Businessbites Blog

Bank of Ireland launches ‘Enterprise Builder’ – a free mentoring service to support its SME customers

businessbites — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:21:09 +0000

Bank of Ireland launches ‘Enterprise Builder’ – a free mentoring service to support its SME customers in these challenging times.

Bank of Ireland today, 25 October 2009, announced the launch of a new independent mentoring initiative that is targeted at its SME customers to help and support them through these challenging times. Called ‘Enterprise Builder’, this new consultation service is exclusively designed to support growing enterprises in various stages of business development. Created for SMEs and confidential to the customer, the free service consists of a diagnostic review provided by an independent and qualified mentor who has industry experience in the sector in which the business operates. The initiative, the first such service to be launched by a bank in Ireland, is designed to provide guidance and support to SMEs, highlighting key challenges and recommending and potential solutions.

Enterprise Builder is managed by The Discovery Partnership on behalf of Bank of Ireland Business Banking and is responsible for recruiting and training suitable mentors with appropriate experience and consultative skills to provide this service.

Mayo 2040 – Mayo Science & Technology Festival

businessbites — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 13:37:38 +0000

“You can shape the future if you can first imagine it” – Charles Handy

Mayo Science & Technology Festival – now in it’s third year – has organised an innovative night of presentations, discussion and debate on the types of technology that might be in use in 30 years time and how these will affect our lives and that of our children. Entitled Mayo 2040, the night is aimed at entrepreneurs, business people, teachers, parents and anyone with an interest in what Mayo might be like in 30 years time.

30 years is considered by scientists as the average period of time between the advent of new and innovative technologies and their widespread uptake and use by the general population. The question is: “how will the technologies that scientists are developing today impact on our lives in 2040”?

Mayo Science & Technology Festival now wants to begin a discussion about the types of technology we might be using in 2040 and how these will affect our lives. For example, advances in medical technology have led to estimations that a child born today can expect to live to the age of 100 and that their children might be able to live for much longer again. How might this affect life in Mayo? Advances in renewable energy technologies will have profound implications for Ireland. Can Mayo be to the forefront of these developments?

The event will take place in GMIT, Castlebar on Thursday 12th November, starting at 7pm.

Speakers:
A series of speakers will present their ideas of what the future in Mayo will look like. Speakers include:
 Bill McDaniel, Head of the Innovative Technology Unit at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute, NUI Galway who will speak on “The Future of Information: The Web and You in 2040”:
 The National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science, NUIG, which is at the cutting edge of developing the medical technologies of tomorrow;
 What will Mayo actually look like in 2040? Peter Hynes, Director of Services, Mayo County Council;
 “Mayo as an energy exporter?”: Ben Wrafter, Business Consultant. Could Mayo and West of Ireland actually become an energy exporter?

The evening will be chaired by Barbara Burns, Head of GMIT. A panel discussion will take place after the presentations.

Speaking this week about the upcoming event John Magee of the Mayo Science & Technology Festival said he was very excited about the Mayo 2040 event. “This promises to be a fascinating look into the future. The pace of technological change is incredible and technologies and applications currently being developed will have a tremendous impact on our lives in the coming decades. What are the potential business opportunities that might arise in the future? Lets start talking about these things!”

Further details on the Mayo Science & Technology Festival are available at www.mayoscience.ie

NAMA – a fly in the ointment

businessbites — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 23:10:17 +0000

To the Irish media, NAMA is the main event and the only show in town. To most small business owners and entrepreneurs it is nothing more than a very annoying distraction but a distraction that is at the heart of a major problem for SMEs. Business stakeholders, be it banks, state agencies, private investors or government should have been taking the lead and stimulating the SME sector but NAMA has stopped them, made them re-think their strategy and who is losing out – small businesses. The same small businesses that underpin this economy and have the greatest ability to create new jobs, sustainable jobs that NAMA shouldn’t have interefered with.
All the key details on the NAMA discounts etc. are now in the public domain so please can we re-focus and get back to the job in hand – re-building the economy by supporting our SMEs.

Passion is key to business success

businessbites — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 08:26:12 +0000

A recent online survey on Linkedin asked the question “What’s the most important trait for someone to succeed in their first job?”. The result, a massive 61% said PASSION and this percentage was even higher amongst business owners and C level executives (CEO, CFO, COO etc.).

Passion and a true belief in what you do is key to success in any business. If the MD doesn’t truly believe in the products or services or doesn’t have a passion for customer service then the management and staff won’t. Passion is infectious and a passionate business owner will gain disciples who can spread the word and infect the organisation with that desire to achieve, to serve the customer, to be the best they can be.

Many businesses and owners are in their first recession and are all focussed on what is needed to survive. Cutting costs, reducing headcount, exploring new development opportunities etc are all vital actions that must be implemented by every business. But they are merely tools to achieving the greater goal, the vision for the business that is created from a passion and a belief.

So, if we rephrased that online poll question: What’s the most important trait for someone to succeed in their first recession? The Answer – can I suggest it is Passion.

Let coffee stimulate your Business

businessbites — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:46:09 +0000

The Mayo Open Coffee Club was recently set up with the aim of bringing together entrepreneurs and investors in County Mayo in an informal gathering – yes you guessed it – over a cup of coffee (or tea if that’s your poison).
Like other coffee clubs around Ireland, it has provided an opportunity to meet, share ideas, discuss challenges and find solutions. Membership of the Mayo club is growing and there is no doubt that this networking event provides a business opportunity as well as a business discussion forum. Check out the website for details of the meeting schedule and drop in for a cup of coffee.

Crisis is an opportunity

businessbites — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:46:33 +0000

They say that the Chinese word for crisis is the same as the word for opportunity. Whether that is really true or not, the entrepreneur will always see opportunity in a recession. That certainly is the case for Niall Marren of ForgottenGold.com. Niall, a Sligo man working as a senior consultant in Dublin for many years, decided he wanted to move back to the wonderful west coast of Ireland, Galway to be exact, in the middle of a recession but did so without a business or job to move to. As he puts it himself “I jumped off the edge of the cliff knowing I would figure something out before I hit the bottom”. Well figure out something he has and created a business that is attracting a lot of interest in these times. Following months of extensive research, Niall has recently launched ForgottenGold.com in the Irish market. The company provides the consumer with an opportunity to trade in their old unwanted gold jewellery for cash. Niall’s ambitions don’t stop here and he hopes to launch the business Europe wide in the near future. There is no doubt Niall saw the opportunity and went for it. We wish him every success.

Business Optimism – A Truth or a Dream

businessbites — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:05:45 +0000

Is “less depressed” the same as “more optimistic”? Appears so from the recent Deloitte’s 2009 Q1 CFO Survey which found that despite only 10% of CFOs expecting an improvement in the supply of credit this year that there is “amid the gloom, glimmers of hope”. To be fair, the survey also found that a further 59% believed supply would improve in 2010.
Hope springs eternal – but the springs of SMEs need a little oiling by the banks. There are many, many good businesses that can and will contribute to the economic recovery if a banker or two has a little faith in them. The Truth is that there is optimism out there but it may well become a myth without a little investment.