Business

Google and Twitter have launched a service in Egypt which allows citizens to communicate with each other and the outside world despite restricted Internet access. The Egyptian administration cut off the country’s Internet connection in an attempt to curb contact between activists and citizens. However, Internet giants Google and Twitter have stepped in and launched a service which allows people to send Twitter messages by leaving a voicemail for a specific number. The two organizations have teamed up to get the project off the ground. The new service uses Google’s speech-to-text recognition capability to automatically translate a message left on the number. It will then be sent out on Twitter…

Ice cream brand Ben & Jerry’s is running an initiative called ‘Join our Core’, offering Irish entrepreneurs the chance to win a prize including €10,000 in cash. Ben & Jerry’s is looking for talented individuals from across Ireland who can create a business that embraces its philosophy of giving back to the community and environment. Successful entrants will get the chance to pitch their business idea to a panel of industry leaders – including Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield, and representatives from Ashoka, VSO (international development organisation) and The Fairtrade Foundation (independent certification body). Aside from the cash, the five ultimate winners will also win mentoring from Ashoka and…

IDA Ireland CEO Barry O’Leary has advised students completing their CAO application forms over the next few days to look at the areas where the greatest job opportunities will lie in FDI companies in the future. “There is a strong trend for FDI companies in Ireland winning new mandates which will require an increase in their employment levels in the future,” he said. “Students planning now for their future careers need to take this growth into account and consider in which sectors the greatest FDI job opportunities will be in the coming years.’’ According to the IDA, a large number of FDI companies seek graduates with backgrounds in science, technology,…

The Irish Technology Leadership Group (ITLG) and DCU’s Ryan Academy for Entrepreneurship are aiming to stimulate economic growth through a partnership announced today to deliver Kauffman entrepreneurship and innovation programmes in Ireland and Silicon Valley. The Missouri-based Kauffman Foundation, which was set up in the 1960s and has an asset base of around US$2bn, is a world authority on entrepreneurial innovation and economic growth. According to the foundation, over 40pc of new job growth will come from new start-up companies. The foundation works through a network of global partners to “advance an entrepreneurial society in which job creation, innovation, and the economy flourish”. The ITLG is the Irish Kauffman global…

Now in its 15th year, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Programme for 2012 has been launched with the 24 finalists from across the island of Ireland to be announced in May. Frank O’Keeffe, partner-in-charge of the programme at Ernst & Young, commented that Ireland was now trying hard to show the first real shoots of recovery and our entrepreneurs were the true “trailblazers and champions” who would reignite our economy. The programme has created a network of finalists, now made up of more than 300 entrepreneurs, which fosters collaboration, business opportunities and generates a sense of collective pride in each other’s achievements. The shortlisted entrepreneurs will go…

Enterprise Ireland has set up a €200,000 fund aimed at stimulating start-ups and creating jobs in the South East, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton TD revealed today. The Pilot Competitive Feasibility Fund is part of the South East Employment Action Plan published by the Minister last month. Funding of up to €25,000 will be provided to start-up companies with job-creating potential in the South East region, with companies in the ICT, industrial and food sectors based in Waterford, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny and South Tipperary eligible to apply. The fund aims to accelerate the growth of start-up companies that have the capability to succeed in global markets.  It’s…

British retailer Marks & Spencer has announced that its group sales, excluding VAT, in the 13 weeks to December 31 were up 2.4pc. Discounts helped to attract shoppers over the Christmas season but M&S said it expects trading conditions to remain challenging and it will making additional cost savings to offset a fall in profit margins due to the discounting. Meanwhile department store Debenhams said that its group like-for-like sales in the 18 weeks to January 7 rose by 1.4pc as the warmer weather in October and November impacted the sale of seasonal product lines. Sales in December were stronger with sales growth of 6.5pc reported. The company said it…

Medical device company Cook Medical is to invest up to €16.5m over the next four years creating highly skilled positions in research and development activities at its Limerick site. The new investment, which is being made with Government support through IDA Ireland, will focus on two key projects. The first involves setting up a state-of-the-art research and development laboratory, which will foster innovation through enhanced collaboration with doctors and clinicians, developing new anatomical models to provide a more realistic environment for product evaluation and testing prior to commercial release. The second will establish Cook Ireland as the key site for R&D for the Zilver product line of peripheral intervention devices.…

DCU Invent-based company Digitary has secured funding from the UK government to build a secure document shared service for universities as part of a £12.5m investment under the Universities Modernisation Fund. The initiative will be the first service to go live in the UK’s ‘Higher Education Cloud’ which aims to bring the benefits of cloud computing to universities that have traditionally implemented standalone systems on-campus. Digitary was established as Framework Solutions in 1999 to provide security software design and development services for large corporate and third-party systems for clients such as Intel, Siemens and Baltimore Technologies. The company began working with the higher education sector in 2002 on the development…

Beam Inc, the company that owns Jim Beam, Courvoisier, Teacher’s and Canadian Club, has entered into an agreement to buy Irish whiskey producer Cooley Distillery for approximately US$95m. Cooley, which was set up in 1987, owns and produces the Kilbeggan, Connemara, Tyrconnell and Greenore brands.  It currently sells approximately 250,000 9-liter cases per year – divided among its brands, private label products and bulk sales to third-party customers – and has production capacity to support substantial future growth. The purchase price is approximately US$95m on a debt-free basis. Beam expects the acquisition to be earnings neutral in 2012 and increasingly accretive moving forward. The company, which is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois…