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As part of its Covid Recovery & Revitalisation Plan, the Council identified funding for a Covid Recovery Start Up Grant Programme, which enabled it to allocate £500 in grants to applicants who successfully completed a programme.

Kevin O’Connor, Head of Business at the Council told members of the Business and Culture Committee this week that demand has been “substantial” since the scheme got under way in November. The original £30,000 budget has now been disseminated to 60 fledgling businesses after the project reached capacity within weeks.

A further 20 new businesses locally will now be helped after the Committee agreed to allocate a further £10,000 for the project.

2017: Council Head of Business Kevin O'Connor (left) with then Mayor, Councillor Maoliosa McHugh, at the launch of another local business support project. Included were Sue Divin Programme Manager Peace IV, Gearoid O hEara, Co-Chair Peace IV Partnership Board, Gina McIntyre, CEO, SEUPB, John Kelpie, Chief Executive Derry and Strabane District Council and Alderman Drew Thompson, Co-Chair Peace IV Partnership Board.

Proposing the move, Sinn Féin Colr. Patricia Logue: “It’s good to see that the scheme did get a lot of traction, and hopefully these new business start ups will be successful, so I would propose we take that item forward.”

This was seconded by SDLP Colr. Shauna Cusack.

In a report brought before the Committee, Councillors were told that while Covid-19 has presented an unprecedented challenge for all businesses, for start ups at the most vulnerable phase of their development it is “a potential existential crisis”. “During the Covid crisis there has been extensive funding packages to support established businesses however government aid has tended to neglect start ups, this was a major area for concern,” the report stated.

“It is widely recognised that new business starts are the lifeblood of a competitive economy, offering new and diverse employment opportunities and giving consumers greater choice, it is therefore vitally important that the start up eco system is supported financially not only to survive but to prosper during this time of crisis.”

In response to this,the new grant programme was developed in collaboration with Enterprise North West and Strabane Enterprise Agency.

The £500 grants were designed to helped participants with marketing their products, capital costs, rent, set-up costs, or cost of renovating premises. The programme was open to individuals in Derry and Strabane who are planning to start a new business within six months of it being launched on November 27. ”This further intervention means that the Covid Business Start Up Programme will deliver a total of 80 grants valued at £40k up to March 2021,” the report states.

Derry & Strabane Council expands support for Start Up businesses