Enterprise Ireland is calling on companies large and small to engage with it as soon as possible to avail of its suite of COVID-19 financial supports.

Even if a company is not exporting or is not a previous client of Enterprise Ireland, the State agency is asking businesses with 10 employees or more to engage with its COVID-19 business response unit as there are funding options and grants available to almost all businesses.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Mark Christal, Enterprise Ireland’s manager of regions and entrepreneurship, said the agency was happy to help all businesses that have been negatively affected by the pandemic.

Financial planning

Without doing anything else, Christal urged businesses to at least avail of Enterprise Ireland’s €5,000 financial planning grant.

This grant is 100% funded and allows any business to hire a financial consultant to prepare a detailed financial plan for the business.

Enterprise Ireland is also offering SME businesses a €2,500 business continuity voucher to help restart or reopen once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

After this, Christal says there will be a range of other supports such as repayable loans or advances as long as companies can demonstrate the impact of COVID-19 on their business performance. For SME businesses with a turnover of less than €5m, Enterprise Ireland is offering repayable advances of up to €50,000.

SME funding

Repayments on this funding for SME businesses do not need to start until 2024 and carry an administration charge of 4%. For businesses with a turnover above €5m, Christal says there are larger loan supports available, ranging from €100,000 up to €800,000.

Companies can draw down this funding and use it for any range of purposes including cashflow or liquidity.

Similar to the repayable advances for smaller businesses, these loans carry an administration charge of 4% and companies can defer repayments for the first three years. However, larger companies can also repay the loans via granting equity in their business to Enterprise Ireland.