I’ve been in Dublin recently with my daughter and her family. It was a busy time with her young children and chef/restauranteur husband but lots of fun and very different from life at home in New Zealand where I live with my husband and a cat!
What I found interesting was the similarities between Ireland and New Zealand. I’ve always been aware of the similar geographic size (though not shape) and population size.
However also like New Zealand, Ireland is full of small businesses and the Irish government is doing a lot to encourage their success in much the same way as is happening in New Zealand.
Although Ireland was hit much harder than New Zealand during the global financial crisis, the country is coming out of the recession now and small businesses are seen as the places that will help Ireland back into a good financial position.
The governments in both countries provide good information for SME start-ups to find out what they need to get going. In New Zealand you can go to business.govt.nz while in Ireland similar information is provided by Enterprise Ireland
Then it’s over to the private sector to provide the services identified in the government information such as accounting, legal, business planning, marketing, R&D, recordkeeping and other essential back office services.