Small Business

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…

Anna Frankland of Reform Pilates in south Dublin has created ‘Postnatal Pilates by Reform Apps’, a number of short workouts that will help build self-esteem and increase energy levels for new mothers. Speaking about the launch of the new products Frankland said: “I know many of our clients take 15 minutes and lie beside the baby’s cot while they are going to sleep in order to have some ‘me’ time.  This isn’t about mums getting bikini-ready; it is about re-building body confidence and re-gaining a strong body to copy with the physical demands of looking after a baby.” In total there are three apps: the first is recommended for those…

Simon Maher, the founder of Phantom FM, is launching a new radio station, 8Radio.com, at midnight this evening. The station has a licence to broadcast on FM in Dublin, Cork and Limerick for 15 weekends until 7 July, and online every day. The frequencies are 106.7 in Cork, 105.5 in Limerick and 94.3 in Dublin. Maher set Phantom 105.2 up as a pirate station in 1996. The station won a licence for an alternative rock station for Dublin in 2004 and, following a legal challenge, went live on 31 October 2006. Maher left his position as general manager in 2011 after Denis O’Brien’s Communicorp bought a 30pc stake in the…

An online crowd funding initiative called Linked Finance has been launched in Dublin with the backing of Irish entrepreneurs and international investors. The new Linked Finance technology facilitates person to person lending, or ‘crowd funding’ for Irish business. Business borrowers, vetted as part of the Linked Finance registration process, can access cashflow from a pool of potential lenders, who, in turn, can request and earn good returns on their investment, and engage with the businesses they invest in, both as customers and backers. Linked Finance CEO Peter O’Mahony explains: “Linked Finance is technology offering a new and painless way for Irish businesses to borrow money from a large group of…

Irish media company Sheology, owner of Mummypages.ie and MummyPages.co.uk, said today that it’s planning to create at least 30 new jobs over the next three years, quadrupling its existing workforce. The company said the new jobs will be editorial, marketing and technical roles. The female-focused firm was set up by husband and wife team Cormac and Sandra McKenna in 2009 with the launch of MummyPages.ie, which was originally a blog.  The website was later relaunched in Ireland as a full service interactive media site, while a British version (www.mummypages.co.uk) followed in 2011. The McKennas said today that they are launching a new digital offering under the Sheology banner with the…

Irish connected health start-up Sensormind has been shortlisted in partnership with Vodafone for the Best Mobile Health Product or Service award at the 18th Global Mobile Awards at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The Global Mobile Awards, which recognise excellence and innovation within the mobile communications industry, will be presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on 26 February. “Sensormind has created a unique and innovative product which provides a critical service to our elderly and vulnerable customers every day and we are looking forward to taking our product awareness to a global audience through this award,” said Siobhan King-Hughes, CEO, Sensormind. The Best Mobile Health Product or…

Irish software firm SalesPulse has launched an app called ‘Rollcall’, which allows teachers to record absenteeism on their smartphones. Developing dedicated software for primary schools since it was founded in Kilkenny 10 years ago, SalesPulse’s Primary Schools Administration System is now in place in over 300 schools across Ireland. This system tracks school attendance, returns to the Department of Education, bulk mails and texts to parents, parents’ contact details, school accounts and payments from students among other services. SalesPulse recently upgraded this software to a secure cloud based system allowing school principals, teachers and school secretaries to access the system from the classroom, the office or remotely. The new ‘Rollcall’…

InterTradeIreland is making a further €1.5m in funding available for businesses in 2013 through the Innova programme for North/South collaborative innovation partnerships to develop new products, process or service development. To date, InterTradeIreland has released over €8m directly to companies North and South to commercialise existing partnerships. Significant outputs to date include development of treatments for cancer, the development of a heart monitoring device and the development of a compost raw material. The Innova programme in particular is looking for collaborative partnership projects in the following sectors: life and health sciences, polymers and plastics, agri-food, advanced engineering and advanced materials, telecoms, ICT and environmental. Partners can work in the same sector or come from different…

Buy, Sell, and Recycle Your “Baby Stuff” Update: The website has been down for some time and Ms. O’Rourke has not responded to our requests for an update on the website’s status. For the past six months, The Baby Bay Market has been running in various locations around Dublin, and founder Mandy O’Rourke is now bringing it to Sligo. The idea behind The Baby Bay Market is to allow parents to buy, sell and recycle their baby stuff in a safe and fun environment. O’Rourke,  a female entrepreneur , also runs BabyBay, where parents can trade their baby stuff online. She has just re-launched the site so parents can now post their unwanted…