Tags: Networking, Small Business News, Social Media

We're all aware of how social media is exerting more and more influence on how businesses and brands communicate with customers and consumers alike. One of the most celebrated  business users of social media has been US electronics retailer Best Buy’s Twelpforce, a super-quick response customer service centre done through Twitter. Great ideas like this, though, don’t have to be big businesses or global brands: small Irish businesses can start fully exploiting social media. 

And that’s exactly what’s starting to happen now: small businesses have begun to talk to each other about social media. It started a short while ago when the people behind the small business blog FocuSME Magazine and software developers Tús Nua Designs got together to get #SMEcommunity trendin  [...]
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AMR Enterprises is a Technical Editing and Technical Writing Consultancy working in both the Public and Private Sectors. AMR Enterprises works across all sectors of Industry. It's Principal, Adrian Rush, has over thirty years experience in the Documentation and Publications Industry. My clients are from all sectors of Industry including Construction, Recruitment, Fresh Meat Supply, Software, Business Improvement, Event Management, Computer Monitoring and Assistance, Oil and Gas Industry, Mobile Telephone and Health Service Management. AMR Enterprises has three Core Services - Tender Preparation and Management in both Public and Private Sectors. This is across Europe and I have contacts in America who can help with the process. Technical Editing of all types of documents and Technical Writing of all types of documents. In the Technical Editing and Technical Writing I am able to discuss with clients and obtain information from engineers and translate that into Handbooks of various   [...]
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Tags: Bank of Ireland, Consumption, Dr. Dan McLaughlin, Economic Outlook, Economic Research Unit, Global Markets, Growth

Executive Summary: The Irish economy grew by 5.1% in nominal terms in the first quarter of the yearand by 1.3% in volume terms, taking the annual change in the latter into positiveterritory. Moreover, revisions to past data now show that the fall in GDP from2008 to 2010 was somewhat less steep than previously thought and that thelevel of GDP last year was also higher than envisaged, at €156bn with aconcomitant modest reduction in Ireland’s debt ratio. The new figures point to real GDP having bottomed in the final quarter of 2009,but the quarterly pattern since then has been volatile, with any ad  [...]
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Tags: Business Women, Irish Ambassadors, Small Business Advisory Group

A network of Ambassadors for Female Entrepreneurship has been launched in Ireland comprising of 10 leading business women from around the country. The aim of the Ambassadors is to boost the rate of female entrepreneurship activity in Ireland and encourage and inspire more women to set up their own business. The Ambassadors for Female Entrepreneurship are members of a wider EU network of Ambassadors who have been formally appointed by the European Commission. The Minister for Small Business, John Perry T.D., met with the Irish Ambassadors this week and has highlighted the importance of encouraging more women who have the motivation, skills and ability to start their own business. Following the meeting Minister Perry said: “The recently launched Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) Report for Ireland for 2010, recognised that fewer women than men are active as entrepreneurs with the rate of early stage entrepreneurship among men at 9.5% compared to 3.9% for women. “It is  [...]
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Tags: Show your Business

In our latest Show Your Business, Phil Chambers give us an insight into his business, the Business Analysts Association of Ireland. Having worked for many years as Business Systems Manager with one of Ireland's leading financial organisations, I was acutely aware of the lack of any meaningful courses for business analysts in Ireland. Eventually, having taken early retirement, I decided to do something about it. My initial research indicated that the problem lay in the area of role definition. In the early eighties the IT analyst had taken over the role of the systems analyst therefore, without a clear role for the BA, there could be no specific course definition. However, in the nineties, in the US, it became clear that this was causing problems as the IT role, while in itself, being a very important one, was in fact a support role whereas that of the business analyst was seen as a management role. Bearing this in mind, in consultation with a number of both Public and Priva  [...]
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Tags: A Flavour of the Future, Agri-Food companies, Aidan Cotter, Beef Quality Assurance Scheme, Bord Bia, IIEA Conference

Aidan Cotter CEO of Bord Bia spoke at the IIEA Agri-Food Conference about two main themes; branding and sustainable. According to Cotter, Ireland needs to build on its “green” image and demonstrate our green credentials. Ireland exports in excess of 75% of its total agricultural output and has developed global competitive advantages through its strongly grass-based farming system. The fact that an Irish farm was chosen as the McDonalds Flagship farm for beef in Europe indicates Irish farms are doing good things and can farm in a sustainable way. However, now we must go beyond green and into the heart of consumers by building a brand that consumers will have an emotional connection to. Mr. Cotter also spoke about Bord Bia's initiative to achieve accreditat  [...]
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Tags: A Flavour of the Future, Agri-Food companies, Bank of Ireland, IIEA Conference, Mark Cunningham, €200 million fund

Mark Cunningham, the Director of Business Banking at Bank of Ireland spoke at the recent IIEA Conference on the bank’s commitment to lending to and supporting business in the Agri-Food sector. In the first five months of this year, BoI Business Banking had received almost 7,000 applications for credit from those operating in the primary industries of agriculture, forestry and fishing. Mr Cunningham added that Bank of Ireland is very much open for business and 85% of all applications received were approved. Mr. Cunningham emphasised how without funding and support it wasn’t possible for companies in the Agri sector to grow and expand. Therefore, in order to give Agri-Food companies the financial assistance they needed to realise their opportunities, Mr. Cunningham announced that Bank of Ireland had set-up a €200 million fund for Agri-Food companies. read more

Tags: A Flavour of the Future, Common Agricultural Policy, IIEA, Irish Dairy Board, Irish food and drink exports, Kevin Lane

On Wednesday the RDS hosted the IIEA conference on The Challenges for Irish Agri-food in the Global Marketplace.The conference entitled “A Flavour of the Future” and speakers examined the unique set of challenges and opportunities that the Irish agri-food industry is presented with in the face of the Common Agricultural Policy championed by the EU 2020 strategy. In the next series of blog post we will give an overview some of the speakers main points and presentations. Here, we will look at Kevin Lane, CEO of the Irish Dairy Board, who spoke on the experience of the Dairy Board in emerging markets. Mr. Lane began by giving some insight into the current numbers of Irish food and drink exports, which in 2010 amounted to €7.88bn, the highest percentage of this being in beef, shee  [...]
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Tags: CUBE Design, Design Service, Show your Business

CUBE Design is a small local graphic design business based in Deansgrange, Co. Dublin. It was set up in 2010, and although a new business itself, the owner Barbara Monahan has been working in the industry for over twenty years. Its aim is to offer branding and design solutions to other small and medium sized businesses. Through a bespoke design service and an affordable online branding solution CUBE Design can deliver quality at an affordable price. Our clients range from the Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Enterprise Board through to small business owners and start-ups. Our Services We can offer your business; • Branding Solutions • Logo Design • Website Design • Leaflets and Flyers • Brochure Design (more...)  [...]
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