The theme of Bank of Ireland UK’s Enterprise Breakfast as part of Enterprise Week was Grow Our Own – A Bright Future for Farming, Food and SMEs so it was fitting that both the majority of attendees and speakers were from the fast growing Agri-Food sector inNorthern Ireland. The key speakers were Dr. Mark Browne representing the Northern Ireland Executive and Aiden Kearney, Fresh Produce Trading Manager of Musgrave Retailer’s N.I.

Dr. Browne opened proceedings for the invited speakers and delivered a positive and motivational talk on “Creating a vision for Agri inNorthern Ireland” outlining the Executive’s vision for a long-term strategy for the Agri-Food sector in N.I. This sector is demonstrating huge potential for the future judging by the growth it has and is experiencing  currently. Just some of the figures shared with the gathered SMEs and entrepreneurs were;

•             Employment is up in the sector by 6% with over 1100 jobs created in the Agri-Food industry in 2010 alone

•             Sales in 2010 grew by 8.3% – 70% of which went to export markets outsideNorthern Ireland

All this positivity is to be further enhanced by a £50m Agri Business Investment Fund created by Bank of Ireland UK which will assist in creating a strong foundation from which the Agri-Food sector can grow and prosper. In addition the Executive is showing its recognition of the importance of the sector to theNorthern Irelandeconomy through the creation of a Food Strategies Board whose task it will be to develop a long term strategy similar to the Harvest 2020 agri-food strategy implemented by the Irish Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries & Food. Establishment of the Food Strategies Board in 2012 will realise a real partnership between government and industry in the Agri-Food sector. As such the overarching consensus from the event was that the Northern Irish Agri-Food industry is an exciting place to be at the moment with the opportunities and challenges presented making it a rewarding and innovative sector to be working in.

Aiden Kearney, Fresh Produce Trading Manager of Musgrave Retailer’s N.I. continued this theme when addressing the assembled business members on Musgrave’s vision for farmers, suppliers and producers inNorthern Ireland. Musgrave has a long proactive and engaged presence in Northern Ireland with over 60% of their goods sold sourced from producers and suppliers locally. Consequently the group is forthright and very enthusiastic about what SMEs in this economy can do for Musgrave’s business, and of course in return what Musgrave can do for the SMEs they work with. To illustrate Musgrave’s support of local agri-food businesses Aiden focused on McCormack Potatoes in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone. In 2008 McCormack’s showed initiative by proactively approaching Musgrave to pitch to become the group’s potato supplier of choice inNorthern Ireland. It was very much a case of “right place – right time” as Musgrave were looking for a new supplier. A deal was struck the result of which was by the end of that year (2008) McCormack’s had experienced sales of £100k through the relationship with Musgrave. Aiden was delighted to announce that this year would see this local producer experience sales of over half a million resulting from the partnership.

Aiden’s message to SMEs working in the Agri-Food sector was clear, “Look at what you do and make sure you do it well. Now look at it in the context of the current marketplace. Look outside the box to find other areas to target or ways of doing things. The opportunities to Grow Our Own are outside that box.” For McCormack Potatoes the initial seed has indeed grown with the support of Musgrave Retailers. The future is indeed bright for growers and producers inNorthern Ireland.

Bank of Ireland’s November 2011 Enterprise Week kicked off in Waterford’s Granville Hotel to a packed house.

The key note speaker was Dragon’s Den entrepreneur Norah Casey, CEO of Harmonia Publishing. Norah again emphasised the possibilities for young women to achieve anything in modern Ireland. When Norah spoke at the Women in Business Enterprise Week’s in May she stated that “showing them good role models is one of the best ways to do it”

Anne Marie Caulfield is the current President of the Waterford Chamber of Commerce and a retailer in her own right with Super Value supermarkets in the south and south-east of the country. The Waterford Chamber of Commerce represents over 600 member companies at local level and also their interests to government and other key stakeholders.

Also represented was Retail Excellence Ireland in the presence of the current chairman Kevin Jephson. Retail Excellence Ireland is Ireland’s largest retail organization. It’s members come together to learn from each other and to promote best business practices with a view to resolving how best to solve the challenges facing retails in the current economic environment.

All speakers were keen to emphasise how important it is to foster a supportive small business community within a local region. Small businesses generate economic activity and employment in communities and are key to the survival of these communities. As Kevin Jephson pointed out “People buy people first; products second”. In a local community this is key to giving customers a “compelling reason to shop with you”. Anne Marie Caulfield added to this by restating the message from government that “the domestic recovery is going to be primarily driven by the SME sector. Enterprise Week is all about this.”

All the speakers at this kick-start event were keen to stress that essential to this recovery are Participation, Engagement, Sharing & Networking with other businesses operating in the SME sector. As mentors they also stressed the importance of a solid, viable business plan backed by research of your target market(s). Waterford proved to be an excellent springboard into Bank of Ireland’s Enterprise Week for the entrepreneurial community in the south and south-east

Midway through November’s Enterprise Week the national road show made its way to Dublin. Attendees were treated to a presentation from local boy Bill Cullen who gave up some of his time in the hunt for his next business partner to speak to an overflowing conference room in the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel. Selling, growth and development are second nature to Ireland’s best known entrepreneur. Consequently Bill had a captive audience as he regaled the attendees with the principles of his golden A.P.P.L.E.S selling technique;

-              Attitude for Achievement

-              Passion

-              People Skills

-              Learning to be Lucky, practice being lucky, learn from your mistakes

-              Energy, Excellence, Exuberance, Enthusiasm

-              Selling with a smile

Bill met energetically with a rapt audience, walking into the audience to engage with them and bring them with him through his presentation. He was keen to emphasize that “Positive Attitude when coupled with Massive Actions will lead to Powerful Results” enabling growth and fostering and developing entrepreneurial skills in a new post-recession Ireland. Bill Cullen is truly a consummate communicator who knows his customers’ and clients’ needs and adds value when bringing solutions to them. He acknowledged that “tough times are inevitable” in any business but that with a positive attitude for achievement SMEs can stand out from the crowd and succeed.

This proved to be a nice segue from the preceding presentation from another successful Irish entrepreneur Cyril Maguire co-founder, chairman and CEO of successful Irish tech company Trintech. Cyril came to speak about some of his experiences along his journey building Trintech into a successful business. A key driver of business growth is funding and Cyril had some insightful information to share with the attendees. Funders today are looking for “Novel, innovative ideas, with a market opportunity that is very large”. Irish SMEs should not be afraid to think global. Co-location is important for this particularly within the tech sphere from which Cyril draws his experiences. Cyril emphasized the resource of a ready talent pool of engineers to develop a product and concept already here in Ireland. With this talent pool SMEs in Ireland clearly can achieve a first mover advantage over other global competitors. Cyril’s closing advice to the packed conference room? “Think big, Think Global, Think to Win.”

Sean O’Sullivan is Irish-American and happens to be perhaps the most successful builder of technology companies in the U.S. since the dawn of the internet age in the mid-1990’s. It is he (yes indeed an Irish man would you believe) who is credited with coining the phrase “cloud-computing”. Not only this, he is also a co-inventor of street mapping on personal computers (now you know where Google got it from!).

On his LinkedIn profile Sean is currently managing director of Avego a global provider of real-time information and management systems for the passenger transportation sector. With its home office in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Avego also has offices in China and across the United States.

A true proponent of thinking big and thinking global O’Sullivan describes himself as an engineer, a musician, a computer programmer, a software designer, a marketing guy, a sales guy, a humanitarian worker, a war photographer, a cinematographer on music videos, short films, and documentaries, a stock analyst, a freelance photojournalist, a small business operator, a venture capitalist and a writer. He is eagerly enthusiastic in getting other people interested in things he cares about. Things such as improving efficiency in processes and creating technology to solve problems for real human beings.

With this wealth of experience across a huge variety of businesses O’Sullivan is a fitting replacement for the retreating dragon Sean Gallagher. To celebrate the arrival of this true titan of tech start-ups the deadline to register to enter the Dragon’s

Den has been extended out to the 2^nd of December. Willing and able Dragon Slayers can register by following this link http://www.rte.ie/tv/dragonsden/

To remind yourself how others fared in Season Three just click here

A Massive Thank You from all of us here at allaboutbusiness.ie to everyone who took part in Enterprise Week.

It sure was a busy week, with lots of events and exhibits in branches up and down the country. We would like to say a big thank you to all of the speakers, exhibitors, attendees and Bank of Ireland staff that made it all happen.

To check out some of our exclusive videos from some of the flagship events in Waterford, Belfast, Dublin West and Newbridge , please click here.

The sun was shining on Thursday when over 150 women gathered at the stunning Carton House to hear three inspirational women – Norah Casey, Joan Burton and Terry McDermot – speak at the Women in Business Enterprise Week event.

Joan Burton, Minister for Social Protection, was the first to speak and opened by saying that the women in the room were inspirational Mna na hEireann 2011.

The numbers of women working and leading in business and politics have shown incremental growth in the last decade. Minister Burton was quick to point out that there are far more women in business than in politics in Ireland but that she was ‘working on it!’

Minister Burton commented that women have a tremendous capacity for working and supporting each other in business and that is why women’s only events are so important. She also spoke of the recently announced Jobs Initiative and the importance of encouraging internships in all areas of business.

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On Wednesday 25th, the Enterprise Week event themed “Personal & Business Effectiveness and Networking” event took place at The Europa Academy in Swords to a packed and engaged audience.

Prior to the event, entrepreneurs and business owners had the opportunity to network and mingle with SME exhibitors who were showcasing their products and services as part of Enterprise Week 2011.

The main event started at 6.30pm with over 380 people taking their seats to listen to an uplifting welcome message from Gabriel Bannigan, Regional Manager -Dublin, Bank of Ireland. The positive energy from the recent Barack Obama visit was present in the room and the message of “Is féidir linn” was felt throughout the night.

The first guest speaker was Neil O`Brien, Owner of Time To Fly Ltd who spoke on the topic of Mental Fitness. Neil made the point that when times were great in Ireland that we forgot the basics, and now it was time to get back to the basics. Gabriel Bannigan summed it up well by saying “keep it simple and execute it brilliantly”.

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There was standing room only at the Enterprise Week event at the House of Lords on Friday morning. Over 300 entrepreneurs and SMEs gathered to hear keynote speakers such as Paul Rellis from Microsoft, Justin Keatinge, Managing Director of Version 1 and Nicola Farronato, CEO of b.sm@rk

Paul Rellis in Microsoft spoke about the technological transformations that are taking place and how natural user interfaces such as Kinect will become more pervasive in the near future. It is predicated that in three years time 50% of phones will be smartphones, and according to Rellis one third of those will be on the windows phone platform.

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Enterprise Week started with a bang on Friday! The national launch was held outside Dublin for the first time, in Limerick.

There was a great buzz about the Strand Hotel where over 350 local business people gathered to hear speakers Richie Boucher, CEO Bank of Ireland, and Michael Noonan, Minister for Finance.

Commenting on the launch, Gillian Horan, All About Business Contributor, said “I thought the event was a great start to this years Enterprise Week! As an SME owner/manager it was not only an informative event but also a great chance for me to network.

Enterprise Week is important because it not only provides me with updated business information but it also allows me to promote my business in a positive supportive environment”.

Positivity and support were the main messages for Bank of Ireland CEO Richie Boucher’s keynote speech. Mr. Boucher spoke about his belief in the future of Ireland. He said that it is up to all of us to restore this confidence in the future and in each other and that Bank of Ireland will be there to offer support for new and existing customers. We spoke to Mr. Boucher after the event and the interview will be available very soon.

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We are delighted to announce that Enterprise Week is back and is set to be better than ever in 2011!

National Enterprise Week will run from 20-27th May. It is about bringing together like-minded local business people and entrepreneurs to share their experiences and knowledge.

The last Enterprise Week, in November 2010, saw almost 4,000 business people attend over 110 events across the country with speakers like social media guru Krishna De and Metro North Project Director Rory O’Connor discussing a wide range of topics.

New to the Enterprise Week events list for 2011 is a specific ‘Women in Business’ event on May 25th in Carton House. Speakers at the event include Dragons’ Den star and publishing entrepreneur Norah Casey and the Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton.

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