Every summer thousands of people hope for good weather and flock to fields and parks all over Ireland to watch their favourite bands perform live at festivals.

Not only are festivals great fun, they also offer a unique opportunity for small businesses in the craft and food and drink industries to showcase their products and make a name for themselves.

This opportunity should not be underestimated – 80,000 people attend Oxegen and 32,000 attend the Electric Picnic every year. Aside from these two festival giants, there are countless other ‘boutique festivals’ springing up every year.

The festival goer is hungry, thirsty and on the look-out for products and services which can make their weekend even more special. With such a huge gathering of like-minded people in one place a festival offers a chance to increase the visibility of your brand at a relatively low cost. …

In a time when the media is full of doom and gloom it is brilliant to see Irish companies that are bouncing back from the brink.

Waterford Crystal, which went into receivership last year, has returned home to the south eastern capital with a new manufacturing facility and visitor centre opening last week.

The announcement of receivership was a terrible blow for staff and the region generally with the hospitality industry in the south east depending on Waterford Crystal to bring in over 300,000 tourists.

The new venture is the result of a partnership between KPS Capital Partners, who bought the brand out of receivership, and Waterford City Council. …

Ernst and Young issued a Europe-wide report today with some good news for Ireland.

After two years of contraction the economy is predicted rebound dramatically in 2011. …

We just read a really interesting article in the Guardian written by Doug Richard, investor on the UK version of Dragons’ Den.

In the article Doug sings the praises of entrepreneurs and explains why they make the best employees. …

Allaboutbusiness.ie would like to congratulate First Derivatives plc who has been nominated as an ‘International Finalist’ in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

Donal Keane, Senior Financial Engineer at First Derivatives spoke to allaboutbusiness.ie recently, as part of the Bank of Ireland ‘National Enterprise Week’ initiative. You can watch his video here. …

According to the Sunday Business Post, the government is close to launching a 36 million euro scheme that will give employers a one-year PRSI holiday on new jobs. The scheme will enable companies to save about €3,000 per new employee, and is aimed at encouraging employers, including SMEs, to recruit before December.

The scheme will give employers an exemption from paying their share of PRSI contributions of 8.5 per cent or 10.75 per cent of gross pay, provided they employ a jobseeker who has been on the Live Register for more than six months. …

We couldn’t have asked for a better end to an already brilliant week!

Despite the perfect barbeque weather outside over 200 business owners and entrepreneurs ignored the sunshine and gathered at the Bewley’s Airport Hotel in Dublin on Wednesday 2nd of June to mark the end of National Enterprise Week. …