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How to Start a Business in County Donegal

Free start-up resources and useful local contacts.

Improve your chances of success!

How to Start a Business in County Donegal

Starting a business in County Donegal

If you are thinking about starting a business in County Donegal or would like to grow your existing business, we would love to help you.

Start Your Own Business in County Donegal contains resources and the information that will help give your venture the best chance of success. It also highlights organisations who offer friendly advice and the services that you are likely to need as a new startup or local business owner.

Grants | Networking groups | Business advice | Mentoring | Co-working spaces

Starting a business in County Donegal

Local help for startups

There is plenty of help for startups in County Donegal but where can it be found?

Select classification:

Local partners

We are happy to promote anyone who is prepared to offer friendly support to local start-ups.

Our local partners have been kind enough to help us and are keen to help you too.

Free Startup Resources

Getting it right from the start can help to prevent problems later.

To help you with this we have created a vast selection of resources and they are all completely free!

Latest articles

You don't know what you don't know!

The prospect of starting a new business can be incredibly exciting but should be approached with care. You have probably heard scary stories about how many start-ups fail in the early stages. You can make sure that you are not one of them by learning as much as possible before you launch. Over the years, we have collected lots of articles which will show you what has worked well for other start-ups and the putfalls to avoid.

Free Startup Guide

Start Your Own Business in 2024

Download the 2024 edition of our Free Start Your Own Business guide

An interactive step-by-step guide which also includes all of the most important subjects covered in an easy-to-read way with links to useful online articles and relevant contacts.

The idea of starting your own business can be incredibly exciting and who can blame you for being tempted?

However, the sad truth is that far too many new enterprises fail in the early stages. Our aim is to make sure that you don't become one of them.

This guide explains the key start-up subjects in simple English.

There is also plenty of help available in the area and much of it is free - please do make the most of it.

Read more about what our Free guide contains and how you can download it.
Starting a business in County Donegal

Key Contacts in County Donegal

'You don't know what you don't know' is a phrase that is so applicable to starting a new business.

County Donegal is a great place for start-ups but your chances of success are dramatically improved if you make the most of the support that is available locally. Click on logos to visit their websites.

Advice

ThinkBusiness.ie
Small business life can be tough but rewarding. You need to begin from the best possible position. Think Business have produced a guide to starting a small business in Ireland. ThinkBusiness.ie has been created for Irish business owners and managers who are seeking information, resources and help on a range of business topics. ThinkBusiness.ie provides practical, actionable information and guidance on starting, growing and running a business. It offers guides, tools, templates, checklists and a wealth of other content tailored to meet the needs of Irish business owners and managers. It also showcases case studies, with insights, tips and advice from Irish start-up entrepreneurs and business owners.
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Advice

Startups.ie
Ireland’s leading independent, online resource for anyone starting and growing a business. Established in 2005, we are the longest serving, largest and most comprehensive advice platform covering everything you need to know start, buy, run or sell a business. Whether you’re looking for inspiration to launch your own start-up, the latest insights into the Tech Startup scene or tips on how to manage your startup – we’ve got it covered. This site was created by entrepreneurs to be a starting place for people interested in setting up their own business.
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Advice

Who can help me start my business in Ireland?
A useful site for young people, which includes this article about starting a business in Ireland. SpunOut.ie is Ireland’s youth information website created by young people, for young people. They provide information to more than 180,000 active readers each month. Established in 2005, our vision is to help create an Ireland where young people aged between 16 and 25 are empowered with the information they need to live active, happy, and healthy lives. They aim to educate and inform our readers about the importance of holistic wellbeing and how good health can be maintained, both physically and mentally.
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Advice

Local Enterprise Office Donegal
Local Enterprise Office Donegal is the essential resource for small business in County Donegal. We support local enterprises in many different ways to encourage a thriving and sustainable local economy. Our highly qualified and experienced staff are here to help businesses to be successful. We have access to a broad range of business contacts and experts who can add real value to local enterprises. You can also contact us directly to discuss your business idea or development needs and we will be delighted to meet with you. info@leo.donegalcoco.ie Address Enterprise Fund Business Centre Ballyraine, Letterkenny.
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Advice

Start Your Own Business Programme
Start Your Own Business Aims: It is important to plan in advance of setting up a business. Preparation is the single most important thing you can do to ensure your fledging business gets off the ground and continues flying. Key Issues Include: Is your business idea viable? Can you develop a competitive and sustainable enterprise? Are you prepared to take the risk? What skills do you require to achieve your objectives? Who Should Attend? The LEO SYOB programme focuses on: Anyone with a business idea they want to develop Anyone looking at self-employment as a realistic career option. Anyone who has recently started a business The programme will guide you through the various aspects of business and business planning. The objective is to assist you in assessing your idea, its viability and to decide if you should proceed or take a step back.
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Advice

Local Enterprise Office - 10 Step Guide to Starting a Business
If you're thinking of starting a business, our Start Your Own Business Programme will help you, from developing and researching your ideas, learning basic business start-up skills and expanding your potential with marketing and financial planning advice. Our Start Your Own Business programme introduces you to thinking about running your business and testing out your business ideas and plans along with like-minded people.
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Advice

Step by step guide to starting your own business - Irish Times
There has really never been a better time to start your own business. Thanks to Government initiatives, start-up communities and entrepreneur networks there is a smorgasbord of information available to surf your way through. Places such as your Local Enterprise Office (LEO) have developed courses and programmes to take you from the ideas board to having your product on the shelf, you no longer need to have a background in business to set up your own, you can just learn as you go. If you have created an innovation and feel that you want to put the business wheels into action we’ve set out a step-by-step strategy taking in the practicalities of getting your business up and running.
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Advice

How to Start a Business in Ireland
An interesting step-by-step article which explains how to go about starting a business in Ireland.
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Advice

Enterprise Ireland - Start a Business in Ireland
A hotbed of entrepreneurship and international business, Ireland is at the heart of the European Union, is a great place to live and work. As a country with a strong entrepreneurial spirits, there are many benefits to starting your business here in Ireland and none more so than the fact that Enterprise Ireland invests in approximately 200 start ups each year… the next one could be yours.
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Advice

Companies Registration Office
Registration of a business name is obligatory if any individual or partnership (whether composed of individuals or bodies corporate or any combination of both) or any body corporate carries on business under a name other than their own true names. Its purpose is to make public the identities of those individual(s), partnerships or corporate bodies being the legal entity behind the business name. Companies Registration Office Bloom House, Gloucester Place Lower, Dublin 1
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Advice

Starting a Company in Ireland for Non-Residents
Congratulations on choosing Ireland as a place to register your company. As well as our low Corporation Tax rate of 12.5% (0% for some companies until 2021), there are many advantages of doing business in Ireland. Company Bureau can register an Irish Company for you as quickly and efficiently as possible. We have vast experience in incorporating Irish Companies for non-residents and assisting with the provision of Corporate Services and Compliance for same. There are, however, a couple of points you must address as a non-resident looking at starting a company and register an Irish company.
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Advice

Citizens Information - Starting a Business
If you are thinking of setting up a business there are a number of issues you need to consider. Different supports and regulations apply, depending on your particular situation. You may be employed, unemployed or someone who is coming from outside Ireland to set up a business. This document highlights some of the important information you need to know with links to relevant topics. You can read more in our documents, Sources of information on starting a business and Becoming self-employed. The Citizens Information Board is the statutory body which supports the provision of information, advice and advocacy on a broad range of public and social services. It provides the Citizens Information website, citizensinformation.ie, and supports the voluntary network of Citizens Information Centres and the Citizens Information Phone Service - 0761 07 4000.
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Advice

County Donegal Citizens Information
The Citizens Information Board is the statutory body which supports the provision of information, advice and advocacy on a broad range of public and social services. It provides the Citizens Information website, citizensinformation.ie, and supports the voluntary network of Citizens Information Centres and the Citizens Information Phone Service - 0761 07 4000. It also funds and supports the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) 0761 07 2000 and the National Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities. Citizensinformation.ie provides comprehensive information on public services and on the entitlements of citizens in Ireland. We gather information from various government departments and agencies, and make sure that you have all the information you need, presented in an easy-to-understand way. Ballyshannon CIC Public Services Outreach Centre, Library Building, Abbeyview, Ballyshannon Phone: 0761 07 5480 Buncrana CIC 12 Lower Main Street, Buncrana Phone: 0761 07 5490 Carndonagh CIC Public Services Centre, Malin Road, Carndonagh Phone: 0761 07 5500 Donegal Town CIC Donegal Town Citizens Information Centre, Public Services Centre, Drumlonagher, Donegal Town Phone: 0761 07 5510 Dungloe CIC Dungloe Citizens Information Centre, Public Services Centre, Gweedore Road, Dungloe Phone: 0761 07 5430 Letterkenny CIC Letterkenny Citizens Information Centre, Public Services Centre, Neil T Blaney Road, Letterkenny Phone: 0761 07 5530 Milford CIC Milford Citizens Information Centre, Public Services Centre, Milford Phone: 0761 07 5450
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Advice

Donegal County Enterprise Board
Donegal County Enterprise Board (DCEB) is the essential resource for small business in County Donegal. We support local enterprises in many different ways to encourage a thriving and sustainable local economy. Donegal County Enterprise Board, Enterprise Fund Business Centre, Ballyraine, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal
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Advice

Donegal Enterprise
Donegal County Enterprise Board (DCEB) is the essential resource for small business in County Donegal. As well as running a Start Your Own Business programme, we support local enterprises in many different ways to encourage a thriving and sustainable local economy. Our highly qualified and experienced staff is here to help businesses to be successful. We have access to a broad range of business contacts and experts who can add real value to local enterprisesEnterprise Fund Business Centre, Ballyraine, Letterkenny Co. Donegal.
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Start-up articles

100's of free startup articles

We have created a collection of 100s of startup articles to help anyone with whatever stage they are on with their business journey. Hundreds of thousands of people have gone before you and we can learn from what they got right and avoid the things that have been proved not to work so well.

You can see the full list of 'articles' at: How to start a business