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Our island is facing many economic challenges, however we must believe that better days lie ahead, confident in the knowledge that we have the valuable human resources that will empower us to drive change and support the economic recovery – our entrepreneurs. These were the views expressed by Ernst & Young in advance of its launch of the 2012 Entrepreneur Of The Year programme, in Dublin. Frank O’Keeffe, partner-in-charge of the programme said: “Despite the numerous difficulties faced by our island’s economies and business in recent years, Ireland is trying hard to show the first real shoots of recovery. Fuelled by an unparalleled level of dedication and commitment, it is our entrepreneurs who are the true trailblazers and champions who will reignite our economy. Ireland’s entrepreneurs con
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It’s a sad state of affairs when we must argue over bankruptcy forgiveness. However, the last time government tinkered with bankruptcy laws was just as a recession was beginning to lift - that was with the Bankruptcy Act of 1988. One of the key steps to revive any economy is to entice investors and entrepreneurs back in – and one way to do that is to reduce risk of one sort or another. While belated it is welcome that a new set of laws designed to reform Ireland's "arcane" bankruptcy laws has been passed at cabinet level. The Personal Insolvency Bill, was launched earlier in the week, under which debtors will be allowed to emerge from bankruptcy after three years rather than the current 12. The proposed Bill also includes new voluntary non-judicial debt settlement systems aimed at providing alt
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Full of good intentions it is, sound business, well – I’ll let you decide. A new not-for-profit scheme, Hireland.ie, is hoping to help facilitate the creation of 5,000 jobs in the first six months of this year in an initiative to encourage employers to hire now rather than putting it off. Hireland wants to draw on the power of the collective and act as a catalyst to stimulate job creation. They want firms across the country to pledge a new opening in the company. According to the founders, it's about a positive, confident movement, where one job will lead to another if Irish businesses get on board and pledge a job. Gerard O'Neill co-founder of Hireland said : “A sure way of future proofing your business is to hire more people. By recruiting more people
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Here are a couple of dates for your diary for those working in the technology sector. An Enterprise Ireland Pilot Competitive Feasibility Fund worth E200,000 aimed at stimulating start ups and creating jobs in the South East, has been launched. The closing date for applications is 30th January 2012, and it is expected that the first awards will be made shortly after that. Funding of up to E25,000 will be provided to start-up companies with job-creating potential in the South East region. Companies in the ICT, industrial and food sectors based in Waterford, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary will be eligible to apply. The purpose of the Pilot Competitive Feasibility Fund for the South East Region is to accelerate the growth of start-up companies that have the capability
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Welcome back everyone. It’s time to play catch up with some of the key news items from the first week of 2012, which are mostly a mixed bag. Services shrinking ↓ Ireland's services sector shrank for the first time in a year in December as global economic turmoil undermined confidence and new orders fell sharply, a survey showed. Foreign Investment ↑ The IDA landed a record number of foreign investments in Ireland (148) last year with a net gain of 6,000 jobs at IDA supported firms as exports surged, its year-end statement said. Business Sentiment improves ↑ Ireland was the only EU State where business sentiment improved in the past year, the latest Grant Thornton International Business Report for 2012 showed. Over 7
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Stop press, or whatever you must do on the internet. Here’s some far better news to round off the year. Back in May I wrote an article called Export figures flatter to deceive – well they don’t any more. The story said that while exports were doing well they were still behind levels last seen in 2002, pre boom. But exports from Ireland are now greater than they were before the global recession, according to the industrial promotion body Enterprise Ireland. In an end of year statement, it says record levels of exports have been achieved in 2011. Despite the strong performance, it says that employment in export-driven companies rose only slightly this year. The agency
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While it would be nice to end the business year on a high note, it is not to be. Business activity levels in Irish companies weakened slightly and employment fell further in the final three months of the year with the economy showing no signs of momentum, according to the latest KBC Bank Ireland/Chartered Accountants Ireland Business Sentiment Survey. "The survey suggests Irish business conditions remain difficult as 2011 draws to a close," said Mr John Hannaway, president, Chartered Accountants Ireland on its release. "A weaker global recovery and ongoing domestic budget austerity are restraining the spending and hiring plans of business. As a result, companies report their activity levels fell for a second successive quarter in late 2011 and they see only a marginal improvement in early 2012." Aust
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It used to be a taboo subject but the break-up of the eurozone can now be considered polite conversation, particularly now it is being considered at almost every political and financial level. Indeed, analysts from the Bank of America have said in that in the aftermath of a break-up, the new Irish punt would rise against other currencies, based on exchange rates last month. That’s great if you are a buyer of foreign goods; not so good if you are selling abroad. Unfortunately for Ireland, her only hope of maintaining bailout repayments to the IMF and ECB lies in our very successful export sector. The demise of the euro is not in our interests. Additionally, our export sector relies heavily on foreign companies based here that are enjoying our low corporate tax rate – something the new “fiscal co
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The technology sector has attracted by far the biggest investment from venture capitalists with a total of E161.9m investment in the first half of this year. That's a jump of 58pc on the same period in 2010, according to the data released at a recent William Fry breakfast briefing, 'Raising Venture Capital'. According to Shay Garvey of Delta Partners this is largely because businesses in the technology sector are demonstrating the greatest potential. He said that, in the current economic climate, they have the ability to start-up at a relatively low cost, to quickly get their products to customers and make an early impact on the market. "These are all factors that are attracting seed funding at an earlier stage than would previously have been seen, often higher volume but for smaller amounts when
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It’s been well documented how well the export sector is doing in Ireland. And many MDs are probably wondering how they can get in on some of the exporting action, particularly if their product or service does not obviously lend itself to overseas trade. So, InterTradeIreland has launched a new sales development scheme, Elevate, that provides eligible companies with support of up to E11,000 to access approved industry experts to help them identify new cross-border markets. The programme was developed in response to research carried out by InterTradeIreland that revealed small businesses, which are not exporting, are hit hardest by the recession. The programme will assist companies to become export ready and to explore opportunities in a new cro
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