Smurfit puts £5m in job funding

THE Smurfit Job Creation Enterprise Fund, set up in 1993, has invested £5 million in 19 companies, which have created 215 new jobs to date.

The fund's chairman, Mr Liam Connellan, said yesterday that in total the fund had made 23 investments, with four companies receiving a second tranche of investment funds.

Meanwhile, a second venture capital fund to be jointly run by the Jefferson Smurflt group and the State agency Forbairt, is now open for business, offering up to £10 million for investment in small and medium sized companies. According to Smurfit's chief executive Ireland and UK, Mr Peter Webster, £3 million is immediately available for investment.

Both funds seek to invest between £100,000 to £500,000 in small Irish companies in the manufacturing or traded services sector.

The companies chosen must plan to create at least 10 new jobs over a three-year period.

In addition to the providing venture capital, the fund also supports the investee companies in other ways, in some cases by providing management expertise from within the Smurfit group.

Of the monies invested through the first fund, 29 per cent went to companies in the computer related products business, while 26 per cent went to firms specialising in industrial products and services.

The rest of the funds were distributed to companies in a wide range of sectors.

The £5 million for this fund was put up by the Smurfit group.

The monies for the second £10 million fund will have equal contributions from Forbairt, Smurfit and the EU structural funds.

The funds are normally invested for a five-year period.