Country’s enterprise centres awarded €8.24m in funding – NACEC

Country’s enterprise centres awarded €8.24m in funding

Grants will range in size from €10,000 to €150,000

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, TD, has announced a total of €8.24 million in grants to 95 enterprise centres throughout the country under Enterprise Ireland’s Enterprise Centres Fund.

The funding is considered crucial for the future of the enterprise centre sector in Ireland as hubs around the country implement a recovery plan for businesses within their remit over the next six to 12 months.

Mr Varadkar said the funding made available through his Department would help enterprise centres all over the country modernise their facilities, protecting the health and safety of people working there and helping to secure jobs.

The 95 centres will receive grants ranging in size from €10,000 to €150,000.

A major analysis of the sector earlier this year shone a light on the devastating effects Covid-19 has wrought on enterprise centres in every county, with almost 88% of centres reporting a drop in income of between 21% and 80% as many of their entrepreneur tenants struggled to keep their own businesses afloat.

Among its stark findings were that while the vast majority of hubs had seen tenants closing their doors temporarily (83.5%), one-third (33%) of centres said some tenants have shuttered their businesses permanently.

The chairperson of the National Association of Community Enterprise Centres (NACEC), Gary O’Meara, welcomed today’s funding announcement, saying it was the culmination of months of research and collaboration between NACEC, Enterprise Ireland, the Dept of Enterprise and other key stakeholders from across the public and private sector, and which resulted in the publication of the Enterprise Centres/Hubs Covid-19 National Impact + Recovery Plan by NACEC last August.

He added: “Hubs, if managed correctly, have the potential to really drive economic activity and social prosperity throughout our regions and across rural Ireland, and I believe NACEC is now very well placed to help make these new future of work opportunities a reality.”

Mr O’Meara added that as traditional workplace dynamics have been overturned by Covid-19 and new social distancing requirements, enterprise hubs and co-working spaces are in an ideal position to provide a new ‘Hub-Home-HQ’ model as companies and their employees embrace new ways of working.

Julie Sinnamon, Enterprise Ireland CEO, said: “Over the past 20 years, enterprise centres have provided important infrastructure for entrepreneurs and are an essential part of the start-up ecosystem across Ireland.

“The centres, many of which are regionally based, provide space, connectivity, mentoring and support to start-up founders and teams, helping them to scale nationally.”

She added that the funding just announced would ensure that enterprise centres, many of which have been negatively impacted by Covid-19, can sustain their businesses, pivot and further develop their services to support the next wave of start-up companies.

According to the NACEC Strategic Plan 2019-2021 launched last year, its enterprise hub members supported over 5,500 jobs in over 1,800 businesses, with a salary contribution to the economy of €247.5 million per annum.

For-profit approvals:

Number	Applicant Name (Correct legal entity name)	County	Nuts III Region	Grant Amount (€)
1	Landingzone Ltd T/A Dogpatch Labs	Dublin City	Dublin	150,000
2	Republic of Work (Cork) Limited	Cork	South	149,000
3	CIT Innovation Centre DAC. T/A The Rubicon	Cork	South	43,045
4	Haslette Holdings Ltd. T/A ManorHUB	Leitrim	Northwest	16,304
5	Thurles Community Enterprise Centre Limited (TCEC)	Tipperary	Mid-West	97,766
6	Blackgate Innovation Ltd T/A Vision 85	Portlaoise	Midlands	46,800
7	Vaaw Ltd/Culture Co-Working	Cork	South	41,200
8	Charlesford Ltd T/A The Spool Factory**	Roscommon	West	67,500
9	Mobile Clipboard Ltd	Galway	West	10,905
10	The Box CoWork Ltd	Kerry	Mid-West	46,600
11	HQ Coworking Space Ltd.	Kerry	Mid-West	91,920
12	Ardee Community Development Company Ltd.	Louth	Northeast	105,420
13	Ionad Fiontar Pobal Iar Dheisceart Dhun Na Ngall Teoranta	Donegal	Northwest	10,648
				877,108

 

Not-for-profit approvals:

Number	Applicant Name (Correct legal entity name)	County	EI Region	Grant Amount
1	Action Community & Enterprise CLG t/a ACE Enterprise Park	Dublin South	Dublin	150,000
2	Action Tuam Company Limited by Guarantee	Galway	West	150,000
3	Allenwood Community Development Association CLG	Kildare	Mid-East	75,359
4	Arclabs Research & Innovation Centre Waterford Institute of Technology	Waterford	Southeast	119,830
5	Arklow Business Enterprise Centre Ltd.	Wicklow	Mid-East	99,820
6	Athlone Community Development Association CLG	Westmeath	Midlands	82,600
7	Ballinasloe Area Community Development CLG Ballinasloe Enterprise Centre	Galway	West	50,176
8	Ballyhoura Food Centre (Hospital) DAC	Limerick	Mid-West	28,480
9	Ballyhoura Food Centre (Mitchelstown) DAC	Cork	South	28,400
10	BASE Enterprise CLG	Dublin Fingal	Dublin	81,920
11	Bia Innovator Campus CLG	Galway	West	54,000
12	Broadford Community Enterprise Centre CLG	Limerick	Mid-West	40,000
13	Brookpark Enterprise Centre CLG	Cork	South	38,560
14	Carlow Community Enterprise Centres CLG	Carlow	Southeast	96,478
15	Castleblayney Community Enterprise CLG	Monaghan	North-East/ North-West	45,760
16	Cavan County Enterprise Fund **	Cavan	Northeast	83,200
17	Cavan Digital Hub DAC	Cavan	Northeast	56,128
18	Cavan Innovation & Technology Centre Ltd	Cavan	Northeast	99,040
19	Churchfield Community Trust	Cork	South	37,502
20	COLAB Letterkenny Institute of Technology	Donegal	Northwest	150,000
21	Cork Urban Enterprises CLG T/A Northside for Business Campus	Cork	South	103,400
22	County Kildare Chamber of Commerce CLG	Kildare	Mid-East	17,416
23	Creative Spark CLG	Louth	Northeast	108,000
24	Croom Community Enterprise Centre DAC	Limerick	Mid-West	44,171
25	Digital Hq CLG t/a Dún Laoghaire Enterprise Centre	Dublin Dun Laoghaire Rathdown	Dublin	28,483
26	Donegal County Enterprise Fund **	Donegal	Northwest	90,648
27	Drogheda Enterprise Centre CLG	Louth	Northeast	140,600
28	Drumshanbo Enterprise Centre Company CLG	Leitrim	Northwest	81,384
29	Drumshanbo Community Council CLG	Leitrim	Northwest	96,240
30	Dublin Business Innovation Centre t/a Space@Dublin BIC	Dublin City	Dublin	34,353
31	Dublin Enterprise & Technology Centre T/A Guinness Enterprise Centre	Dublin City	Dublin	147,000
32	Dundalk Institute of Technology t/a Regional Development Centre	Louth	Northeast	146,170
33	Dungarvan Enterprise Centre CLG	Waterford	Southeast	64,369
34	Enterprise & Research Incubation Centre (ERIC)	Carlow	Southeast	32,000
35	Enterprise Castlerea Company Limited by Guarantee – T/A The Hub / An Chistin Food Hub	Roscommon	West	52,500
36	Ferbane Business & Technology Park CLG	Offaly	Midlands	40,000
37	Fumbally Exchange CLG	Dublin City	Dublin	148,600
38	Galway City Innovation District CLG	Galway	West	149,978
39	Galway Mayo Institute of Technology – GMIT Innovation Hubs- Galway (iHub Galway)	Galway	West	101,442
40	Galway Technology Centre DAC	Galway	West	149,400
41	Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology Innovation Hub Mayo	Mayo	West	75,828
42	Innovate Dublin Communities CLG	Dublin Fingal	Dublin	145,024
43	Institute of Technology Sligo T/A Innovation Centre at IT Sligo	Sligo	North-East/ North-West	146,220
44	IRD North Mayo – West Sligo (t/a Moy Valley Resources)	Mayo	West	10,200
45	Kells Community Enterprise Company CLG	Meath	Mid-East	148,720
46	Kerry Innovation Centre CLG t/a Tom Crean Business Centre	Kerry	Mid-West	95,067
47	Kilkenny Community Enterprise Centre CLG t/a The Abbey Business Centre	Kilkenny	Southeast	86,880
48	Killarney Technology Innovation Limited	Kerry	Mid-West	75,600
49	Leitrim County Enterprise Fund T/A The Hive **	Leitrim	North-East/ North-West	139,637
50	Limerick Institute of Technology Questum Acceleration Centre	Tipperary	Mid-West	112,322
51	LIT Hartnett Enterprise Acceleration Centre (HEAC)	limerick	Mid-West	87,525
52	Ludgate Operations CLG	Cork	South	117,152
53	Meath Enterprise Centre Company CLG	Meath	Mid-East	145,664
54	Midlands Innovation and Research Centre	Westmeath	Midlands	56,327
55	Mitchelstown Community Forum CLG	Tipperary	Mid-West	84,400
56	Mol Teic	Kerry	Mid-West	65,680
57	Monaghan County Enterprise Fund **	Monaghan	Northeast	81,600
58	National University of Ireland Galway Business Innovation Centre (BIC) – Innovation Office	Galway	West	98,000
59	Nexus Innovation Centre UL	Limerick	Mid-West	145,394
60	Nutgrove Community Enterprise Centre CLG	Dublin Dun Laoghaire Rathdown	Dublin	39,896
61	Offaly Innovation and Design Centre CLG	Offaly	Midlands	69,760
62	Partas CLG	Dublin South	Dublin	64,000
63	Portarlington Enterprise Centre CLG	Laois	Midlands	67,840
64	Portlaoise Enterprise Centre	Laois	Midlands	88,000
65	RDI Hub Company Limited by Guarantee	Kerry	Mid-West	104,794
66	S.C.C.U.L Enterprises CLG	Galway	West	150,000
67	Sneem Innovation & Technology Services CLG	Kerry	Mid-West	77,808
68	Social and Local Enterprise Alliance DAC	Dublin South	Dublin	136,000
69	St Paul’s Area Development Enterprise Ltd t/a SPADE Enterprise Centre	Dublin City	Dublin	119,200
70	Sustainable Ireland Cooperative Society Ltd & North Tipperary Green Enterprise Park CLG	Tipperary	Mid-West	71,760
71	Tangent	Dublin City	Dublin	100,200
72	The Community Enterprise Society CLG t/a Terenure Enterprise Centre	Dublin South	Dublin	54,660
73	The Media Cube	Dublin Dun Laoghaire Rathdown	Dublin	120,000
74	The Model County Enterprise Group CLG – Centre Enniscorthy	Wexford	Southeast	98,400
75	The Model County Enterprise Group CLG – Centre The Hatch	Wexford	Southeast	52,800
76	TU Dublin Tallaght Campus t/a Synergy Centre	Dublin South	Dublin	89,390
77	Tubbercurry Development CLG T/A An Chroí South Sligo Enterprise Centre	Sligo	North	67,600
78	UCD Nova Designated Activity Company	Dublin Dun Laoghaire Rathdown	Dublin	132,043
79	University College Cork	Cork	South	105,480
80	Waterford City Community Enterprise Centre CLG: Trading as: Waterford City Enterprise Centre	Waterford	Southeast	80,503
81	Westport Multi Agency Enterprise CLG TA Leeson Enterprise Centre	Mayo	West	74,600
82	Wexford Community Development Association Society Limited Trading as Wexford Enterprise Centre	Wexford	Southeast	144,395
				7,369,776