law wiki written for non-experts called Lexelerator.
Eurostars