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This story was first published on April 18th, 2008.
Ballymun Partnership Ltd was established in 1991 to support children, families and address social exclusion in Ballymun, the Partnership strives to listen, trust and support local people to create positive change in their community. The Economic Development Department is one of the support avenues within the partnership, providing a range of enterprise services for small businesses & persons considering self-employment.
The progression into self-employment can be a daunting prospect for anyone, embarking upon the journey can be life changing. Clients who show an interest in self-employment will attend our courses designed for pre-start and start-up business. However, committing to a life in self-employment is a hurdle many still have to overcome and one of the biggest barriers to achieving this is the availability of start-up capital.
A key constraint arising not only within enterprise resources in the locality but within similar institutions around Ireland relates to the lack of available financial aid and associated developmental supports for start-up business. Commonly in small business research literature the lack of early stage finance is consistently emerging as a key gap within the market. The bulk of European SMEs access capital in the form of bank debt however, within our clientele this is not often possible with clients claming a poor credit rating history which prevents them accessing mainstream financial supports.
To aid pre-start businesses into a security zone whereby they have completed a strategy and gained necessary capital to implement their business within Ballymun is a successful outcome not only for the individual but also the community. As a result the Economic Development Department within the Ballymun Partnership would like expressions of interest to deliver pre and post mentoring to get our clients microfinance ready enabling them to embark upon the journey of self-employment.
All mentors will have responsibility for the provision of:-
- Screening the clients who have undertaken training within the last year to determine if they qualify for the course;
- From those short listed, the clients whom register an interest will be asked to meet with the mentor and enterprise executive to undertake a structured questionnaire in order to ensure the clients are suited to the course;
- The microfinance body will then hold an introductory seminar for those clients who were selected and will provide an introductory pack;
- Each client will be offered a quota of five mentoring sessions. How the sessions are divided between pre and post mentoring is to be decided at the clients own discretion;
- Once the application has been completed by the client it will be put into the microfinance body to be assessed;
- If the application is successful the client will receive the funds and will be monitored by microfinance body and through the support of the mentor (pending quota number remaining);
- If unsuccessful, depending on the reasoning behind the application rejection, the client maybe offered additional mentoring hours in order to progress with the application for a second and final time. If unsuccessful the second time the client will not be able to pursue the course again.
Times and locations shall be agreed in advance of the schedule. All meetings will be held within Ballymun Enterprise Centre.
All expressions of interest are to be submitted by Friday 2nd May at 12pm 2008 electronically or by post.
Fiona Descoteaux.
Enterprise Development Executive.
Ballymun Partnership,
North Mall,
Ballymun Town Centre.
Dublin 11.
Email: fiona@ballymun.org
Phone: 01 582 39522/ 086 172 1333
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