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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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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Niall O’Farrell is one of Ireland’s most successful entrepreneurs. Owner of Ireland’s premier suit hire chain, Blacktie, Niall is also a property developer, luxury shirt retailer and food and beverage distributer. Niall became a Dragon in 2008 and has made investments in both series 1 and 2.

You can’t beat valuable experience and for Niall O’Farrell, it has been tantamount to his remarkable success. Niall never considered himself as being the ‘university type’ and was always keen to get into straight up business. His original intention was to follow his father Robert, into his estate agency in Ranelagh. However fate had other ideas and a downturn in the property market led him to seek other opportunities. Niall found himself working in menswear and a new adventure began. …

Series 3 of Dragons’ Den will launch on Sunday 20th February at 9.30pm on RTE1. To celebrate the launch we will be bringing you behind the scenes of the Dragons’ Den set and introducing you to one Dragon every day this week!

Bobby Kerr:

Bobby Kerr is a man inclined to action. In the past two to three years, he spearheaded the sale of the Kerr family business – Newpark Hotel in Kilkenny – for €23 million. He also sold 51% of his Insomnia group to Penninn, valuing the business at €16 million. All in addition to his escapades as a Dragon …

Irish Technology Company Seedups launched their full service on February 1st. Developed as a crowdfunding platform for start-ups to match with a growing network of investors, the company have already hit a number of milestones since their beta launch. Founder Michael Faulkner explained the concept of the business as “networking new entrepreneurs with angel type investors who are looking for the best new start-ups in which to invest”. The business model has been described by an existing Seedups investor as Dragons Den meets Facebook.

While other companies and projects offer funding opportunities like this, Seedups is unique as it uses Crowd-Funding and Micro-Financing. This means that good opportunities will get the chance to raise capital from more sources and investors will be more willing to stake smaller amounts in order to diversify their portfolio.

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Energy costs are playing an increasingly important role in the bottom line for all businesses. More and more business owners and managers are recognising the importance of energy efficiency. Testament to this is the increase in services dedicated to helping business owners to become more efficient in their use of resources and as a result reduce their costs.

There are several options available to SMEs: …

Starting and running your own business involves a wide range of skills and can be a daunting task for budding entrepreneurs.

Thankfully, there is help out there and there are a number of organisations which exist specifically to help new small to medium size business owners. …

Innovative and attention grabbing, guerrilla marketing can make a big difference to your business.

The term was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson with SMEs in mind and is defined as an unconventional method of promotion that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing spend.

Typically, guerrilla marketing campaigns are unexpected and unconventional; potentially interactive; and consumers are targeted in unexpected places. The objective of guerrilla marketing is to create a unique, engaging and thought-provoking concept to generate buzz, and consequently turn viral. …

Started in 2009, but only recently launched, Nubie.com helps you to start, fund, manage and grow your business – it’s a cloud-based platform for start-ups and high performing small businesses, with information and tools to help you succeed in business.

The web-based service aims to meet the immediate business needs of Irish “start-ups”, over 13,000 of whom are formed in Ireland each year (according to BOI’s Business Start-Up Barometer 2009).

It will provide start-ups with customised roadmaps tailored for the Irish market and online tools to research their idea, develop a business plan, check grant eligibility, seek funding and get off the ground quicker. As well as business planning, funding and forecasting, Nubie will also provide a range of related services including invoicing, customer relationship management and marketing. …