The Kilkenny County Enterprise Board (CEB) is Chaired by the County Manager, Mr. Joe Crockett and 4 elected members from Kilkenny County Council serve as Directors of the Board, namely Cllr. Tom Maher, Cllr. Matt Doran, Cllr. Malcolm Noonan and Cllr. Martin Brett. The CEB has primary responsibility for providing supports to facilitate the start-up, development and growth of small business in County Kilkenny. The Board continued to play a pivotal role in this regard in 2007. The highlights of activity during the year include:

 

Enterprise Culture

The Board continued to support the Student Enterprise Awards (SEA) in second level schools. Approximately 400 students were involved in the SEA initiative, which has become an integral part of the CEB's work programme. The Board also strives to ensure that aspiring entrepreneurs can find advice in order to establish and sustain their enterprises. In 2007, hundreds of existing and aspiring entrepreneurs availed of business information and advice from the Board. The CEB also initiated a very successful Enterprise Week, from 1st - 5th October, aimed at raising the profile of the importance of and the issues affecting small business, comprising workshops, seminars, business briefings, media events and awards.

 

Enterprise Training & Management Development Support

The Board continually orgnanises and delivers a wide spectrum of enterprise training and management development supports for small businesses. A total of 528 people participated on the 58 enterprise training and management development programmes run by the Board in 2007.

 

Project Approvals

A further 31 business projects were approved financial assistance totalling €366,569. Of these projects: 7 are local services, 20 are manufacturing operations, 3 projects have the capacity to become Internationally Traded Services (ITS) and 1 project is a major tourism and leisure project. The projects approved during 2007 have the potential to create an additional 62 full-time and 13 part-time jobs when fully implemented. This amounts to 68 full-time job equivalents and brings the total number of jobs created by the Board since it was established in 1993 to 1,053 at a cost per job of circa €6,135. This brings the total number of projects assisted by the CEB since its establishment in 1993 to 586 and the total number of jobs created to 1,054.

 

Other Initiatives

The Board continued to employ a Project Manager, in conjunction with Kilkenny County Council to work with the local community in the Callan area to develop a range of actions aimed at stimulating local economic development. The CEB, through the Kilkenny County Development Board, has also been proactively leading the priority action to develop the provision of third level education in the County.