A Sligo entrepreneur has set up a new online platform to offer support to self-employed business owners struggling to cope with the effects of Covid 19.
Eddie Mulrooney said "Self Employed Ireland" aims to be a national collective body providing supports and training to its members across all business sectors.
A serial entrepreneur himself, Mr Mulrooney has run a range of businesses over the past 40 years including a pub, a restaurant and most recently a car wash/valeting service.
Mr Mulrooney said he wanted to bring self-employed business owners all over Ireland together to share knowledge, improve business partnerships and spread best practice.
He was due to launch the venture as a paid platform later this year but decided to bring the launch forward and charge a nominal €2 membership "as self-employed business owners struggle with the financial impact of the coronavirus."
He said he developed the idea after noticing a lack of support and information available to entrepreneurs during his own career as self-employed.
He found through research that many start-ups run out of long-term supports and often become vulnerable in business and he believes there's a need for a comprehensive and broad-ranging support system for self-employed business owners of which there are more than 300,000 in Ireland.
It's planned to provide training to members through a community platform which includes accounts management, employee management, life skills, mindfulness, revenue matters, marketing and more. www.selfemployedireland.ie
