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New guide to assist small businesses in difficulty printable version

10 Sep 2012: posted by the editor - Business, Ireland

Asimple guide to assist small businesses in difficulty was launched today by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, together with Minister of State for Small Business, John Perry. The guide, Managing Out of the Crisis, was developed in response to request from small businesses.

Developed in response to a recommendation from the Advisory Group for Small Business, the guide provides simple advice for small businesses facing difficulties, as well as contact details and website addresses for organisations where further guidance will be available.

The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation will be displaying the guide on its website, and has contacted business representative organisations, the CEB network, banks and other relevant organisations and ask them to display the guide in their branches and on their websites.

Today’s announcement comes following the delivery of a key commitment in the Action Plan for Jobs.

Minister Bruton said: “A key part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is not only to ensure that we have new companies starting up, but also that we protect to the greatest extent possible the jobs in existing businesses. We are currently undergoing a transition as a country, from the old, failed economy based on property to a new, sustainable economy based on innovation and enterprise. This transition, as well as the economic crisis from 2008, poses challenges for many businesses. The role of Government in this situation is to act to help businesses manage those challenges so that the greatest possible number of jobs are protected and created.

“What is clear to me as I travel around the country meeting small business-owners and entrepreneurs is that some small companies are living day-to-day, concerned above all about issues such as paying wages and creditors. Business representatives have asked Government to provide a guide to help people deal with these issues. My hope is that the advice and assistance contained in today’s announcement will make a difference to those businesses, help them survive their difficulties, and ultimately protect and create the jobs we need.”

The Advisory Group for Small Business (AGSB), chaired by Minister for Small Business John Perry TD, in its Report, The Voice of Small Business, recommended the development and wide circulation of the Guide setting out the warning signs and encouraging small businesses to ask for help.

Minister Perry said: “The reality is that within any enterprise structure there is a constant churn of company formation and closure.

Ensuring that the system is supportive as companies face difficulties, in the current environment is therefore, vitally important. It is against this background that the Government committed under the Action Plan for Jobs to develop a practical Information Guide—“Managing out of the Crisis.”

Minister Perry added that the publication of the Information Guide “is continuing evidence of this Government’s efforts to ensure that as many small businesses as possible can, through accessing the various web-links set down in the Guide, have the confidence to start tackling any problems they may have and work their way through them, in consultation with the relevant service providers. The sooner that businesses spot potential problems, the sooner they can fix them.”

Minister Perry further said that the members of the Advisory Group for Small Business had assisted the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in drafting the Guide and had signed off on its publication at their meeting on Tuesday 19 June. Minister Perry thanked the AGSB members for their valuable inputs and encouraged all Business Representative Organisations, the CEB Network, banks, etc. to disseminate the Guide as widely as possible, by putting it up on their respective websites.

* The Advisory Group for Small Business was established in June 2011 and is chaired by Minister for Small Business, Mr. John Perry T.D.

The broad terms of reference for the Advisory Group for Small Business are to facilitate structured and regular dialogue between the Minister for Small Business and representatives of the small business sector on issues of concern to that sector on how to promote the economic development and job potential of the sector having regard to the current restraints imposed on the national finances and to recommend action points and follow up.

Membership of the Small Business Advisory Group includes entrepreneurs, nominees from the main small business representative bodies, John Trethowan of the Credit Review Office and officials from the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation as well as from the state enterprise support agencies, Forfas, Enterprise Ireland and the County and City Enterprise Boards (CEBs).

Tags: Small Business Advisory Group, Small Business Guide

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