Six reasons to move your business to Ireland

Ireland is the fastest growing economy in Europe, and so there has never been a better time than now to invest here. Here are six of the top reasons why foreign firms should move their business to Ireland.
1. Tax
At 12.5%, Ireland’s corporate tax rate is one of the lowest in the world and has been attracting foreign firms to our shores for decades. What you may not know if that Ireland also offers companies a 25% tax credit for qualifying research and development expenditure, and can be set against a company’s corporation tax liability.
2. Workforce
Ireland’s educated, young, English-speaking workforce has long made it an attractive location for foreign companies. Ireland’s workforce is one of the most youthful and most highly-educated in Europe, so there’s is plenty of talent to choose from.
3. Funding
Enterprise Ireland has a €10m fund in place specifically to attract international start-ups to Ireland. Projects that meet the criteria and are fully investor ready can apply for support from the €10m fund, while new projects that are not entirely investor ready can apply to join an accelerator programme.
4. Mentoring and support
As well as funding, Enterprise Ireland offers a broad range of other supports to companies setting up here. These range from mentoring, incubation programmes, introductions to advisors and more. Ireland’s Local Enterprise Office (LEO) network also provides supports for SMEs looking to start a business in Ireland, including financial aid, training, and networking events held throughout the year.

5. Pro-business culture
Ireland regularly places highly in Forbes’ annual ranking of the best countries in the world to do business in, finishing in first place in 2011. Last year we placed fourth, behind Denmark, New Zealand and Norway. Ireland is Europe’s fastest-growing economy, and Dublin, in particular, has become a hub for financial services, biotech,

This post was originally published here - https://www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/moving-business-to-ireland/ on

It’s never been a better time to start a business

There has (literally) never been a better time to start a business in Ireland. If you are starting in Ireland, start here.
Your first port of call should be your Local Enterprise Office.
Your LEO will be able to give you and bring you through a 10-step guide to starting a business.
You will be able to test your business idea, carry out market research, find out what your requirements are, what kind of money you need and how you can raise the funds.
Your LEO will also help you with a sales and marketing strategy, your legal structure, your business plan and your risk strategy.

The money
Every business requires finance, and there are many supports for new firms.
Loans of up to €25,000 are available from MicroFinance Ireland for new businesses or those that want to grow.
The loans are available to businesses with no more than ten employees that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by banks.
Banks, however, also want to support viable businesses. Bank of Ireland has a new Business Start-Up Package that will help with the early stages of setting up a business and remove the cost and complication of trying to do it all yourself. You will also receive a current account with 24 months’ free transaction and maintenance fees.
Small business owners and farmers can also apply online for a business loan of up to €100,000. It’s easy and fast.

Get online for free
It’s not often you get something worthy for free but Getting Irish Business Online does exactly what it says on the tin. It will get your business online for free. It’s vital your business can be found online, especially in the early days.
Unemployed and starting?
If you are out of work and keen to start a business, there are plenty of supports available.
If you’ve been signing on for over 12 months and

This post was originally published here - https://www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/move-ireland-start-business/ on

Roasting coffee in the Burren

After two decades working for British Airways in the UK, Brian O’Briain (left) studied coffee roasting in Copenhagen and returned to Ireland in 2012 with partner Alan Coleman to set up Anam Coffee, a speciality coffee roasting and wholesale business, located in the Burren, Co. Clare.
What is your business’s elevator pitch?
Small batch, high quality. We source seasonal, fresh coffee, harvested in the last six months. We’re on a mission to showcase the fact that coffee doesn’t have to taste the same, to show the fruitiness of an Ethiopian coffee or the nuttiness of a Colombian. Like wine, it’s all about the terroir.
What do you regard as your business’s greatest achievement?
The fact that we are still going! 24 months ago this was still a concept. Six months ago it was a feasibility study. Now we are selling directly to consumers online and wholesale clients.
What was the lowest moment?
We had to dig deep during the pre-launch phase financially. It wasn’t a ‘low’ so much as a constant challenge because the initial spending on equipment is massive. Having given up a big, permanent and pensionable job to do this, it was hard but so worth it.
How do you cope with stress?
I surround myself with positive people. I’ve also found a mentor in local entrepreneur Brigitte Curtin (founder of the Burren Smokehouse) who has been a tremendous help to me. We live in a beautiful place, so that helps too. And we have a lovely Lurcher dog we rescued locally, so I take her out for long walks in the evening, and that helps clear my mind.
What motivates you?
In my 30s, I’d have rated success in financial terms, but not anymore. Now it’s more about achieving a quality of life. You can’t live in a place as beautiful as this and expect someone to

This post was originally published here - https://www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/anam-coffee-the-burren/ on

Strategic thinking and The Butler’s Pantry

Jacquie Marsh, founder of The Butler’s Pantry, talks about her business success and what drives her ambition.

The idea behind my business is simple. Make fantastic food. In the great Irish houses of old, the finest ingredients were always kept locked in the butler’s pantry, and we remain true to this.

I think my biggest achievement was to not just to have survived the recession but to have come through it a far more sophisticated business and, as a result, ready for growth again..

In the past few years we had to stand back and ask ourselves what our core competencies are and focus on those. We did a complete business process review and, if any single aspect of the business wasn’t profitable, either made it so or cut it out.

We also had to really focus on our unique difference- that we trawl the country looking for the best small producers and growers, who make the best ingredients, which we choose because it results in a superior dish.

What was the lowest moment in your business life?

Every low, like every mistake, brings its own learning and boy have we learned! But one of the biggest stand outs was when Dublin City Council put a quality bus corridor outside our Mount Merrion Avenue store, leaving customers with nowhere to park. That cut our business there in half, overnight.

More regular lows come when great people leave the business. It’s always for the right reasons, because they are on a career path and why wouldn’t they, but it’s heartbreaking to lose good people.

“During the recession, we saw some fantastic suppliers, really outstanding producers, going out of business through absolutely no fault of their own, they did nothing wrong. That’s heartbreaking too”

In business you have to be resourceful and resilient. I also surround myself with great people – many heads are better than one.

What do I think of risk? Embrace it, but manage it.

Who has inspired or motivated you and why?

My father for his entrepreneurial spirit. He manufactured and exported clothing around Europe and was one of the first to introduce zippers to men’s trousers. Even back in the 1960s he had the wisdom to think globally. And my mother for her sense of balance and belief in inner strength.

“Trust your instinct, it will rarely fail you. And if it does, always remember that the man who has made no mistakes has not lived at all”

Switching off

I enjoy walking the coast road in Dun Laoghaire every day with our Labradors, I love to feel the soil between my fingers working in the garden and, most of all, I love music – it’s so good for the soul – so I sing in a choir with a great bunch of choristers.

If I were to start again, what would I do differently? Not a huge amount, I’d still start small and think big.

I’ve learned a lot from my business. The main thing I’ve learned is the value of regularly asking yourself, and understanding, what is your business’s point of difference. Also, the importance of clear strategic thinking – it has got me out of lots of tough decisions and through some bad days.

If I were to give one piece of advice to someone thinking of going into business? Trust your instinct, it will rarely fail you. And if it does, always remember that the man who has made no mistakes has not lived at all.

READ: How to start a food business in Ireland.

This post was originally published here - https://www.thinkbusiness.ie/articles/jacquie-marsh-the-butlers-pantry/ on

How to Work Out Sales Projections

In the context of business planning, it would be fair to say that producing financial projections is the most teeth-clenching, hair –tearing, sweat-inducing, sanity-defying task of them all. This is particularly true with regard to sales or revenue calculations. The business is judged by its sales, and your sales projections set the standard for profits and growth. I have been asked countless times ‘how do I predict the sales, how am I supposed to know what revenue I am going to make’? There is a fine distinction, but a very important one, between predicting sales and projecting sales. The first one allures to pure guesswork, of the gazing into a crystal ball variety. The second one, however, involves a much more scientific approach. Same difference, I hear you say – what does this mean in practical terms?

Well, the methodology involved in achieving sound sales projections usually involves some or all of the following elements:

Defining Operational Limitations

Simply put, if the business possesses only one piece of equipment capable of producing a maximum of 500 units in a week – that will define your maximum amount of weekly sales, no matter what. Similarly, you will have limitations in manpower – for example if you are a sole trader providing a service, you will only be able to put a fixed number of hours into the business, even if you assume that orders are flooding in continuously. Define all your limitations. They may involve working space size, stock turnover, transport capability or warehousing capacity. This will help you define your assumptions on which your financial projections, and in particular sales, will be based.

Defining the Market Limitations

If your target market is, for example, men in Ireland between ages of 18-24, then the maximum possible number of sales to this target group is your limitation, which has to be worked into your financial projections. Similarly, the geographical spread might be another limitation. If you are working on a local basis and your reach is a 30 mile radius, working out the maximum sales output within this area will help you define a realistic sales target, which again will help shape your financial projections. Also, undertake a thorough research of the competition. How are they doing? You can benchmark your projections against sales that are achieved by more mature players in the market, another important indication of whether your financial projections make sense in the real world.

Where does the growth come from?

Financial projections usually span over 3-5 years. Where does the growth come from? Again, if you are showing an increase in sales over time, make sure this involves sound principles. This may involve for example:

Introduction of a marketing campaign, resulting in higher sales
Introduction of an additional sales person, resulting in higher sales
Selling to new market segments or new markets
Introduction of additional product lines
Introduction of additional sales channels (e.g. online/offline)
Introduction of additional features (added value)
Introduction of bundled packages (added value)
Price increase based on e.g. greater brand recognition
Introduction of special lines (limited edition)

What else?

Be mindful of seasonality. If you have, for example, a tourist orientated business the bulk of the sales would be generated in the summer. Make sure your projections reflect any market trends that are specific to your product or service, include any rise and fall in demand that can be reasonably foreseen. Be mindful of technological advances and consider how they may impact and influence sales of your product or service, and ultimately – can introduction of new technologies increase your sales by increasing their appeal/adding value.

What if I have an online business?

In many ways, an online shop is very much like a physical shop. You need to be able to project how many people are likely to visit your shop, and out of those visitors, how many are likely to end up making a purchase. A good place to start is to utilise one of the many free web analytics tools ( http://www.inc.com/guides/12/2010/11-best-web-analytics-tools.html )available. Have a look at similar websites to yours and work with the numbers you extract from your research – such as the number of Unique Visitors and the bounce rate. You can use this research to work out your assumptions and limitations.

In summary, the answer to what makes a good realistic sales projections lies within the specifics of your business. Work out your limitations and what is realistic within your target market and the necessary ‘how to’ structure for your calculations will become apparent.

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Reward to Retain: The Effects of Loyalty Schemes in the Insurance Industry

Three quarters of people would change insurers to a company offering the same product at the same price – as long as they gave them loyalty schemes too.

The figures were revealed in a major survey carried out by M&S for Business that looked into the way companies in the financial sector attract new customers – and keep them.

As well as surveying customers it spoke to insurance industry figures to try and discover what makes a successful acquisition and retention strategy.
While 95 per cent of respondents said price was one of the most important factors when deciding what policy to buy, only 55 per cent said price was the sole reason. It suggests that in such a competitive industry a loyalty or reward scheme to add value to a policy could improve chances of take-up.
Experts agreed and most insurers quizzed said they already ran some sort of reward scheme.

But the survey also revealed that almost half (45 per cent) of respondents did not know if their insurer offered a reward scheme or not.
It suggests that communicating the scheme on offer to customers is just as important as the scheme itself.

Increase Customer Acquisition

The report concludes: “Implementing a reward scheme for loyalty, referrals or signing up to an insurance policy is a great way to increase customer acquisition, retention and satisfaction. However, it is important that the offering is relevant to the individual and offered at the right time.

“Allowing customers to earn points and rewards makes them feel involved with your brand and gives them the feeling that your service is worth more than that of the competition. As with any relationship in life, the one between business and consumer needs to be nurtured and approached delicately.

“That is why research and planning are imperative to the success of a reward scheme. If you get it right, you can build relationships and create brand advocates who will stay with you for a lifetime.”

Encourage Customer Retention

Stuart Lawrence, Head of M&S for Business said: “We know that the insurance industry is one of the sectors where it can be most difficult to encourage customer retention. With insurance usually being an annual purchase and most people hunting for the best priced policies, it can be hard for an insurance company to offer a unique service.

“With this in mind, we have carried out some research to discover what qualifies as a successful customer acquisition and retention strategy within the industry and found that reward schemes are something that is seen as value for a customer.

“We feel that the results of this research are transferable to other sectors within the financial industry and provide an interesting insight into a customer’s perception.”

To look at the complete findings, visit M &S for Business’ website.

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Calling all Innovators & Entrepreneurs, we need your help & your green VOTE !!

As with any Irish technology company, we all suffer unique challenges when growing business internationally. As a country we have a small population so we struggle when trying to make as much noise as our International competitors. Even places we assume are tiny states such as Haiti & Togo have twice and three times our population.

Hence we need your help…

One of our company’s, Surface Power HONE which has developed a revolutionary “daylight” powered Nano-heat engine technology is short-listed (final 18 was judged by experts) for the 2Degrees Champions Award – “Innovation of the Year” which is the world’s leading collaboration platform and service for sustainable business with over 46,500 members from 177 countries. https://www.2degreesnetwork.com/

Surface Power HONE has nearly 7,000 installations of this patented technology over 8 countries to date and it has been kept fairly secretive until recently. The technology was field tested in the West of Ireland & New Zealand as the daylight levels are some of the lowest in the OECD. In short, it replaces the use of oil and gas for heating and cooling with free daylight. Have a look at LIVE customers on our website such as the UK National Health Service running their hospital’s central heating on free “daylight” (sounds mad but true !!)

The next phase of the 2Degrees “Innovation of the Year Awards” is a voting stage which will reduce the final 18 to 5 for the big awards ceremony and we need your help and your vote.

Although already in the short-list of 18, we are the only Irish Technology company in this shortlist and are up against huge players such as Nestle, General Motors & B&Q.

You can vote for us by clicking the link below to get us into the final 5 and we thank you in advance for that vote. Be sure to tweet it afterwards using the link so we can personally send you a thank you tweet. Go raibh maith agat as do chabhair.

Best Regards, John Quinn, CEO. (Twitter – @johnquinn_irl )

Read our story and VOTE from below.

https://www.2degreesnetwork.com/groups/2degrees-community/resources/surface-powers-nano-engine-harvests-light-generate-heating-and-cooling/

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Creating a Successful Employee Reward Program: 6 Key Strategies to Consider

Today’s workforce is more diversified than ever. And companies looking to leverage this rich and vast resource of multi-generational, multi-cultural and multi-lingual employees for competitive edge are finding employee reward programs very effective for upping employee satisfaction, spurring motivation and increasing productivity. Small businesses have the advantage of creating the employee rewards program they’d like to see implemented throughout the growth of the company.

The main challenge for companies in implementing a successful employee reward program is making sure the program is aligned with key business goals and objectives. To that end, here are six key strategies to consider for creating an employee reward program that works.

Begin with the end in mind: Corporate success comes from meeting specific goals, and those goals need to be made clear before implementing an employee reward program. After all, the achievement of corporate goals is dependent upon employee performance. And since employee performance is the product of actions and behaviors, both good and bad, it’s critical to reward employees in ways that reinforce only those actions and behaviors that align with corporate objectives and increase performance.

Make all employees eligible: In order to be successful, an employee rewards program must make all employees eligible for recognition. And that must be made abundantly clear to the entire workforce at the outset. Otherwise, at the first sign of favoritism, real or imagined, the program and those who implement it will suffer a damaging loss of credibility as employee morale takes a nose-dive. Without establishing and maintaining a level playing field for all employees even the best reward program will fail.
Make the program multigenerational and multicultural: No employee recognition program can be successful unless the rewards being offered are relevant and meaningful for all employees, regardless of age or culture. While taking generational and cultural differences among the workforce into account is no small feat for HR, the benefits are well worth the effort. A simple and direct way to gain a better understanding of what types of rewards might be preferred by employees of different generations and cultures is to ask them in an anonymous survey what culture they most closely relate to and what types of rewards motivate them most.
Give personalized rewards: While giving a reward that best matches the employee’s age and cultural background is critical, making that reward personal to them by including a note of thanks from upper management will go a long way in making the employee feel truly valued and appreciated. Long after the money is spent or the luster of the gift is gone, the power of a personal note or letter of recognition will continue to reinforce and reproduce positive employee behaviors.
Leverage technology: In order to be successful, employee reward programs must be effectively and efficiently communicated and promoted in order to maximize employee participation. In today’s tech connected world there are all kinds of ways to promote programs and educate employees using the communications platforms that they are most familiar with. Web based platforms, email, and social media are just a few tools that can be used to give extra depth and relevance to reward programs. And many companies are discovering the power of recognizing employees through social media platforms and delivering their rewards digitally.
Monitor effectiveness: Employee reward programs can go a long way in creating a positive corporate culture. That being said, it is still incumbent upon HR to show that the program is achieving the strategic objectives of the company, such as increased performance, productivity and ROI. Today’s sophisticated HR platforms allow businesses to accurately monitor and measure ROI as well as other key indicators of employee performance. Armed with this information, management has a better picture of how well the reward program is working as well as areas that can be improved upon to increase employee motivation and performance.

The above six strategies will go far in helping an organization implement a successful employee reward program. To make any program more effective, it’s critical that employees understand that the reward is performance-based. It’s also important for management to present the reward sooner than later, as delaying a reward can dramatically reduce its effectiveness.

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Why Upgrade Your ERP System

SO, why upgrade your ERP system? ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems are a major investment for any business. After the initial investment, making the decision of when and how to update the existing system can be a daunting task. When assessing the need to make such a sizeable investment, it is important to consider the business implications of such a decision.

What will your company gain? How many more years of working life does the system have? What types of updates are needed? Questions like these can help clarify to size and necessity of the updates. Periodically, though, it is important that companies perform some types of updates on their ERP systems for a variety of reasons, four of which will be outlined in more detail below.

Maximize the lifespan

With a typical lifespan of 15-20 years, ERP systems allow an organization to manage and automate many back office functions related to technology, services and human resources. The benefits of integrating all facets of business operations can be enjoyed for years but, in order to ensure the system continues functioning at a high level, it is important to perform periodic updates over the course of the system’s life. Without such updates, the lifespan can be reduced by as much as half. Considering that the initial investment in a new ERP system is more costly than periodic updates, it is financially more feasible to update the system as needed and maximize the lifespan of the technology.

Meet business objectives

ERP systems are designed and tailored based on the goals of the company. When your company initially invested in the system, it may have had only short-term, only long-term or other types of objectives it wanted to meet. Now, years down the road, it is important to reassess the strategy of the business to ensure that the ERP system continues to align with it and position the company to meet its objectives. If the objectives, or the strategy implemented to meet those objectives, have changed then it is important to upgrade the ERP system accordingly.

Maintain the bottom line

In business, everything comes down to the bottom line. By quantifying the effects of keeping your old system, investing in a brand new one or updating the existing one, you can make a cost-based decision that best aligns with your company’s budget and strategy. The long-term costs of ERP systems can be kept from ballooning out of control by performing updates to the system along the way. Instead of investing in and implementing a brand new software program every few years, focus on the bottom line and reduce your company’s overall investment in the software by updating your existing program.

Assess business opportunities

As mentioned in the previous section, a cost analysis can be critical to making a decision on updating your ERP software. In this process, it is easy to skimp out on a necessary purchase for the sake of saving a few dollars. For this reason, companies should keep in mind other opportunities that can arise from investing in an upgrade of the system. Potential benefits for your business may include increased communication, efficiency, productivity and visibility of day-to-day operations. In this streamlining process, businesses often see reductions in overall costs across the organization that make the upgrade in the ERP system worthwhile.

These are just four of the main reasons companies have cited for upgrading their existing ERP systems. Once they have justified their investment, usually with one of these four reasons, they can begin to consider exactly how they will implement the changes. From consolidating all systems to the same provider to eliminating obsolete reports to including data archives, there are a variety of ways to include upgrades into an existing ERP system.

In the end, a company needs to be clear from the start about exactly what they need from their ERP system. With an ERP strategy in place, it will make it easier for businesses to know the proper timing for an ERP upgrade in the future. Upgrading your systems can be daunting but, by following your company’s strategy and the four justified reasons to upgrade listed above, your business is well positioned to make the best decision possible.

Bio: Deanna Ayres is the SEM Strategist and Community Outreach Supervisor at The Marketing Zen Group. She loves to come up with new content strategies for and with her team and believes that connecting on a personal level is vital to success. Growing up in Europe has allowed her a unique insight into cultural differences in business & marketing. In her spare time she is a photographer, hobby cook with a love for coffee, gamer and geek.

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Category Archives: Business Planning