Dulann is an innovative online e-learning company based in Wexford Town run by business partners and entrepreneurs, Damian Donlon (pictured in the middle) and Matthias Kausch (left). Launched in 2013, their initial product set out to disrupt the food safety market, by reducing costs and improving efficiencies for the SME sector in Ireland. Here, CEO Damian Donlon talks about their unique approach and their plans to rapidly scale the business over the next few years. 
“We started off in the lobby of the Talbot Hotel in Wexford, and for the first six months, we held our meetings there.”
How we started
We started off in the lobby of the Talbot Hotel in Wexford, and for the first six months, we actually held our meetings there. Matthias’s background is in learning and development. He is also a published author within food safety which became our first e-learning course and cost in the region of €100,000 to produce. Previously I had spent ten years in construction, and although that industry was hugely satisfying, you were mostly involved in building and selling a once-off product, before quickly moving onto the next project. With the arrival of the recession, what really attracted me to e-learning was the concept that you could build a product once – and still having the opportunity to sell it many times over. 
“There are 13m people in Europe operating under one piece of mandatory food safety legislation.”
We had enough insight from our market research that there was a real need out there and with the right product, we felt that we could satisfy that need. A key factor was realising that there were 13m people in Europe operating under one piece of mandatory food safety legislation which was a real indication of the potential size of the market. For us, it was about using

“I am telling you, the world’s first trillionaires are going to come from somebody who masters AI and all its derivatives, and applies it in ways we never thought of.” – Mark Cuban. 
Artificial Intelligence (AI) as future superintelligence is going to transform the way we do business.
AI is intelligence demonstrated by machines or “intelligent agents” who can mimic human intelligence – human “cognitive” functions such as “learning” and “problem-solving”.
Intelligent devices are now being applied in mathematics, computer science, linguistics, psychology and more.
AI incorporates enormous opportunities and benefits, making our life more comfortable, more exciting, creative and smarter. It is a new revolutionary technology, that might even help eliminate poverty, war, and disease.
After 25 years of AI Research, Trinity College Dublin’s Adapt Centre researchers have recently declared that Ireland can be recognised as an Island of artificial intelligence, data analytics, machine learning, human-machine interaction and optimisation.
Why?
Ireland is home to a vibrant open AI ecosystem for collaboration and community. Many corporations in Ireland have established centres on data analytics, cloud computing, big data and future internet.
Google, for example, launched a support hub for AI startups in Dublin last year. Google’s AI Launchpad Studio is designed to provide technical and product support to entrepreneurs who work with artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Moreover, Ireland became the first country in the world to develop an industry-driven nationwide Post Graduate MSc in Artificial Intelligence in 2017, when the University of Limerick introduced a master’s level course in artificial intelligence.
Forbes ranks Ireland as the fourth best country in the world for business 2017, and PwC survey shows that Ireland is the only English speaking country in the Eurozone in the EU post-Brexit that provides an ideal hub for organisations seeking a European hub. Ireland is definitely an attractive area for investment in emerging technologies.
Artificial Intelligence has a

IE Domain Registry launches Internet Day 2018 with new ‘Digital Town’ initiative to combat low rates of e-commerce in Irish towns.
The IE Domain Industry has launched a new ‘Digital Town’ initiative to mark Internet Day 2018.
The company, who manage and maintain Ireland’s .ie domain name, launched this initiative to combat low rates of e-commerce in Irish towns and will take place in Gorey, Co Wexford on October 25th.
While Ireland’s e-commerce economy is worth an estimated €12.3bn, only three in ten SMEs take sales orders through their website, a survey of 1,000 SMEs has shown.
The ‘Digital Town’ initiative will promote awareness and understanding of the internet in Ireland by its citizens, businesses and communities and celebrate the digital achievements of the local community.
Gorey has been chosen for its achievements in cultivating a truly digital environment in the town, and for its ongoing successes in fully embracing digital for its residents and local businesses. IE Domain Registry believes that through showcasing its efforts, Gorey can inspire Irish towns to begin their journey to becoming fully digital.
The IE Domain Registry also reported a 29% growth in new domain registrations in Gorey in 2017 which made the town very appealing for the initiative.
As part of the initiative, IE Domain Industry, along with Wexford County Council, The Hatch Lab and Gorey Chamber of Commerce, will oversee a number of digital initiatives over the next four weeks which will further develop digital skills for businesses and community groups.
David Curtin, chief executive of IE Domain Registry, said: “Gorey is actively embracing digital and the possibilities of the internet, and has made significant advances in cultivating a digital environment. The arrival of high-speed broadband in the town has stimulated a significant increase in digital activity. This includes the launch of the tech co-working space, The Hatch

Are you a business owner? Would you like a one-hour consultation with a top Irish creative designer for just €75?
The Institute of Designers in Ireland’s ‘Mind over Matter’ event is coming to a venue near you. It takes place on October 10, the National Day of Creativity, with all proceeds going to AWARE.
This valuable initiative gives businesses of all sizes a consultation with the best of Irish design talent for a minimal fee.
The sessions will run in nine venues nationwide – Belfast, Cork, Carlow, Dundalk, Waterford, Limerick, Galway, and in two Dublin locations.
Full details are on the IDI’s website.
Good design is essential to a good business
Entrepreneurs, SMEs and startups are now encouraged to book a session with design experts in areas such as website development, graphic design, Design Thinking, branding, and marketing.  
Kim Mackenzie-Doyle, the former president of the IDI and founder of ‘Mind over matter’ says mental health is something the design community and the business community are keenly aware of. “Mind over Matter brings the business community and the design community together in mutually beneficial ways. Many business owners and creatives often work in isolation. Mind over Matter is as much about networking and mental health awareness as it is about the work and new contacts and new business,” says Mackenzie-Doyle.
Book your consultation with a design expert
Nearly 200 designers from all over Ireland are donating their time for free with all funds raised being donated to AWARE.
Designers from all specialities are represented including graphic designers, UX specialists, architects, creative strategists, illustrators, interior designers, product designers, brand experts, marketing leaders and web developers. There is something for every type of business.
Booking is open from now until October 9 at www.idimindovermatter.ie.

In 2004, Arun Kapil left the UK music industry to start a new life in Ireland. He started his business by selling spice sachets at a farmers’ market and now has plans for global expansion.
Arun Kapil grew up in Lincolnshire an always had a love for cooking, instilled by his Hindu father and Yorkshire mother. Following a friend’s recommendation, he enrolled on a 12-week course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, Co. Cork. He arrived in Ireland with little money but within just two years began producing sachets of fresh spice, sourced directly through his cousins in India, to sell at his market stall in Mahon Point Farmer’s Market in Cork City.
His company, Green Saffron, founded in 2007 and located in Midleton, Co. Cork now enjoys sales of almost one million euro a year, spread across the retail, ingredient and commodity markets.
Here he tells the story behind his brand’s success and outlines plans to help shake-up and disrupt the spice market, by selling into a continent, with probably one of the biggest markets for spices and herbs in the world.
“I never had a business plan until 2012. It helped us raise €500,000 in funding.”

Stepping into the spice trade
Working in the kitchen at Ballymaloe, I had a real hankering for spices, and I suppose to some extent, I missed my dad’s home cooking, along with the home-food culture of the UK.
I felt that the spices were, and to some extent still are, under a bushel. Not everyone understands the need for spices to be really fresh and vibrant, to really appreciate just how beautifully fragrant and delicious they can be. I suppose that’s why I called my Dad with an initial order to get a 15Kg package of spice sent over from my cousins in India.
The brilliant thing about farmers’

The rise of remote working in Ireland goes way deeper than just allowing people to work at home for a couple of days a week. The Grow Remote conference will explain more. 
Do you want to learn more about remote working in Ireland and its benefits? The Grow Remote conference will take place in Tralee on September 28. 
Remote working brings tangible benefits to rural communities, towns and villages. It allows people to chose to work and live in areas often forgotten by Ireland’s centralised economy.
Over 200,000 people also work remotely in Ireland and this number is set to grow as the various economic and social repercussions of Ireland’s Dublin-centric economy start to bite hard.
Grow Remote is a voluntary organisation to support remote workers and their employers and to encourage more remote working opportunities in Ireland. 
“The full-day conference will highlight the benefits of remote working, not just for businesses, but for workers and the communities they live in.”
Grow Remote
Grow Remote’s stated aim is to increase employment in rural Ireland by building a tighter community and ecosystem around smart working (home, remote, blended, and flexible).
Grow Remote says it was set up to champion companies that offer remote working and encourage others to do so; connect remote workers to each other and create more opportunities; and, enable town groups to discover remote working companies and link them to their community.
“Tralee is going to be the first town in Ireland to host the ‘Grow Remote’ conference on September 28.”
The conference
Are you a remote worker? Does your business employ people who work remotely? Do you want to learn more about the benefits of remote working?
Tralee is going to be the first town in Ireland to host the ‘Grow Remote’ conference on September 28.
The full-day conference will highlight the benefits of remote working, not just for businesses, but

What’s it like to be a judge of the Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Town Awards? Maurice Healy, Director of Corporate Banking, Bank of Ireland, describes his experience as a judge of the 2018 competition.
The search is on to find Ireland’s most enterprising towns and villages. The judging of the awards is taking place in towns and villages across Ireland.
What is the Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Town Awards?
The National Enterprise Town Awards, organised by Bank of Ireland, is now in its third year.
The competition promotes enterprise by bringing business and community groups together, in towns and villages across Ireland, to showcase the spirit of enterprise in their local area.
90 towns have entered, all were nominated by their local county or town councils and local enterprise office.
“I came away from three long days energised by the passion of the people I met and the inspirational communities where they live and work.”

Pictured are (l-r): Maurice Healy Bank of Ireland, Director Corporate Banking; Judge, Trudi Ryan, Manager, Bank of Ireland Bagenalstown; and John Murphy B.E.A.M. Bagenalstown in the BEAM gardens.Photo by Karl McDonough.

My experience as a judge
As part of Corporate Banking’s support of the ‘Wear Your County Colours’ initiative and living our value of ‘One group one team,’ eight Corporate Banking colleagues will join judging panels across Ireland to find Ireland’s most enterprising town of 2018.
Inspired by David Walsh, CEO of Netwatch (a Corporate Banking customer), who is passionate about his adopted county, I went along to see Co. Carlow for myself.
The privilege of judging
I had the privilege of being a judge for three days meeting groups of volunteers, businesses and local government agencies, who are working hard to make their community a better place to work, live, play, be educated, and to raise a family.
So, what were some of the highlights I experienced

Gym+Coffee co-founder Diarmuid McSweeney talks to ThinkBusiness about brand building, retailing and startup life.

What is Gym+Coffee?
Gym+Coffee is a new Irish clothing and lifestyle brand. We launched in January 2017, and we’re focused on the growing “athleisure” market with a range of hoodies, t-shirts, tanks, leggings, hats, and accessories.
I guess Gym+Coffee was born out of two main things. There’s a growing lifestyle shift in Ireland. People just don’t want to hang out in pubs and bars as much, and are looking for active things to do at the weekends. And, coffee shops are becoming the new places to meet and socialise.
“We have to focus on our priorities.”
How are you different than other clothing companies?
I guess we didn’t want to just be a clothing company, we didn’t just want to be activeclothing.com. For us, it was about growing a brand to encourage this active lifestyle, so we’ve built our brand around the idea to ‘Make life richer’ and are focusing on developing a community around this.
I mean don’t get us wrong, we sell great clothing, so we’re not trying to hide from that, but we’re not focused on trying to pretend we’re Nike and that our clothing has been technically invented to improve your performance.
“The big surprise is how emotionally attached you get to everything.”
Where did the name come from?
[Laughs], the name’s a bit weird and people ask us about it. The simple reason is that we wanted to tell our target audience precisely who they are. If you are interested in being active, going to the gym, throwing on a hoodie and going meeting friends for coffee after then you hopefully should be involved in our brand and clothing.
“It does take a great deal of self-discipline to run a startup.”
What’s the dream? Who do you compare yourself to?
We are big dreamers. For

Pointy is an Irish invention that makes it easy for customers to find what they’re looking for in local stores all around the world.
In Dublin alone 15% of all stores use Pointy. The company is one of Ireland’s tech success stories, serving 7,000 stores across all 50 states in the US. The founders recently raised $12m to help accelerate their growth.
Here we talk to Mark Cummins, CEO and co-founder of Pointy about his career to date including his first startup, what it was like working for Google and why he left the search giant to start another business. 
We also ask him how to approach investors and raise money. 

The judging for the Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Town Awards for 2018 has started. Here is a list of the 92 towns, villages and city areas to be visited by the judges, and the dates and times the judging starts. 

County/City
Town Name
Date
9AM
2PM

Kilkenny
Kilkenny City
20/08/2018
x
 

Kilkenny
Piltown
20/08/2018
 
x

Kilkenny
Graiguenamanagh
21/08/2018
x
 

Kilkenny
Castlecomer
21/08/2018
 
x

Carlow
Ballon
22/08/2018
 
x

Carlow
Clonegal
23/08/2018
x
 

Carlow
Carlow
23/08/2018
 
x

Monaghan
Carrickmacross
23/08/2018
 
x

Carlow
Myshall
24/08/2018
x
 

Carlow
Bagnalstown
24/08/2018
 
x

Monaghan
Monaghan Town
24/08/2018
x
 

Monaghan
Clones
24/08/2018
 
x

Cork City
Ballymacoda
28/08/2018
x
 

Cork City
Midleton
28/08/2018
 
x

Dublin North
Balbriggan
28/08/2018
x
 

Dublin North
Skerries
28/08/2018
 
x

Cork City
Ballincollig
29/08/2018
x
 

Dublin North
Howth
29/08/2018
x
 

Dublin North
Mulhuddart
29/08/2018
 
x

Louth
Dundalk
29/08/2018
 
x

Louth
Blackrock
30/08/2018
x
 

Louth
Dunleer
30/08/2018
 
x

Longford
Lanesboro
04/09/2018
x
 

Westmeath
Mullingar
03/09/2018
 
x

Leitrim
Ballinamore
04/09/2018
x
 

Leitrim
Mohill
04/09/2018
 
x

Longford
Longford Town
05/10/2018
11am
 

Longford
Ballymahon
04/09/2018
 
x

Westmeath
Athlone
04/09/2018
x
 

Westmeath
Moate
04/09/2018
 
x

Offaly
Tullamore
05/09/2018
x
 

Offaly
Kilcormac
05/09/2018
 
x

Waterford
Kilmacthomas
07/09/2018
 
x

Mayo
Claremorris
10/09/2018
x
 

Mayo
Ballina
10/09/2018
 
x

Tipperary
Nenagh
10/09/2018
x
 

Tipperary
Thurles
10/09/2018
 
x

Clare
Shannon
11/09/2018
x
 

Clare
Scarriff/Tuamgreaney
11/09/2018
 
x

Mayo
Westport
11/09/2018
x
 

Mayo
Castlebar
11/09/2018
 
x

Tipperary
Clonmel
11/09/2018
x
 

Tipperary
Cashel
11/09/2018
 
x

Clare
Ennistymon
12/09/2018
x
 

Clare
Ennis
12/09/2018
 
x

Tipperary
Cloughjordan
12/09/2018
x
 

Dublin South
Clondalkin
14/09/2018
x
 

Dublin South
Tallaght
14/09/2018
 
x

Meath
Kells
17/09/2018
x
 

Meath
Trim
17/09/2018
 
x

Kildare
Kildare town
18/09/2018
x
 

Kildare
Sallins
18/09/2018
 
x

Laois
Mountmellick
20/09/2018
11am
 

Roscommon
Roscommon Town
20/09/2018
x
 

Roscommon
Elphin
20/09/2018
 
x

Sligo
Enniscrone
20/09/2018
 
x

Galway City
Galway City
21/09/2018
x
 

Sligo
Sligo Town
21/09/2018
x
 

Sligo
Cranmore Urban
21/09/2018
 
x

Cork County
Ballydehob
24/09/2018
x (11am)
 

Donegal
Buncrana
24/09/2018
x
 

Donegal
Letterkenny
24/09/2018
 
x

Cork County
Clonakilty
25/09/2018
x
 

Cork County
Kinsale
25/09/2018
 
x

Donegal
Dungloe
25/09/2018
x
 

Donegal
Donegal Town
25/09/2018
 
x

Wicklow
Arklow
25/09/2018
x
 

Wicklow
Bray
25/09/2018
 
x

Cork County
Mitchelstown
26/09/2018
x
 

Cork County
Mallow
26/09/2018
 
x

Galway County
Ballygar
26/09/2018
x
 

Galway County
Kinvara
26/09/2018
 
x

Wicklow
Roundwood
26/09/2018
x
 

Wicklow
Wicklow
26/09/2018
 
x

Galway County
Athenry
27/09/2018
x
 

Galway County
Connemara Carna
27/09/2018
 
x

Limerick
Newcastlewest
27/09/2018
 
x

Limerick
Adare
28/09/2018
x
 

Limerick
South Regeneration/Limerick City
28/09/2018
 
x

Kerry
Kenmare
01/10/2018
 
x

Wexford
Bree
01/10/2018
x
 

Wexford
Wexford
01/10/2018
 
x

Kerry
Ballybunion
02/10/2018
x
 

Kerry
Castleisland
02/10/2018
 
x

Wexford
New Ross
02/10/2018
x
 

Wexford
Gorey
02/10/2018
 
x

Dublin City
Liberties
04/10/2018
x
 

Dublin City
Drumcondra
04/10/2018
 
x

Dublin South
Dalkey
04/10/2018
x
 

Dublin South
Dunlaoghaire
04/10/2018
 
x

Dublin South
Sandyford
03/10/2018
 
x

 
For full details of the Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Town awards please read the FAQs and the answers. 
 
There is a total prize fund of €157,000.
 
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony taking place at The Lyrath Hotel, Kilkenny on November 28, 2018.