Minister Seán Sherlock has confirmed that a new Local Enterprise Office (LEO), which will service the North Cork area, is to be established in Mallow, forming part of the reforms of the County and City Enterprise Boards which will be
dissolved.

Recently announcing Mallow as the location for the LEO, the Minister said it is great to see that one of the 31 enterprise offices will be based locally. “I firmly believe that the services which it will provide will offer vital assistance and support to small and medium enterprises throughout the North Cork region. North Cork has seen a high rate of new businesses in recent years and it is these start-ups, along with the growth of existing small and medium businesses that are essential to job creation and gaining economic momentum at local level,” he said.

Services in the new Mallow office will include mentoring programmes, training and management development programmes, access to a range of support services and training programmes.

Minister Sherlock explained that the LEO’s will draw and build on the successful County Enterprise Board (CEB) model which supports 33,000 jobs across the country, and support 900 new projects per annum, as well as approximately 25,000 training participants.

“However it will bring together for the first time in a structured and coherent manner the skills, experience and resources of Enterprise Ireland, the CEB’s and the Local Authorities to micro and small businesses,” he said.