Local Enterprise Office, Driving Export Opportunities
Exporting is a core pillar of Waterford’s Local Enterprise Offices strategy. It focuses on supporting small businesses with potential for international growth through targeted programmes, access to grants for market research and trade fairs, and one-to-one mentoring.
Local Enterprise Office Waterford has an Export Business Advisory Service. This service can give strategic advice on how to navigate export issues and to find opportunities in new markets. This free service offers local businesses the opportunity to meet one-to-one with an experienced Export Advisor to discuss their ambitions, challenges and opportunities in international markets.
It includes analysis of your competitive position and understand contract terms of global customers and distributors. It can also assess and mitigate against the impact of the evolving global trading landscape, including supply chain, financial strength, competitiveness, innovation and the potential for market opportunities and diversification. Finally, it can also help you to proactively engage with potential customers and distributors.
Another support is the Market Explorer Grant, this is open to small enterprises (up to 50 paid employees) who operate in manufacturing or eligible internationally traded services. The amount of the grant is to a maximum of €10,000 or 50% of eligible costs. Support for the Market Explorer grant applies when eligible companies seek to explore either a new geographic market for an existing product/service or an existing geographic market for a new product/service. The financial assistance proposed will provide support towards costs incurred in researching new market opportunities for products and services.
Local Enterprise Office Waterford is here to help you start a business, expand an existing business or reach new markets. It provides advice, information and supports in starting up or growing your business as part of a network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices across Ireland.
Contact your Local Enterprise Office Waterford for their latest training programmes, grants and events schedule on www.localenterprise.ie/Waterford or email info@leo.waterfordcouncil.ie for access to all their training support information.
If you’re interested in our ‘Export Advisor’ service you can apply via the following link, www.localenterprise.ie/!X2F37K
