How to Apply

Review the basic eligibility criteria and contact one of our team by completing the form below or telephone 028 308 34188 (048 from Ireland).

All businesses that satisfy the basic programme eligibility criteria will be required to undertake an export diagnostic assessment. A member of the Acumen team will be assigned to undertake this assessment with you and will review the following:

• Export potential and USP of the goods/services provided by your business.
• Potential customers/ opportunities in the cross-border market.
  
• Nature and scale of the cross-border market opportunity.
  
• Potential competitors in the cross-border market.
  
• Capacity of your business (financial, human and production) to engage in cross-border trade.

The output of the Export Diagnostic assessment is a comprehensive and bespoke report for your business and a recommendation on whether your business should proceed to the full application stage of the programme.

On completion of the Export Diagnostic assessment, the acumen team will continue to work closely with you to complete the programme application. Please note a full set of financial accounts must be provided to support your application. If your application is approved, you will be notified immediately. You could begin recruitment within 4-6 weeks of your initial application.

Any personal information which you provide to InterTradeIreland will be obtained and processed in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The information provided in your application form will be used by InterTradeIreland for the purpose of processing your application and will be shared with an assessment panel comprising representatives of the mainstream economic development agencies e.g. EI, INI, LEO, Údarás na Gaeltachta.

Shortly after approval, you will be required to commence the recruitment process. Additional support towards recruitment is available (refer to Funding and Support). When you have appointed a suitable sales resource, your Acumen funding will formally commence. Your business will continue to be supported by ITI, with one to one progress meetings, throughout the duration of the programme.

When you confirm the appointment of the new sales resource, you will be provided with claim forms and progress report templates. Claims should be submitted on a quarterly basis in arears with the appropriate supporting documentation provided e.g. copies of payslips, invoices, bank statements etc. You will also be required to submit a quarterly progress report with your claim. The claims process is simple, fast and efficient, with no adverse impact on business cashflow.

The duration of Acumen funding and support is up to 12 months. Upon submission of the final claim, you will be required to submit a conclusion report which will measure the overall impact Acumen has had in helping your business to increase sales in the cross-border market. As a condition of the Letter of Offer, InterTradeIreland will continue to monitor this progress for up to three years after completion of the support.