Do you run a Social Enterprise or do you have an Innovative Social Enterprise idea that could help build stronger communities? County Kildare LEADER Partnership is looking for Kildare-based Social Enterprises to take part in the Kildare Social Enterprise Programme to help develop Social Enterprises in the county. The programme will be run by Clann Credo and the Irish Social Finance Centre
Social Enterprises are organisations which help resolve social, economic and environmental challenges. They create jobs, provide services and facilities and help build stronger communities. Examples of Social Enterprises include: community centres; men’s sheds; community crèches or community tourism projects.
Social Enterprise is a growing sector of the Irish economy worth over €1.9bn annually and employing over 33,000 people (Forfás 2013).
County Kildare LEADER Partnership has seen the potential that Social Enterprise has for building stronger communities and has set up the Kildare Social Enterprise Programme for groups and individuals with Social Enterprise ideas.
The Kildare Social Enterprise Programme will be run by Clann Credo, Ireland’s leading provider of Community Loan Finance and its sister company, the Irish Social Finance Centre.
Some examples of Social Enterprises in County Kildare include: Lullymore Heritage and Discovery Park; Clane GAA community café; McAuley Place in Naas, Suncroft Community Centre and The Acre, Celbridge.
The Kildare Social Enterprise Programme is designed to provide a wide range of skills necessary to set up and operate a social enterprise, including business planning, finance and funding, marketing and communications as well as measuring social impact.
The programme is free and will run from May to November (with a summer break for August) and will be mainly held in the evenings and on Saturdays.
Information evenings about the programme will be held in Naas on April 10th at 7.00pm in County Kildare LEADER Partnership’s office in Jigginstown Commercial Centre, Naas, and in Athy on April 18th at 7.00pm in the Clanard Court Hotel. For more information and to register your interest in the Kildare Social Enterprise Programme see the below Expression of Interest Form and send to Frances Farrell at frances@countykildarelp.ie or by phone contact Brian Kelly on 045-895450.
Kildare Social Enterprise Information Sheet