Margaret Farrell knew how to paint landscapes and seascapes. Running an art business required another set of skills. In her account of Entrepreneurs Academy’s Kick Start programme, the milestones are wonderfully unromantic: becoming a sole trader, organising accounts, building a website, developing a social media presence and learning to pitch. The paintings were already there. The machinery around them needed assembling.
- Practical business training for aspiring founders, small firms and social enterprises.
- Kick Start: 14 weeks, full-time, fully funded for admitted participants.
- Growth support pairs specialist teaching with mentoring and small peer groups.
That distinction explains the appeal of Entrepreneurs Academy. Entrepreneurship is often presented as a personality: bold, restless, allergic to instructions. Here it becomes a collection of things someone can learn. Who is the customer? Will the numbers work? How do you sell? Dublin-based founder Joanne Hession established the company in 1998. Its audience includes people whose ambition is a sustainable livelihood, not necessarily a spectacular exit.
The artist and the accounts
Farrell’s testimonial contains a revealing change of emphasis. She describes greater confidence, but also clearer goals and a different approach to running her business. The shift came alongside concrete work. Confidence, in this account, was accompanied by an organised set of next steps. A person who can name the next task has something more useful than a stirring slogan.
“Above all, my mindset had changed and I have grown in confidence.”Margaret Farrell, Kick Start participant
Kick Start’s published curriculum combines business planning, idea development, IT, coaching and mentoring. Successful learners receive QQI Level 5 Business Planning certification. The format is mainly online, with three or four in-person sessions. It also welcomes people who want stronger business knowledge for their careers. Starting a company is one possible destination; understanding how one works is another.
Free has a timetable
The price is unusually straightforward: Kick Start is advertised as fully funded, with no participant fee. The commitment is less casual. Fourteen weeks of full-time study is a substantial item in anyone’s diary. Applicants must live in Ireland, meet the stated entry requirements and be available for the online and in-person sessions. Attending an information session is part of the application process.
Funding removes the tuition bill. It does not remove the need to show up.
Other routes have different economics. An eight-week Start Your Own Business course beginning in September 2025, commissioned by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown’s Local Enterprise Office and delivered by the Academy, listed a €150 fee. It ran online in the evening and limited classes to 15 participants. That particular intake was restricted to people based, or operating a business, in the local area.
This is also a clue to the Academy’s business model. It provides training and consultancy directly, while delivering programmes for public agencies and development organisations. The learner and the commissioning customer may be different people. A funded place is therefore part of a delivery arrangement, rather than evidence that running a training company costs nothing.
Customers before the glossy website
The DLR syllabus is an instructive antidote to launch-day theatre. It starts with self-assessment and refining an idea, then moves to validation and customer discovery. Finance and legal considerations follow. Marketing, digital tools, sales and planning receive their own attention. The order matters: demand and margin deserve a hearing before the founder becomes excessively attached to the stationery.
- 01 Refine the idea
- 02 Validate demand
- 03 Examine the numbers
- 04 Market and sell
The useful lesson to copy is modest. Turn enthusiasm into questions that can be answered. Identify prospective customers, investigate what they need and examine whether the business can earn enough to function. This is an interpretation of the curriculum, rather than a promise of success. A classroom can improve the questions; customers still get to supply the answers.
A board small enough to argue with
Starting is only one part of the company’s work. Thrive II targets microbusinesses and social enterprises trading for two or more years. Its published format combines bootcamps, specialist workshops, mentoring and leadership development. The programme is advertised as fully funded. The Academy says peer support is particularly valued by alumni, and describes relationships continuing after the formal programme ends.
One format has a name worth keeping: The Board You Can’t Afford. Groups of four or five entrepreneurs meet monthly to challenge and support one another. For a small business owner, the attraction is easy to understand. A decision that would otherwise remain inside one person’s head becomes something other people can question. The benefit depends on participants bringing real issues and accepting uncomfortable feedback.
Good intentions need operating skills
The Academy’s social enterprise work extends this approach to organisations pursuing community and environmental goals. Its project portfolio describes training for approximately 170 social enterprises, with partners including Wicklow Partnership, Wexford Local Development and Kilkenny Leader Partnership. The work ranges from research and idea generation to digital marketing and growth linked to climate action. Different missions still produce familiar operational problems.
In March 2024, the Academy launched the Nancy Ward Circular Economy award within the Dublin City Social Enterprise Awards. It honours a colleague who died in April 2023 and supported hundreds of social enterprises. The Academy’s stated package pairs €5,000 with mentoring. That combination says something about its approach: money helps, and so does assistance in deciding what to do next.
The lesson worth taking home
Its position in Ireland’s enterprise market is practical education connected to local delivery networks. A university course, an independent coach or a specialised accelerator may suit a different need. The Academy’s mix is business skills, experienced trainers and company alongside the work. Its team spans finance, marketing, sales and leadership; its partnership with LIFT Ireland adds values-based leadership practices inside the organisation.
Fit matters more than enthusiasm. A full-time programme will be awkward for someone with an immovable schedule; a growth cohort expects a business at the relevant stage. The sensible first step is to check eligibility and the actual intake arrangements. Farrell’s experience offers a useful ambition for the classroom: leave with clearer goals, practical tasks completed and a business you understand better than when you arrived.