[Event] The Impact Series – Building an Inclusive Recovery

Social Entrepreneurs Ireland are delighted to invite you to join us for the next event in our exciting speaker series which will focus on the theme “Building an Inclusive Recovery”.

Date: Tuesday 28th April | Venue: Smock Alley Theatre, Dublin 8 |
Doors open: 6.30pm, First speaker: 6.45pm

As Ireland moves towards recovery, are we in danger of leaving behind the most vulnerable members of society? How can we ensure we build an inclusive society for all?

This Impact Series shines a light on leading visionaries who are pioneering innovative solutions to build a more inclusive society – a society which supports people on the margins and ensures they receive very opportunity to reach their greatest potential.

Each of the speakers below will use their unique experience to inspire and challenge us all to think differently about how we might build an inclusive recovery. By sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience, and most importantly their vision, they will demonstrate how their individual projects and experiences are having a lasting impact on the lives of those they support.

Speakers:

Welcome Address: Kevin Humphreys, T.D., Minister of State at Department of Social Protection
Graham Jones, Founder, Solas Project and SEI Elevator Awardee 2013
Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy, Visionary and Social Innovator, Founder of Focus Ireland
Elizabeth Waters, Founder Virtual Community College and SEI Impact Awardee 2014
Lynn Ruane, Graduate of An Cosán & President-elect of Trinity College Students’ Union

Ticket price is a donation of your choice when you book online (or €15 on the door). All ticket proceeds will go towards The Minnovation Fund which will be given to one high potential start-up social entrepreneur on the night. Further details on how to apply to pitch are provided below.

For further information and to register for tickets click here: http://theimpactseries6.eventbrite.ie

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Improve Your Networking Skills: May 13th All-Ireland Business Summit

Want to improve your networking skills? As our daily lives and work practices become more digitised it can be easy to forget or ignore the importance of face to face networking, which is still the most effective form of communication.

Will Kintish who is the leading U.K. authority on networking is a strong advocate of traditional networking methods primarily face to face, he passionately cries: “With the ubiquitous use of social media and email as the default form of communication, I worry that so many people are losing sight of the most effective and powerful form of communication”.

In today’s highly competitive world, being a confident and effective networker sets you apart from the crowd. You become more visible, feel in control and will always create more career and business opportunities than the average person. Yet a lot of people still consider networking to be daunting and struggle to network effectively, which is why we have enlisted the help of Will Kintish who is on a mission called ‘Operation Network’ aimed at destroying your networking fears in order to make you a more confident and effective at networking.

Accept Will’s challenge and Improve Your Networking Skills

Join Will on May 13th at the All-Ireland Business Summit in Croke Park, for a high-energy facilitated networking session to learn and put into practice these networking skills with fellow attendees on the day:

The secrets to help you destroy all those fears of working the room
How to be in control, break the ice and start the conversation with strangers
How to approach the appropriate people, break into groups and move on with ease and consideration
What to talk about and how to be interesting
The process for following up; ensuring you leave every event with a potential business opportunity
How to raise your profile and meet more people

Fear is temporary; regret is permanent. Destroy all your fears.

An opportunity not to be missed, book your place today – http://bit.ly/1LQuAkD

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Event: Cork Regional Briefing for the Startup Gathering 2015

Startup Ireland & Cork innovates invites you to attend a briefing session & discussion forum on the Startup Gathering 2015 #SG2015 – Start, Scale, Succeed from Ireland.

Mission

Mission of this event is to make Ireland a global startup hub by 2020 by maximising Ireland’s entrepreneurial talent pipeline and the clusters that accelerate them.

Vision

Vision of the Startup Gathering 2015 is that international scale up companies choose the cities of Ireland as their location of choice based on the industry strengths present in each city and to have the information, contacts and supports to accelerate their plans. These scale-ups will in turn have positive spill-over benefits to indigenous startups.

#SG2015

The 2015 Startup Gathering is an inaugural national expo showcasing Ireland’s startup sector both nationally and internationally across five industries in five cities during five days from October 5th – 10th next. To hear more about what is proposed and to get involved please join us on 27 April. Please RSVP to hello@corkinnovates.com

Date: Monday 27 April
Time: 3.00 pm – 5.30 pm
Location: Convention Centre, Silver Springs Moran Hotel, Cork
Room: Tara Suite
Access: Enter the main hotel entrance, take the road on the left and follow the road to the back of the hotel right to the front door of the Convention Centre.
Parking: Available behind the centreThe Startup Ireland Partnership is not-for-profit alliance of key public and private sector stakeholders dedicated to the goal of making Ireland a global startup hub by 2020.

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Future proof your business at #Bizpartyinspires conference

Irishbizparty conference

On 15 April I have the pleasure of speaking at the #IrishBizparty conference in Dublin. I have been an admirer of Samantha Kelly for quite a while. First time I met her was in the house of one of the dragons, when she had started Funky Goddess and got the investment.

I am a Sam fan

Since then she has gone from strength to strength. She has written a book, is on TV and has created a number of communities, including #irishbizparty. As one of the founders of Smallbusinesscan, I can assure you, that is no mean feat.

Therefore I was delighted she asked me to speak at the Dublin conference.

Future proofing your business

My topic for the day is future proofing your business. Future trends is what we do a lot with Bookbuzz. When you talk to small businesses, I am always amazed on how trend watching is not on the radar. Granted, I read too much science fiction, but to stay in business, you need to be aware. To strategise and to know where you are going, you need context. Trend watching gives you that context and a picture of the place of your business in that future.

If you don’t recognise the names below, I would argue, that you are in trouble,

Richard Watson
Ray Kurzweil
Jason Silva
Faith Popcorn
Chris Anderson
Naseem Taleb
Brian Solis
Ken Robinson
Seth Godin

Not to worry, on the day, I will walk you through some of the key concepts that these business experts talk and write about and will give you some tools to help you make sense.

Hope to see you there and hope to be as inspirational as Samantha.

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DCU ICT HUB

Change your business forever

Innovation has always been our passion. Everyone underestimates how much universities can add innovation to SMEs and make them more competitive and future proof.

As a result we have been asked by the Dublin Universities (DCU, Trinity and the Innovation Academy in UCD). to look at how they engage with businesses and particularly the ones that normally would not look at universities for ideas and support.

One day

In one day you will:

Discover Ireland’s best kept secret for growth for SMEs
Unleash the power of innovation for your company
Get inspired by the innovation and opportunities that universities have to offer
Power your company with the greatest minds and resources on your doorstep

The idea is that this one day will give businesses a flavour of the innovation, research and opportunities that universities have to offer and deliver an informative and attention-grabbing day. The day will include a practical information pack, (non academic) speakers, campus tours, breakfast, lunch and networking drinks reception. As an outcome we expect that some of the businesses will start engaging with the universities. Part of the follow on of the day, will be us supporting and tracking that engagement.

Here is a link to eventbrite to book your ticket

DCU ICT hub

Here is Noel O’Connor, the head of the ICT hub talking about the research:

The Information Technology and Digital Society Research & Enterprise Hub targets the translation of DCU’s ICT-based research outputs into the digital economy leveraging a diverse expertise base that covers data analytics, cloud computing, intelligent content among many other areas.

With increasing global competition the ICT sector is becoming acutely aware of the need to climb the “value chain” in terms of its technical activity, which for the sector means engaging in research and development. Ireland has one of the highest concentrations of ICT activity and employment in the OECD and is currently home to over 200 multinational ICT companies providing many opportunities for innovation. There are many centres of excellence based at DCU operating in this space. Through the Information Technology and Digital Society Research and Enterprise Hub the university brings together multi-disciplinary teams of researchers, in close partnership with other universities and institutes to address ICT research and development. It also engages with Irish and international industry to understand how best to facilitate this. DCU is committed to assuming a leading role in helping to transform the ICT sector towards the next stage in its evolution.

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Take a bus journey that will change your business for ever

SME engagement with universities has always been a passion of ours. We think it is underestimated how much universities could add to small business and make them more competitive and future proof.

As a result, have been asked by KTI and the Dublin Universities to look at how they engage with small businesses and particularly the ones that normally would not look at universities for ideas and support. We decided to book a bus, try to fill them with owner managers and give them access to 3 universities in one day (16 April).

The idea is that this one day will give businesses a flavour of the innovation, research and opportunities that universities have to offer and deliver a informative and interesting day. The day will include a practical information pack, (non academic) speakers, campus tours and breakfast, lunch and drinks reception. As an outcome we expect that some of the business will start engaging. Part of the follow on of the day, will be us supporting and tracking that engagement.

You can your ticket here. You need to book soon as tickets are running out (maximum 50 are allowed on the bus).

Here is sample of what is available

We blogged about it earlier here and on LinkedIn

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Small Business Can Workshop

With our recent partnership with The Smart Business Show we are providing you with exclusive discounts to attend the show and also to exhibit. We will also be running a dedicated workshop for our members at the show.

Workshop Title: Panel Discussion SMEs and Public Tendering

SMEs and public tendering, is there any point. Public tendering for SMEs is an issue. The opportunity cost are very high and the chance of success is low. What to do?

This workshop will be a panel discussion on public tendering with a number of experts and SMEs on tendering. Lessons learned, what no to do and the stories of success and failure.

Outcomes:

A better understanding of public tendering
Opportunity to engage with people who have been there and bought the T-shirt

Speakers

Ross McCarthy
Managing Director at Keystone Procurement
Ross is an entrepreneur, business advisor and strategist that has worked with businesses of all sizes for over 15 years.Ross helps businesses achieve their commercial and organisational objectives and has a particular interest in Procurement, Tendering and Bid Management and Project Management.

Tony Clarke
Owner of Kendlebell Naas
Tony and his team at Kendlebell Naas place a heavy focus on delivering exceptional customer service to each and everyone of their clients whether they are in the SOHO , SME or Multinational sectors.

Tony Corrigan
CEO of TenderScout
Tony is Founder and CEO of TenderScout, a competitive intelligence SaaS that accelerates sales and increases revenues from public procurement competitions. Tony’s background comprises software development, enterprise sales, IT management and procurement consultancy. He started out with IBM and set up his first consultancy company, KOMINO in 2003.

Workshop Moderator

Ron Immink
Co-founder of Small Business Can
Ron was hired by Ulster Bank/RBS to develop www.smallbusinesscan.com, a free and open platform where owner managers can create and share the business knowledge.

Where and When?

Date: 22nd April 2015
Time: 13.30am
Duration: 1 Hours
Location: Workshop 2, RDS, Dublin
You can register for your place below;

Learn more about the Smart Business Show here.

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DCU sustainability hub

Universities can make you more future proof

SME engagement with universities has always been a passion. We think it is underestimated how much universities could add to small business and make them more competitive and future proof.

3 universities in a day

As a result, we have been asked by KTI and the Dublin Universities to look at how they engage with small businesses and particularly the ones that normally would not look at universities for ideas and support. We decided to book a bus, try to fill them with owner managers and give them access to 3 universities in one day (16 April). The idea is that this one day will give businesses a flavour of the innovation, research and opportunities that universities have to offer and deliver a informative and interesting day. The day will include a practical information pack, (non academic) speakers, campus tours and breakfast, lunch and drinks reception. As an outcome we expect that some of the business will start engaging. Part of the follow on of the day, will be us supporting and tracking that engagement.

DCU sustainability hub

For example DCU has a sustainability hub. Here is Stephen Daniels, the head of the sustainability hub talking about some of the research:

The hub drives scientific and social science research, technology development and innovation which supports sustainable development in both industry and the environment. Expertise includes advanced manufacturing, environmental monitoring, water technologies and energy systems.

DCU research aims to discover new science and technologies that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. These discoveries will help companies to design sustainable products and services, miniaturise components, source renewable materials, integrate ICT, reduce the cost of production and transport by using alternative low cost energy resources – resulting in more sustainable businesses. Environmental research is focussing on monitoring and managing renewable resources such as water and developing advanced science and technologies to harness new resources for energy. All interesting business opportunities.

Stephen Daniels

Here is Stephen Daniels, the head of the sustainability hub talking about some of the research

Here is a link to event brite if you want to join us http://www.eventbrite.ie/e/visit-3-universities-in-one-day-tickets-15872746813

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The wheels of the bus go round and round…… 3 universities in one day

Great news. If you are fortunate enough to be in:
• Software
• Banking
• Finance
• Biotechnology
• Data analytics
• Sensors
• Cloud computing
• Content analytics
• Material science
• Engineering
• Telecoms / Communications
• Health
• Health & Human Performance
• Materials Manufacturing
• Diagnostics
• Manufacturing competitiveness (Pharma)

And if you want to find out what the best and brightest in Dublin universities have to offer, you now have an opportunity to do so. In one day. Across 3 universities. All you need to do is book a ticket. Once you book, we will be in take care of the detail and tailor a tour to your needs and the sectors you are interested in.

Inspiration, information, connections and resources

You will get opportunities to network over breakfast, lunch and over some drinks when the day is over. But more importantly you will receive the inspiration, information, connections and resources to give your company a boost for the future and an opportunity to
engage and find out what the universities can do for you.

3 universities in one day

Book now or contact ron@smallbusinesscan.com for more information

First come, first served

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The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round: 3 Universities in One Day

If you want to find out what the best and brightest in Dublin universities have to offer, you now have an opportunity to do so. In one day. Across 3 universities. All you need to do is book a ticket and get on the bus (literally!). Once you book, we will take care of the detail and tailor a tour to your needs and the sectors you are interested in.