Eligibility Criteria

Applicants to the programme must demonstrate that:

• They are a small or micro enterprise with less than 50 employees
• They must be in operation for more than 12 months   
• The business address / head office must be based in the Newry and Mourne District Council area or the Ards and North Down Borough Council area    
• They must demonstrate the ability to create jobs
• The business is not currently a client of Invest NI
• The business is not in receipt of similar assistance from elsewhere 

All applicants who register their interest in this programme will be included in the database, but this does not indicate that they will necessarily be accepted. All businesses will be contacted directly via email if they have been successful or not within four weeks of application. It is therefore important that the email address indicated in your application is current. Every application will be assessed against the eligibility criteria so please ensure you meet all the criteria before registering your interest and provide as much information as possible in your application.  

As this is a four year programme, there will be a limited number of eligible businesses accepted into each intake. Each eligible business will be scored and the businesses with the highest score go forward for the first intake with the others automatically going through to the next intakes. You will be notified about which intake you will be participating in.