Welcome to the Carrick Chamber Newsletter
Achievements in 2023
- The Fairtrade event held in February
- The St Patricks Day parade
- The very successful Carrick Camino
- The Chambers support of:
- The USAFE Life Buoy with Rapid River Rescue
- The canopies used for Taste of Carrick and the Christmas Markets
- The Christmas Markets
- Tidy Towns
- Irelands Best kept town in 2023
- Retained their GOLD status in 2023 increasing their score from 2022
- The Chambers on-going support to:
- The Purple Flag / Ambassadors initiative
- Supporting business initiatives with Leitrim County Council
- LECP – Local Economic & Community Plan
- Town Team & Town Master Plan
- Business Watch presentation in conjunction with the Gardai
- Halloween event
- Christmas in Carrick
I would like to thank all the businesses for their support in all these events, both through their presence and financial support where needed. This was very evident recently during the Christmas period when all businesses made a huge effort to have their premises looking festive and colourful.
As we face into another year, we will aim to bring many more events into the town to increase footfall and continue to promote Carrick as the place to Be, Do, Explore, Eat, Stay and Shop.
Upcoming events
- 02nd February 2024, Tipsy Tailors, 5:30pm to 7:00pm
First Social event of the year, we will aim to hold these quarterly. This is a great time to interact with your peers and, at this this initial meeting late January, may be a good time to discuss the Christmas period.
- 13th February – Next Chamber Meeting – new members always welcome!
Training / Workshops available this month
- Local Enterprise Office
- One-to One Business advice clinic
- Available all year round
- These short and snappy one-to-one clinics are a great opportunity to discuss your business with a mentor and find out about the financial assistance, mentoring support, and training courses on offer at LEO
- Practical & Honest analysis of your business
- Available all year round
- With energy costs increasing, inflation impacting on supply chain, and consumers becoming more cost conscious, every business is seeking to reduce costs. Our expert mentors can help you to identify ways to reduce costs and stay competitive. Book a 45-minute one-to-one with our expert mentors to see how you can make small changes to make a big difference.
- Small business accounts
- 16th January 2024 9:30am to 1pm
- The aim of this course is to impact confidence in working with Business’s books and records and develop an understanding of small business accounts.
- A layman’s guide to VAT
- 23rd January 2024 9:30am to 1pm and repeated on 30th January
- The aim of this training is to give participants a detailed understanding of VAT and the implications of VAT registration on their business.
- How to submit your income tax return (Form 11) on ROS
- 06th February 2024 9:30am to 12:30pm
- This course is suitable for Sole Traders, Partnerships, Company Directors and Landlords.
All of the above can be booked on-line at https://www.localenterprise.ie/Leitrim/Training-Events/Online-Bookings/
Topic of the Month – Free Business Mentoring
The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) offers one to one support in various aspects of business management including business planning, finance, marketing etc. This support is available to business employing less than 10 employees within Co. Leitrim.
Having a business mentor can help you look at your business objectively and can assist you to consider all the options for moving the business forward. A mentor is someone who can help you to work through your ideas and plans for the business while at the same time sharing with you their extensive experience and knowledge.
The mentor support programmes have been developed to provide micro – businesses with a resource in the form of experienced professionals who will assist in overcoming the many obstacles that the business will face at various stages. There is a wide range of expertise available through our mentor panel.
Areas of support typically include:
- Business Planning & Strategy
- Financial Planning & Management
- Market Research & Development
- Marketing & Promotion
- Operations Management
- Managing Human Resources
- Social Media
For further information and an application form please contact the Local Enterprise Office on 071 – 9650420 or info@leo.leitrimcoco.ie
Other items of interest
Irish Business Against Litter (https://ibal.ie/) representatives have been around the town in January and Carrick on Shannon has achieved 9th place in the Country. Well done to all businesses and to Carrick on Shannon Tidy Towns Volunteers for their efforts. It is important we continue to keep the town litter free at all times.
LCC Climate action – Expression of Interest Applications are now open for the Community Climate Action Fund. Closing date for applications is Wednesday 28th February 2024. Applications are available here: https://ecs.page.link/Zh44L