Lunch & Learn give food for thought in Laois 

AS part of the outreach programme aimed at increasing awareness and uptake of enterprise supports in the county, Local Enterprise Office Laois hosted a Lunch & Learn event at Bloom HQ in Mountrath on Wednesday 30 September.

The event was well attended, with approximately 25 business owners, entrepreneurs and individuals considering starting a business.

The event provided attendees with an overview of the range of supports available through the Local Enterprise Offices, including business advisory services, mentoring, training programmes and grant supports. A presentation delivered by Lisa Molloy, head of enterprise, LEO Laois, also highlighted specialist business development programmes, including green for business, energy efficiency grants, lean for business and digital for business.

The event provided a valuable networking opportunity for businesses and generated a number of follow-up enquiries regarding LEO supports and services.

A Lunch & Learn event was also held recently in Stradbally library and at Market House, Portarlington.

Local Enterprise Office Laois will also hold a Resilient Business Breakfast for Laois SMEs: Practical Actions for growth in the current environment on Tuesday 20 October in the Killeshin Hotel, Portlaoise. It is open to all SMEs across Laois who want practical insight, clearer direction and stronger confidence in how they approach growth in the current environment. The focus of the session will be on helping business owners and managers think more clearly about resilience, opportunity and decision-making in a way that is commercially grounded and immediately useful. Key speaker is Susan Hayes Culleton, presenter of Taking Stock on Newstalk, author of seven books and a speaker and MC who works across Ireland, Europe and the US.

Local Enterprise Offices Laois and Carlow, in collaboration with Laois Chamber Alliance and County Carlow Chamber, invite SMEs for a morning built around the supports that make the biggest difference to small businesses now and into 2027. Over breakfast, you will hear from expert speakers, meet the LEO teams behind the funding and listen to business owners like you describe what these supports actually delivered for them.

The Business Toolkit Breakfast will be held in the Talbot Hotel, Carlow on Tuesday 10 November from 7.30-10am.

For information on business supports, networking events or general business queries, contact the Local Enterprise Office Laois team on 057 86 61800 or email localenterprise@laoiscoco.ie.

Check out the website www.localenterprise.ie/laois for more information.