Virgin Media is inviting businesses in the Munster region to apply for a share of €100,000 worth of supports through its Backing Business Initiative.

Virgin Media’s Backing Business initiative is offered in collaboration with Digital Business Ireland (DBI), Permanent TSB, Milk Bottle Labs and Munster Local Enterprise Offices. Applications from Munster-based businesses are being accepted from May 4 to May 18.

According to Virgin Media, the aim of the campaign is to help small businesses benefit from new online consumer spending patterns with support from industry experts to help raise their e-commerce offering to the next level. Overall, it will exemplify how businesses can compete online and create further opportunities for growth.

Five selected businesses will get a share of the overall €100,000 in support and will also benefit from the expertise and insights of each of the Virgin Media ‘Backing Business’ partners. This includes one year of free Fibre Business Broadband with Virgin Media Business, an online Shopify Store built by Milk Bottle Labs and business development support and full membership of Digital Business Ireland's extensive network.

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The five chosen businesses will also receive mentoring in digital marketing from their Local Enterprise Office and the overall initiative is supported with programme funding from Permanent TSB.

Enterprise minister Leo Varadkar has welcomed the Backing Business initiative, describing it as a great opportunity for Munster-based businesses and complementary to government supports such as the Trading Online Voucher Scheme.

“The pandemic has transformed how most businesses work and interact with their customers. We’ve seen a huge shift to online, a trend which was happening before Covid but one that has been massively accelerated because of the virus,” Varadkar added.