Silver Hill Farm at “I believe” in CHQ

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Thursday 17 December it is the turn of Silver Hill Farm.

Silver Hill Fram

Silver Hill Farm is a fully integrated family owned duck company. Founded over 50 years ago by Ronnie and Lyla Steele in Emyvale, Co. Monaghan. The present Managing Director is their son Stuart Steele. All aspects of our duck production are owned and controlled by Silver Hill Farm from breeding, egg production, hatching and selection to processing and cooking. The success of Silver Hill Farm lies in the unique Silver Hill Hybrid duck. Continually developed over the years, to produce a duck that is full of flavour, succulent, tender and consistent in its quality. This breed is exclusive to Silver Hill Farm.

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

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First Ireland Spirits at “I Believe” in CHQ

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Wednesday 16 December it is the turn of First Ireland Spirits

First Ireland Spirits

Nestled in the heartland of Ireland’s green and pure landscape, First Ireland Spirts have been crafting Irish creams, liqueurs and spirits for over 20 years. Working with local farmers and producers, the team have perfected the art of Irish Cream Liqueur with 24 hours from dairy to distillery, unique Irish liqueurs with crafted local ingredients, and more recently Irish Whiskey and spirits, creating award winning brand

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

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This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/first-ireland-spirits-at-i-believe-in-chq/ on thinkbusiness

Jim’s Blog: Entrepreneurs need to build teams

Jim Duffy is founder and CEO of E-Spark. Soon to be opening in Belfast too. You can still apply for a place here.

Building teams

We’ve heard it all before, “Investors want a great team,” “Investors will back the team ahead of the idea,” “Investors want to ensure that if someone falls under a bus, then the other members of the team can still rock on!”

So, why do so many early stage entrepreneurs still not have a team or consider a team important? – Don’t tell me it’s because you don’t have any cash.

There are a huge number of great people out there, lining up to join start-ups and scale-ups, knowing that the wages will be paltry and the chances of not making it are high, so I don’t think this is the issue. The issue is that early stage entrepreneurs don’t know how to on-board great talent and keep them on board as the proposition develops, the company takes shape and all the plates are being spun 24 hours a day.

Essentially, entrepreneurs like to do a lot on their own. When we get started, that’s usually all we have – one woman and her dog. However, the passion and vision for what we do then attracts others to our camp. If the attraction is strong enough, then they will come and want to stay – regardless of initial remuneration. But, how do ‘work alone’ entrepreneurs ensure they on-board people and develop them into the business?

Here is the problem…

Imagine a start-up is like a roundabout – you know, the kind that we played on when we were young. This roundabout is spinning fast, so fast in fact that the best place to be is the middle. It’s safe in the middle, because there, the entrepreneur knows the pain point, how she is going to solve it, the intuition for who will buy the product, how she believes the business model will work and all the hours of thinking, cogitation, debate and ideation around the market etc. A place of safety for the entrepreneur, but peril and danger for anyone else trying to get in and get on.

At the edges of this roundabout, the world is a different place. It is spinning so fast that just looking at it is terrifying. Then there is the judgement needed to work out how and when to grab hold. It’s a balancing act to leap onto the roundabout at the right time and not get hurt as it throws you off. Then, if you do get a firm hold, the centrifugal force is trying to spin you off, as the entrepreneur in the middle is moving so fast. Eventually, you may pull yourself in toward the centre and get to grips with the start-up and what is going on in the entrepreneur’s head. But, for some reason, it takes you what feels like an eternity to get into the middle with the entrepreneur, which is where you can start to really make an impact.

This is what it can be like for a new team member jumping on board a start-up, and perhaps why so many entrepreneurs fail to attract and keep good talent early on. So, it’s up to you as entrepreneurial leaders to make the jump on board less dangerous, while still challenging. If an entrepreneur keeps spinning off talent then no proper team can form and the business will not get going to its full potential.

Entrepreneurs – think this one through. It’s a mind-set and a skillset we have to develop… and it’s what investors are looking for in the medium- to long-term. That aside, if you don’t support and encourage people on your team, then they don’t know what going on inside your head and it makes it difficult for them to help you achieve your vision.

The world record for the men’s 400 metres is 43.18 seconds, as held by Michael Johnson.

Astonishingly, the world record for the men’s 400 metres relay is 36.84 seconds.

Kind of says it all…!

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This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/jims-blog-entrepreneurs-need-to-build-teams/ on
thinkbusiness

Bru Brewery at “I Believe” in CHQ

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Saturday 12 December it is the turn of Bru Brewery

Brú Brewery

In ancient times many a great Warrior, High King and Goddess ruled over the Boyne Valley and it is these legends that inspire Brú today. Taking their name from the magnificent Brú Na Boinne Neolithic site (Newgrange) they hope to brew a few legends of their own. Hand brewed with passion on the lush, fertile banks of the Boyne all their beers are brewed using local and natural ingredients and are 100% fluoride, chemical and preservative free.

Inspired by legends… Irish in the making

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

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First Ireland Spirits at “I Believe” in CHQ

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Friday 11 December it is the turn of First Ireland Spirits.

First Ireland Spirits

Nestled in the heartland of Ireland’s green and pure landscape, First Ireland Spirts have been crafting Irish creams, liqueurs and spirits for over 20 years. Working with local farmers and producers, the team have perfected the art of Irish Cream Liqueur with 24 hours from dairy to distillery, unique Irish liqueurs with crafted local ingredients, and more recently Irish Whiskey and spirits, creating award winning brands

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

The post First Ireland Spirits at “I Believe” in CHQ appeared first on Small Business Can.

Fireside chat with RBS/Ulster Bank skunk team

Working with Ulster Bank is a pleasure. We get paid to be helpful to small businesses, we are housed in Dogpatchlab and we get to work on some cool projects.

RBS distinguished engineers

It also means an opportunity to meet some very cool people. This week Ulster Bank hosted a fire side chat in Dogpatch with the RBS distinguished engineers, a RBS skunk team that fly around the world solving problems, innovating, developing prototypes in spikes of less then a week. This week they were in Dublin.

The topics of discussion

The discussion points were around the future of fintech, bitcoin and blockchain. Convergence, faster banks, slower fintech, surviving digital, customer experience, trust actors, digital assets, the role of operating systems, compliance, regulators, Kenya and Ireland, bit torrent, Ripple, etc. A very rich vain of conversation and discussion.

I learned a lot

I learned that banks now move 30% of the UK economy (salaries) at the end every month in 10 seconds. That banks are the most regulated sector in the world. That fintech companies that want to scale will eventually have to deal with the same regulators, which is no picnic.   

That in the middle ages stealing would get you killed, but forging would get you boiled in oil. That banking as a term is protected in Ireland and the UK and that I still can’t explain bitcoin to my mum (but I am getting there). I now also know that half of the bitcoin stock is hold by only a 1000 people and we don’t know who they are.

Innovation in Ireland

There was an interesting view on the innovation eco system in Ireland. It was compared to Kenya and that was meant as a compliment. Kenya was the birthing ground of Mpesa. We can do the same.

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Fireside chat with RBS/Ulster Bank skunk team

Working with Ulster Bank is a pleasure. We get paid to be helpful to small businesses, we are housed in Dogpatchlab and we get to work on some cool projects.

RBS distinguished engineers

It also means an opportunity to meet some very cool people. This week Ulster Bank hosted a fire side chat in Dogpatch with the RBS distinguished engineers, a RBS skunk team that fly around the world solving problems, innovating, developing prototypes in spikes of less then a week. This week they were in Dublin.

The topics of discussion

The discussion points were around the future of fintech, bitcoin and blockchain. Convergence, faster banks, slower fintech, surviving digital, customer experience, trust actors, digital assets, the role of operating systems, compliance, regulators, Kenya and Ireland, bit torrent, Ripple, etc. A very rich vain of conversation and discussion.

I learned a lot

I learned that banks now move 30% of the UK economy (salaries) at the end every month in 10 seconds. That banks are the most regulated sector in the world. That fintech companies that want to scale will eventually have to deal with the same regulators, which is no picnic.   

That in the middle ages stealing would get you killed, but forging would get you boiled in oil. That banking as a term is protected in Ireland and the UK and that I still can’t explain bitcoin to my mum (but I am getting there). I now also know that half of the bitcoin stock is hold by only a 1000 people and we don’t know who they are.

Innovation in Ireland

There was an interesting view on the innovation eco system in Ireland. It was compared to Kenya and that was meant as a compliment. Kenya was the birthing ground of Mpesa. We can do the same.

The post Fireside chat with RBS/Ulster Bank skunk team appeared first on Small Business Can.

The Hackathon Returns to Ulster Bank!

What’s happening:

This January Ulster Bank, together with the Open Bank Project and Dogpatch Labs, will host the next edition of the Hack (Make!) the Bank series of global fintech hackathons in the newly redeveloped Dogpatch Labs Vaults at the heart of the Silicon Docks in Dublin.

Last year Ulster Bank was the first bank to host a hackathon in Ireland, with some tremendous feedback from all involved. If you missed the events you can check out the highlight video.

Robin Marshall, Ulster Bank CIO

“My overarching reflection on the two hackathons is one of encouragement at the amount of ideas we collectively have as to how we can make banking better for our customers… Everyone can contribute to and participate in a Hackathon, you don’t need to be an engineer, a designer or a marketeer, if you have an opinion and an imagination, you have all the tools you need.”

Alan Lockhart, RBS Principal Architect

“The challenge for RBS today is, how do we CHANGE the way we work, so that we encourage, adopt and embrace open innovation? In a hackathon there are no silos. Business, Designers and Coders, all of necessity, collaborate closely to produce a solution … Hackathons (are) an opportunity for our staff to dive in and experience agile working in a totally safe environment”

This edition promises to be even better than last years, with a fantastic new location, new challenges, and of course, great prizes!

How can I get involved?

Hackathons are open to all, you don’t need to be technically minded to participate. A hackathon is a team event, and each team needs a mix of skills if they want to succeed.  If you have an idea you would like to pitch, if you enjoy working as part of a team, or if you have a good eye for presentations or designs then you’d make a welcome addition to any hack team.

Event Details

Date: Friday 29 January 18.00 – Sunday 31 January 18.00

Location: Dogpatch Labs, CHQ Building, Custom House Quay, Dublin Docklands, Dublin 1

Whether you are planning to attend the full event, or just popping in to see what the fuss is all about, you can register using the link here

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This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/the-hackathon-returns-to-ulster-bank/ on
thinkbusiness

Gilligan Meats at “I Believe” in CHQ

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Wednesday 9 December it is the turn of Gilligan Meats

Gilligan Meats

Gilligan Meats is one of the few family owned and run, farming and butcher operations in the country. The company comprises of a dual partnership between father and son, Padraic and Alan Gilligan who look after everything from growing the crops to rearing all the livestock to processing the meat and finally selling the products in their newly developed onsite shop. Gilligan meats provide a complete service from farm to fork.

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

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Spice of Life at “I Believe” in CHQ

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Tuesday 8 December it is the turn of Spice of Life

Spice of Life

They  are located in the heart of West Cork, Dunmanway and currently employ 40 people across the island of Ireland. Spice O’ Life Limited has a diverse manufacturing capability ranging from dry seasoning blends to liquid sauces, marinades, and dressings, to ready-to-use finished prepared consumer foods.

Diverse manufacturing

It is this diverse manufacturing capability that allows us to provide you our customers with the right product, in the right form, at the right time and place, to meet the rapid changing needs of the consumer today.  One of their strengths is our capability to turn projects around in very quick order, from the time we develop your product in our New Product Development Laboratory, to the time they take it to production. 

Competitive advantage

This guarantees you, our customer a distinct competitive advantage over your competitors, in that you are first on the market with new products, and you know better than anyone what the benefits of being first are! They also have the capability to produce their branded products for their customers in a wide variety of forms. 

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

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