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SMALL IRISH COMPANIES are too reliant on the big banks for loans but are behind the times in taking up the latest finance options like crowdfunding.
Those findings come from Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) research which will be handed out today at a conference about funding small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during times of economic recovery.
It said the overall demand for SME lending was expected to stay level – at about €57 billion for the entire sector – but the share being spent on property was going down.
The ESRI’s Dr Martina Lawless said Irish firms mainly turned to banks for loans which left them vulnerable to any funding problems in the sector.
“Encouraging firms to access the broader set of potential funding sources would provide a more robust financing environment for SMEs and support growth and investment,” she said.
“There are a range of novel funding options, such as crowdfunding, that just are currently overlooked by many companies”.
Kickstarter, one of the world’s most popular crowdfunding sites, recently launched in Ireland after more than €1 billion had been pledged through the organisation overseas.
In the too-hard basket
The groups representing Irish SMEs have previously complained about long delays in getting bank loans approved and the difficulty for some businesses in financing growth.
SMEs employ nearly 70% of private-sector workers in Ireland and account for about half of all business turnover.
The ESRI also found:
READ: Cash-strapped traders are turning to non-traditional lenders
READ: Irish small businesses are getting hungrier for credit
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Taking aside the sexual exploitation and the issues with the children, which are obviously indefensible, I can understand why people / countries are cautious when it comes to females with suspected ties to IS.
Women have been quite happy to carry out some truly horrible attacks in the name of IS in the past.
@Ace: even though they are the biggest losers in any area they take over
Why has my well reasoned factual comment been deleted? You’ve gone mad with censorship Journal. People may not have liked what I had to say but I should have the right to say it – there was no expletives, etc. If you want to have a comments section, at least let people from different mindsets both comment. This monotone approach is hurting journalism.
@Nomad: what you said was a horrible horrible comment you should be ashamed of yourself
@Alana: Do you work for the journal Alana? I appreciate the more sensitive souls among us might not have liked my comment but there was no reason whatsoever for removing it. As I mentioned, it was a reasoned comment, backed up with widely available statistics. I’m not condoning these acts but my comment was true and correct and should not have been removed because you didn’t like what I had to say.
What a wonder world we live in
Thankfully no one did anything to further IS’s rapey ways like bombing the shit out of their enemies for them!!
have your say