Empowering small businesses

This month sees the start of a new e-commerce programme aimed at small businesses in the Fingal area.

Empower has been organised by the Fingal County Enterprise Board (FCEB) to enable small businesses establish a presence on the internet to promote their businesses and sell their products.

Recently published figures from Nielsen/Net Ratings highlight around 50.1% of the Irish population now use the internet with 44% of the population now visiting websites or sending e-mail at least once a week.

According to Oisín Geoghegan, CEO with FCEB, “with more customers and suppliers on-line, a static company website is no longer adequate. To take advantage of e-commerce opportunities, small business owners need to plan their web presence, identify objectives, understand how on-line marketing works and improve their search engine ratings.”

The six week part-time course is designed to help owner/managers harness the potential of e-commerce, enabling them to do more business with customers, sales leads and suppliers electronically.

Over the course of the six modules, participants will learn about internet access, legislation, web design, spam filtering, secure payments on-line, hosting, advertising and marketing on the web.

Financially, the course is structured very attractively. The programme, which is heavily subsidised, costs just €300 per participant. Qualifying participants can also apply for the e-commerce grant, which is worth up to €1,000 towards the cost of implementing their approved e-commerce strategy.

Further information on the programme is available from the Enterprise Board tel. 01 890 0800 or by visiting their website www.fingalceb.ie

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