Applications open for programme supporting returned Mayo emigrants to start a business
BACK for Business, the free government programme that helps returned emigrants start and develop businesses in Ireland, is now open to applications.
The programme, which is funded by the Irish Abroad Unit, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, was created to foster and support entrepreneurial activity among emigrants recently returned to Ireland or are still living abroad but thinking of returning to Ireland.
Back for Business is now seeking offers of interest from eligible candidates hoping to return or who have already returned to Mayo.
To qualify, applicants must be returned Irish emigrants who lived abroad for at least a year and have returned to Ireland in the last three years, or are currently living abroad with plans to return to Ireland in the near future.
This is the ninth year of the programme and those eligible have until Friday, January 16, to apply through www.backforbusiness.com.
The programme will begin with a launch forum and round table event on February 13, and will conclude in June. Up to 50 places are available.
Back for Business has a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs who are returned emigrants to significant grow sales and increase employment. Since launching in 2017, the initiative has helped early-stage entrepreneurs address common challenges faced by emigrants who have been living away from Ireland.
Some 100% of those who completed last year’s programme, Back for Business 8, reported they would recommend the programme to others and would like to stay in contact with the Back for Business community.
Participants on Back for Business 9 will meet once a month on a peer-supported round table, facilitated by voluntary lead entrepreneurs, who have experience of successfully starting and growing a business. Many of them have also lived abroad before returning to Ireland to start their business.
This year’s lead entrepreneurs are: Gillian O’Dowd, Director at Azon; Paul Duggan of The Gardiner Group; Seamus Reilly, co-founder and formerly of Critical Healthcare; Sinéad Doherty, founder and CEO of Fenero; and Thomas Ennis, founder of the Thomas Ennis Group.
Former participants from Mayo include Deborah Kilroy of Van Velze’s Luxury Chocolates, which is a luxury chocolate gifting company that produces chocolate collections for all occasions and for corporate gifting.
Deborah says: “I am so happy that I signed up and was accepted to take part in the Back for Business 7 programme. I met a brand new network of like-minded people with some of the same struggles that I unexpectedly came across by moving home. The confidence, joy and knowledge this programme gave me is a fantastic boost to the beginning of my Irish business life.”
Marie Dillon is the co-founder of Great Minds, a mental health and safety business. She was a participant on Back for Business 8 and says: “Since joining the group a few short months ago with just an idea, I now have an up-and-running profitable business with 39 happy clients and exciting plans for steady growth!”
Mayo native Niall Joyce ended his five-year spell living in Vancouver at the end of 2023 when he moved home with wife Sienna and set up his landscape design business, Prograss Design. Niall says that the monthly roundtables with his peers on the Back for Business programme and one-to-one sessions with his lead entrepreneur were 'revitalising', helping him to focus on the business strategy more than the day-to-day grind.
Niall says: “The Back for Business programme was a brilliant experience. The best part was being able to pick the brains of my peers and the lead entrepreneur. It can be a lonely journey but hearing people in the group talk about their own personal and business challenges revitalises and offers a mental boost.”