BTWEA - Starting Business

Daniel1986

Hello everyone

9 months ago I lost my job and I used this time to improve my skills through a college course. The course will be finishing soon and I start wondering about the possibility of opening my own business. Bussines would be Electronic repair shop, I have the previous experience in the area and thanks to the course I feel confident I will be able to do it by myself.

As an unemployed person, I can go fo the BTWEA (Back to Work Enterprise Allowance), which would be a huge help, problem is that this scheme will not help me financing the business.

I have enough money for startup and all the necessary equipment I would need, but I don't have enough money for buying the stock that I could sell in addition to my services.

Is there any government or private institution that could help me obtaining a small business loan? We are talking here about 5-6k euro.

hairyslug

https://www.localenterprise.ie/Discover-Business-Supports/Financial-Supports/Microfinance-Loans/

Your local enterprise office should be able to help. They will guide you through the application and help with business plan etc.

sysprogrammer

to add to hairyslug's post , the local enterprise office (in my case) can be slow to contact you back.

I went to the offices and paid for 4 hours of Mentorship (the form is available online and on-site) and this costs €40.

when I then met with the mentor , she was very quickly able to help me apply to the right areas.

What I'm trying to say is that while it all should be free, I find paying the €40 mentor fee got the ball rolling faster, as they had to book my appointment there and then.

hope this helps,
Sys

Daniel1986

Thank you for the replies 😀

I definitely try them out. Now I just hope they will not shut me down immediately after finding out that I'm not working 🀔

sysprogrammer

It is better you are not stuck working 40 hours a week for someone else, before you can put an hour in on your own company.

to best prepare yourself for meeting the LEO (local enterprise office) , they have a business plan template that you can download and begin to fill in:

https://www.localenterprise.ie/Longford/Publications-Resources/Sample-Business-Plans/

it will help you to ask questions about your business, and identify areas that may need some work.

feel free to ask more here, if any of the questions are causing trouble.

and Good luck .

Decayor

Hi
I was looking into this scheme and have a quick question

If you had employment 1day a week would you still be eligible when applying?

I know it states 12months jobseekers
Is X and Os the same?


Hopefully I've explained that correct

Thanks

mariopepper

You should better use loans private institution. Try to find them through search. I guess it's not a big problem to get 5-6k