Reminder about Trading Online Voucher Scheme helps local businesses get online… Last year this was a huge success for our clients. Not many customers seem to be aware of it so we thought to post about this again.  Especially Dublin clients with existing websites that need work, don’t seem to be aware of the fantastic support from the Local Enterprise Office to support businesses that want to trade online. Here are the details again..

Register Your Interest Now!

Vouchers will be available to a maximum value of €2,500 or 50% of eligible expenditure (Net of VAT), whichever is the lesser; Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte T.D. has launched an excellent grants scheme for budding small and medium enterprises who wish to help their businesses grow online. The Online Trading Voucher scheme is designed to help these small companies to access the opportunities open to them through trading online. This will help companies right across Ireland to access new markets so that they can grow and create more jobs. The scheme was originally tested in Dublin, where it proved extremely successful, and is now being rolled out around the country. Using the scheme, the National Digital Strategy aims to get a further 2,000 businesses trading online by the end of 2015. Eligibility Criteria:

• Vouchers will be available to a maximum value of €2,500 or 50% of eligible expenditure (Net of VAT), whichever is the lesser;
• Voucher approval must be gained prior to incurring any expense;
• Own labour is not an eligible expense;
• Third party costs only will be considered;
• All third party/supplier invoices must contain proper business details (e.g. Tax and Business Registration details).

The vouchers are targeted at businesses with the following profile:

• Limited Online Trading presence;
• Less than 10 employees;
• Turnover less than €2m;
• Applicant business must be registered and trading for at least 12 months;
• Business must be located in one of the pilot areas under this phase of the scheme.

What the vouchers can be used for

• IT consultation;
• Development or upgrade of an e-commerce website;
• Implementing Online payments or booking systems;
• Purchase of Internet related software;
• Purchase of online advertising (this purchase cannot make up any more than 30% of approved Voucher costs and can only be drawn down in one payment phase);
• Developing an app (or multiplatform webpages);
• Implementing a digital marketing strategy i.e. Social media marketing;
• Consultation with ICT experts for early stage adopters of online strategy;
• Training/skills development specifically to establish and manage an on-line trading activity.

If you would like your company to benefit from this fantastic grant, which covers for funding up to 50% of your expenditure, please contact 2Cubed for more details. You can call us on 051-440425, email hello@2cubed.ie, or else get in touch using the live chat on our website! [ccf_form id=”1316″]