Small Business

A survey by Amarach Research commissioned by newly launched web portal MyMoney has revealed that 91pc of Irish employees are in financial stress with 57pc reporting its impact on their ability to do their jobs. When employers were asked about financial stress and its effect on their employees – 78pc of managers believed financial stress was having a direct impact on productivity. MyMoney estimates that financially stressed employees absenteeism costs €850,000 daily in Ireland, or a total of €2.1bn a year. Launched today, 24 September, and founded by Liam Croke, MyMoney is a web portal providing employers with a resource for employees to take control of their personal finances. It…

Founded in February this year by Gillen Joyce, Cork-based Tourism start-up Keyquests has already created six full time jobs and is currently recruiting for a further four positions. Keyquests: Innovative Tourism Start-up Enhancing Visitor Experiences in Ireland Keyquests is a tourism technology application that uses location based marketing to enhance the experience of tourists in Ireland, and to connect various attractions and locations to each other through features and offers. A Unique Concept Inspired by Personal Experiences “The concept behind Keyquests came to me when looking through holiday photo albums last year.  Photos tell one story, but technology allows us now to tell our own unique stories and to create…

Irish SMEs need to start their Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) preparations now to ensure they’re compliant before the 1 February 2014 deadline, Minister for Small Business, John Perry TD, said today. He was speaking following a presentation to the Advisory Group for Small Business on the implications for businesses if they are not SEPA compliant by that date. SEPA is an initiative within a 32-country European zone, which will mean a common way of processing electronic credit transfers, payments and direct debits. It will change the way euro electronic payments are processed across Europe. It will mean that businesses can make and receive payments seamlessly, collect a direct debit…

Four product design students from Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) are to represent Ireland in a global business competition in Hong Kong. They are heading 30 other teams from 16 countries in the “Global Student Challenge” competition, which includes students from India, China, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, the US, and the UK. The DIT students were selected on the basis of their business plan for an image processing unit called ‘Strata Vision,’ used in clean rooms when factory staff is wearing protective clothing. The unit, linked to scanning devices and external servers, can help prevent contamination within the pharmaceutical, medical device, semiconductor, and food manufacturing industries. By analyzing images of the user during the gowning process,…

A team of legal, accounting and IT professionals has come up with a new free online service, SolveMyLegal.com, designed to help consumers find the most suitable solicitor to meet their legal needs. Founder and CEO of the project David Reilly is a practising solicitor with over 15 years’ experience working in the UK and Ireland. He is now running his own commercial law practice, Reilly & Co in Clonakilty in West Cork. “Shopping around for the best solicitor at the best price is something that is becoming more the norm, but it is difficult and time consuming,” he said. “With our unique service we believe we can drastically improve consumers’…

Seven healthcare start-ups from around the world pitched next generation technologies with the aim of securing investment at the HealthXL Dublin Global Gathering Investor Day in Trinity Biomedical Building in Dublin yesterday. The entrepreneurs came from Finland, the US, Australia, Ghana, Canada and Ireland and pitched to angel investors including Silicon Valley Banks and Delta Partners as well as HealthXL mentors and the start-up community. The two start-ups from Ireland were Sense of Skin, a technology-enabled programme to help people with sensitive skin to avoid unsuitable health and beauty products and Nutritics, a tracking and analysis programme for diet and nutrition. As part of the event, HealthXL announced Silicon Valley Bank…

Thirty-seven researchers have just completed a new five-week commercialisation bootcamp designed to strengthen the pipeline of commercial opportunities arising from UCD and National College of Art and Design (NCAD) research programmes. Devised and delivered by the staff of UCD’s office of the vice-president for innovation, the programme was held in the university’s centre for new ventures and entrepreneurs, NovaUCD. The objective of the bootcamp, which will run twice a year, is to equip academic researchers, staff and postgraduate research students with the knowledge, skills and understanding of the commercialisation process. On completion, it is intended that participants will have developed a solid awareness of what it takes to build a…

Small business sentiment in Ireland is improving, with four out of 10 small firms rating their business as ‘good’ or ‘very good’ over the next three months, according to a new survey. In the Spring Business Sentiment Survey from the Small Firms Association (SFA), 30pc of respondents rate the current overall business environment as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, a drop of 20pc when compared to 12 months ago.  Some 23pc of respondent companies rate the overall business environment to be either ‘very good’ or ‘good’. Nearly four in ten companies (39pc) rate their own business currently as ‘very good’ or ‘good’.  While 20pc rate it currently as ‘poor’ or ‘very…

Co Clare company New Age Memorials founder Barry Spearman has come up with a new product concept – fiberglass headstones – which he says is a first in Western Europe. “These fibreglass headstones offer many advantages over traditional stone headstones: they are maintenance free, as unlike stone, they are not porous and thus discourage the growth of algae and other discolourants. “They are strong but light and can be installed immediately. In fact they can be installed by anyone without special tools, and uniquely, they can be repaired if vandalised or damaged. All of this means major savings for the consumer.” The idea came about two years when Spearman was…