Small Business

Nando’s is opening its newest restaurant in Ireland in the Omni Park Shopping Centre, Santry in Dublin today, creating 28 full and part-time jobs. Known as the home of the Portuguese flame-grilled Peri-Peri chicken, Nando’s currently employs over 400 people at nine stores across the Republic of Ireland. It plans to open another restaurant in the Square Tallaght in the New Year and has a further three restaurants in Northern Ireland. Alan Snyman, managing director of Nando’s Ireland, said: “The busy Omni Park in Santry, which attracts big crowds of shoppers and cinema goers all throughout the week, is the perfect location for us to spread our wings in Dublin’s…

An iPad app developed in Dublin called Life in the Womb has been recognised as one of the top 40 for mobile content innovation in the world. It has received a 2014 World Summit Award in the m-learning and education category and will be honoured next February at the WSA Mobile Global Congress in Abu Dhabi. Developed by Dublin agency Redwind Software and The Science Picture Company in conjunction with the National Maternity Hospital, Life in the Womb is a visual guide to pregnancy that explores the week-by-week progress of the developing baby using 3D-generated imagery. The app has proven extremely popular with its growing user base, earning a 5-star…

Accenture has launched the FinTech Innovation Lab Dublin, a programme that aims to accelerate technology innovation in the financial services industry and bolster economic and employment growth in Ireland. Supported by Enterprise Ireland, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation together with leading technology and financial services firms, it is open to entrepreneurs from Ireland who are developing cutting-edge technologies for the financial services sector. It will mean that six early-stage companies will get the opportunity to develop their product or proposition under the mentorship of senior executives from leading players in the financial services and technology industries, including AIB, Fexco and Google. The programme culminates in a day of…

Entrepreneurship initiative for primary school children Bizworld Ireland has launched a new programme called ‘Rise’ aimed at fostering young social entrepreneurs. Standing for ‘Rising Innovative Social Entrepreneurs’, it starts with two-day business development workshops involving children working in teams to make their own movie or business and culminates in a competition for sixth class pupils called The Biz Factor. A registered charity, Bizworld has received support from a range of stakeholders including Local Enterprise Offices, Intel, Microsoft, IPB Insurance, Dublin City University, Smurfit Business School and Intellectual Ventures. Through the existing Bizworld programme, participating children in fourth and fifth class are taken through the entire entrepreneurial cycle from writing a…

The latest Hughes Blake SME Examinership Index has revealed that the examinership process saved a total of 1,089 jobs in small and medium-sized businesses in the first nine months of this year. Hughes Blake SME Examinership Index reveals that 1,089 SME jobs have been saved to the end of Q3 2014 This figure represents a 52pc increase on the same period in 2013, with 539 jobs having been saved in Q3 alone, which was the first quarter to include both Circuit Court and High Court examinerships. For the first time, the index is displaying results from both the Circuit Court and the High Court further to the successful completion of…

A new survey has found that 76pc of Irish female entrepreneurs would be willing to refer business to other female-led businesses, with 61pc saying they would be willing to mentor other female business owners. Conducted by Ulster Bank as part of its Business Women Can network, the survey highlighted networking as a valuable business skill with 67pc of respondents stating they were members of at least one business network. “There is a great sense of support by women for women when it comes to starting and growing a business”, said Fiona Kingston, Business Women Can project director at Ulster Bank. “We all know that women in business face some barriers…

The Bridge 1859 has been officially announced as the name of the Ballsbridge bar formerly known as Bellamy’s. Recently acquired by Noel Anderson of The Grafton Lounge alongside Ireland and Leinster Rugby stars Jamie Heaslip, Sean O’Brien and brothers Rob and Dave Kearney, The Bridge 1859 is looking forward to welcoming a scrum of customers from the end of September. “I’m obviously over the moon to have gone into business with the four lads,” said Anderson. “I can see us having some great days ahead in The Bridge 1859. The highs and lows of the last few months will all be worth it when we open the doors and pull that highly anticipated…

Music director Frank McNamara has developed a solution to help all second-level students improve their exam performance whilst embracing their addictive mobile phone habits. The result is a new mobile learning service called SMS Tutor, the world’s first mobile learning system. SMS Tutor has developed an innovative and smart form of mobile learning using SMS messaging that provides students with daily curriculum content in the run up to their Junior or Leaving Certificate. It enables students to learn something new every day by receiving bite-sized course content via SMS relating to a subject of their choice. One of the many benefits of SMS Tutor is to improve a student’s focus…

Company start-ups in July were up 11pc over the same month last year to 1,518, according to new figures from Vision-net.ie. This is the highest number of company start-ups for July since pre-recession 2007 and works out at almost 49 new companies each day. Vision-net said the professional services sector was the most popular industry for start-ups in July, accounting for 22pc of new companies, followed by wholesale and retail (10pc) and construction (9pc). The figures also reveal a 47pc fall in construction company insolvencies compared to July 2013. Dublin was the location of 51pc of company start-ups in July, followed by Cork (8pc) and Limerick (4pc). Vision-net said industry…

Kinvara Skincare only Irish finalist at UK beauty awardsKinvara Skincare founder Joanne Reilly Organic skincare company Kinvara Skincare is the only Irish finalist at the FreeFrom UK Beauty Awards this year. Over 100 products from more than 70 skincare brands worldwide have made the shortlist, and the winners will be announced at the ‘Love Natural, Love Organic’ show at the Olympia in London on 4 July. Nominated products from the Kinvara Skincare range include the Rosehip Face Serum in the ‘Leave On Face Care’ category and the Absolute Cleansing Oil in the ‘Take Off Face Care’ category. Suitable for men and women, the Irish-owned skincare range based in Co Galway uses plant-packed…