Small Business

A best practice guide designed to address the issues that inhibit SME procurement from the public sector was launched by Minister of State Brian Hayes TD at an event in the Dublin Chamber of Commerce today. In Ireland and the UK alone, the public sector procures about €190bn in goods and services every year. But although SMEs account for 99pc of total companies, they deliver less than half of the requirements of contracting authorities “Research has shown that, given the right conditions and assistance, SMEs can become more effective in winning and retaining supply contracts to Government and other authorities,” said Gina Quin, Dublin Chamber chief executive . “This is a ‘win win’ for all; SMEs…

European Investment Bank to provide €200m for Irish SMEs with AIB The European Investment Bank (EIB) has agreed to work with AIB in providing €200m for investment by small and medium companies across Ireland. This represents the latest EIB support for SMEs in Ireland since an earlier lending programme intermediated by AIB in 2011. The SME initiative, the largest ever engagement by the EIB to support Irish small business, was signed at AIB headquarters in Dublin, today by AIB chief executive David Duffy and EIB president Werner Hoyer. The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD also participated. “Today’s announcement that the EIB along with AIB will provide an additional…

Bitbuzz signs partnership deal with ApplegreenDes Kenny, business development manager, Bitbuzz and Adrian Grimes, Head of Food & MSA Operations, Applegreen Irish Wi-Fi provider Bitbuzz has signed a deal to provide complimentary Wi-Fi access to the customers of forecourt retailer Applegreen. The deal means Bitbuzz Wi-Fi is now available at all six Applegreen motorway service stations, which are located at the M4 Enfield East and West, M1 Lusk North and South and M1 Castlebellingham North and South. Shane Deasy, managing director, Bitbuzz , said the initial uptake from both smartphone and laptop users at all six locations has been stronger than expected. “This new deal fits in well with our 2012 goal of providing superior…

Irish surface technology company Enbio has secured a €500,000 contract with the European Space Agency (ESA). The contract will enable the company to optimise a proprietary surface treatment for use as a ‘sunscreen’ to better protect satellites as they travel in space. The contract will also allow Enbio to establish its first manufacturing facility at its headquarters at NovaUCD. The contract was secured with support from Enterprise Ireland, the co-ordinating body for ESA in Ireland. In its new manufacturing facility Enbio will use its patented technology platform, CoBlast, to produce unique ‘black’ surfaces, which it will then deploy on critical internal and external surfaces of satellites. Called ‘SolarBlack(s)’, these surfaces…

UrParts.com aims to change the way spare parts are sourcedSonya and Simon Fitzpatrick, co-founders of UrParts.com Irish brother and sister Sonya and Simon Fitzpatrick have started an online business called UrParts.com , which aims to revolutionise the spare parts industry for construction, agricultural and commercial truck industries. According to Sonya Fitzpatrick, what makes UrParts.com unique is that a buyer submits one enquiry which will be received by multiple suppliers and is completely free. “Unlike other spare part sites that make buyers contact many suppliers separately, with UrParts.com the buyer does the work once and then sits back and waits for suppliers to respond directly to them by email or phone,” she said. The Fitzpatricks came…

NDRC Inventorium and IIA initiative to accelerate 20 SMEs into online trading NDRC’s Inventorium programme and the Irish Internet Association (IIA) are to engage directly for free with 20 small Irish businesses to transform them into online retailers with new export and jobs potential over five weeks. Applications for the new Clicktailing programme are now being invited through www.clicktailing.com. Clicktailing is an intensive retail accelerator scheme, which will run in five-week bursts. It brings together online retailing experts to provide hands-on support for participating businesses with web design services, payments systems, product photography, logistics advice and marketing skills, at no cost to the participants. The Inventorium and IIA partnership will…

Tony Staunton of Propertygate, Kevin Ryan of Pura Light and Tim Schmidt of Simply Connected are to compete for the title of ‘Best investment proposal 2014’ and a €10,000 prize at the Docklands Innovation Park Enterprise Awards. All participants on the Enterprise Ireland-funded Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) Hothouse New Frontiers programme (past or present), the finalists will pitch their investment proposals and be questioned by a panel of judges on their business plans on 6 March. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Dublin, Propertygate is designed for large-scale asset managers who require a single platform to provide instant transparency of their portfolio. In July 2013, the company won the…

Nominations in the business category are Daniel Bradfield, AirDryer; George Howlet and Philip Gillen, Safefood 360; and Sandra Maguire, EduBills.ie There are three categories in the awards – business, arts and social. All shortlisted entrepreneurs will be interviewed in early December by the awards judging panel, which is headed up by Dr. Chris Horn.  After the interviews, the three category winners will go through to the final, with the overall winner being announced at a ceremony in January.  The awards carry a prize package of more than €100,000. The nominations in the business category are as follows: Daniel Bradfield of AirDryer Systems Daniel Bradfield of AirDryer Systems is short-listed in the Business…

The second iteration of National Digital Research Centre (NDRC) Swequity Exchange is taking applications now. The initiative is building on the strong success of its first one earlier this year. People with clever digital business start-up ideas and people interested in getting involved in developing these start-ups have an opportunity to do just that through the programme. NDRC’s Swequity Exchange will bring people with business ideas together, choose the best ones and match them to a team of qualified voluntary experts. The team will get equity in the business if it successfully kicks off, while the start-ups get experienced advice and support from the beginning. Applications are being taken now…