Brendan Farrell, the chairman of the board at Voinext, discusses the changing face on online customer service, growing a global business from Gorey and the importance of starting lean. 
My background
I come from a design and innovation background but have been involved in building new businesses for the last 35 years.
The idea and the service
Voinext CEO Jim Tracey came up with the original concept for Voinext. A simple way for online customers to connect to a ‘real salesperson’ who could make sure you got the right advice, the right product, the right deal and then close the sale.
So the rules for Jim were simple. Firstly contacting your online supplier should be for free. When you go to their store, they should be able to tell if you are a new or existing customer and serve you better. It all about the customer experience. Unlike the impersonal world of internet shopping that exists today. Jim wanted his online business to be customer-centric.
“The service allows your online customers call you for free, directly from your website to your phone.”
The value proposition 
We seem to have hit on a service that fits with just about any business with an online presence. Hotels, car hire, software, manufacturing, plant hire, property and finance companies, the list is endless and growing fast.
I suppose that it proves that, globally businesses still need to talk with their customers, and even in an online world voice is still the best for customer experiences for closing a sale.
“Who would have imagined that a Gorey based SaaS Company with its software team based in Minsk would be supplying free call service to a premier restaurant in Bali?”
The toughest part of starting a business
You need a ‘launch’ product. Any seasoned entrepreneur will tell you that the most important thing is to prove that your

We are entering an era where real farm expansion can be secured without the need to buy land. This is good news for young farmers. 

The upcoming review of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will, almost certainly, bring changes to the supports available to farmers across the European Union. More support will be given to farmers who are actively producing food.
This will give Irish farmers real business development opportunities. Adding to this, are the recent tax changes to facilitate the development of long-term, land leasing opportunities in Ireland.
“Young farmers may be particularly drawn to the possibility of forging a joint venture agreement with an older landowner.”
As a result, we are now entering an era where real expansion can be secured at individual farm level without the need to actually buy land.
The business options to make this happen are extremely diverse. Young farmers, for example, may be particularly drawn to the possibility of forging a joint venture agreement with an older landowner.
Proper planning is everything and the potential for new and flexible farm development programmes will be encouraged. 
A good farm adviser can work with a farmer to help them come up with the development opportunities that best suit their individual needs.
Having a viable business idea is one thing – actually putting into operation is something else entirely. So if you are committed to growing your own farm business, why not contact your local Bank of Ireland branch and let them help convert your plan into a profitable reality?

Related Resource

Need to expand, invest in new equipment or simply need development funding for your farm? 

The foundations for Stori Creative were laid back in 2016, when Grainne Dwyer, former CEO of Skibbereen’s ‘Ludgate Hub’, saw a niche in the market for a creative production company with a focus on brand storytelling. Grainne’s cousin and co-founder, Fiona Dwyer takes up the story.

My background is in account management and marketing, and after spending two years working in New York, I returned home seeking a new challenge. I was barely off the plane when my cousin Grainne asked me to help out at National Digital Week – the aim of which is to develop entrepreneurship, by making digital tools accessible for all. Starting a business was never something I would have considered up until that point. It was my first time being exposed to the entrepreneurial community that co-existed along-side the Ludgate Hub. At the time it helped open my eyes to the supports, networks and opportunities that exist within the community here in West Cork.
The next week we both sat down together to discuss what was the beginnings of Stori Creative. Our initial interest in video production stemmed from making short videos with our friends when we were growing up. I suppose our passion for creativity was always there – we just never had imagined it could provide a living for us. So we said, ‘why not us’?
Our service 
We focus on authentic brand storytelling. There has been a huge shift in the way consumers purchase these days. People don’t buy what you do – they buy why you do it – and so we seek to extract those authentic, engaging stories from each brand we work with, to engage their audience. We not only produce compelling brand stories, we then deliver these stories on all of the brand’s social media platforms. This is to ensure that their

The National Enterprise Town Awards is open for entries. There is a total prize fund of €157,000. Your town can enter here.
Do you live and work in Ireland’s most enterprising town? Are you helping your community to thrive? The search is on for the most enterprising towns in Ireland. 
The Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Town Awards is designed to recognise and reward towns where small businesses and community groups come together to showcase the spirit of enterprise in their local area. For full details of the prize money and award categories, please read this. The total prize fund is €157,000. The overall winner will receive a cash prize totalling €33,000. 
 
It’s easy to take part. Entries must be online, and your town, village or urban area can enter here.
 
Can city areas also enter?
Yes. City areas and villages can also participate. Every city has urban areas and villages that operate as a town in their own right and have distinct identities. The definition of a town for these awards includes city villages and urban areas.
The ‘Rising Star’ award
For 2018 there is a new Rising Star category with one prize of €20,000 awarded to the winner. This award is for towns or urban areas with unemployment and social exclusion issues. For example, the towns may have visible derelict or empty buildings or spaces where there are plans to create a place for social, artistic, creative, technological or entrepreneurial activity. This award has a separate judging panel from the main competition. A shortlist of five areas (one from each region and one from the cities) will be drawn up based on the submissions and these five will be visited by judges. Please read the FAQs for more details on the Rising Star award. 
When will judging start?
The judging panel will visit your town and judging starts

Here are the frequently asked questions and answers regarding the Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Town Awards 2018. 
The search is on for the most enterprising town in Ireland. The National Enterprise Town Awards 2018 are now open for entries. There is a total prize fund of €157,000. Your town can enter here. 
 
Questions and answers

Purpose of the competition?

The competition aims to promote enterprise by bringing business and community groups together, in each town, to showcase the spirit of enterprise in their local area.

Why is Bank of Ireland launching this competition?

Bank of Ireland is the country’s largest lender and committed to helping customers achieve their business ambitions. Bank of Ireland recognises that SME’s, Startups and Community Organisations are a significant driver of the country’s success and spirit.

Is this just a sales promotion for the bank?

This is not a sales promotion for Bank of Ireland. This competition is the Bank’s way of recognising the efforts being made by local people to promote and grow their towns and communities and to play its role as a business leader.

What is the local council’s role in the competition?

The competition is held in collaboration with local authorities.        

How are the towns chosen for the competition?

The Towns and Urban Villages/Areas are generally put forward by the relevant local authority.

How many entries are allowed from each county or city council area?

There will be a maximum of four entries per county or city council area.

Why is the competition called Bank of Ireland National Enterprise Town Awards when city areas and villages can also participate?

Every city has urban areas and villages that operate as a town in their own right and have distinct identities and local business and residential communities. The definition of a town for the purpose of these awards includes City Villages and Urban areas.

Who are the judges?

The names of the

Conor O’Loughlin, the founder of Glofox, is Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) for 2018.
The winners of the IBYE competition for 2018 have been announced.
The overall winner, Conor O’Loughlin, landed a total investment of €40,000 for his business, Glofox.
Glofox was one of the first startups to secure a place in Bank of Ireland’s startlab New York in 2017.
The business, which allows both gym members and gym owners to access usage, payment and service information, now has over 1,000 customers spread across 23 countries.
O’Loughlin says he is setting up a base in New York as the United States is the company’s primary focus.
“Glofox was one of the first startups to secure a place in Bank of Ireland’s startlab New York in 2017.”
The other IBYE category winners for 2018 are Brendan Boland of Loci Orthopaedics who won Best Business Idea and Alan Hickey of WeBringg who won Best Startup Business.
The IBYE programme is run by the network of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in Ireland. It received over 1,400 applicants in 2018 with an investment fund of €2 million. 185 entrants to IBYE secured investments of between €3,000 and €15,000 in 2018.
Pictured are (l-r): Conor O’Loughlin and Anthony Kelly, co-founders of Glofox.

An event is coming to Thurles on April 26 that will be of great interest to dairy farmers.
‘Dairying in Tipperary – opportunities and challenges’ is a free-to-attend event taking place at Mid-Tipp Mart, Thurles on Thursday 26th April at 7:30 pm.
Register now.
There is an optimistic view of dairy farming in Ireland. Many dairy farms are becoming large-scale businesses and need to be treated as such.
This event will examine how to grow a dairy farm in a sustainable way, the finance available to farmers, the opportunities within the sector and the challenges that may arise and how to prepare for them.
Speakers include Patrick Gowing, the specialist dairy advisor with the Teagasc Dairy expansion service; Sean Farrell, head of agriculture with Bank of Ireland; and Jack Kennedy, dairy editor of the Farmer’s Journal.
Optimistic about dairy
“We are seeing more development loan applications from customers looking to grow their dairy farms than from any other farming sector,” says Sean Farrell, head of agriculture, Bank of Ireland.
“Given the relative profitability of dairying, we expect this trend to continue and we want to play a big part in the growth of the sector.
“We see price volatility and weather events as some of the challenges farmers face when they are expanding. We want to encourage farmers to invest time developing a business plan that considers various future scenarios, be that a drop in milk price, or the impact of Brexit. Famers need to know how they can deal with these events.”  
The event is free to attend but registration is required. Register here.
Refreshments will be served.
 

Gavin Dunne is a pioneer. He has created a new food from olive ‘waste’ for the Wagyu beef market, the most expensive beef in the world.
Olive oil is a vital component of the Mediterranean diet and perceived by many as a natural health-food product. However, the olive waste stream, produced as a by-product of manufacture, can cause some challenging environmental issues. In 2017, a creative Irish startup devised a way to convert this crop waste into a high-value animal feed, favoured by the €1 billion a year Wagyu beef market. CEO, Gavin Dunne of the Olive Feed Corporation, shares his intriguing, circular economy ambition.
“Waygu beef, supplemented with olive feed is intensely marbled with softer fat.”

Olive-fed beef
I came up with the idea in October 2016, while I was living in Crete, surrounded by millions of olive trees spread across valleys and mountain slopes. However, it was during a business trip to Japan, that I was first introduced to olive-fed beef. It was uniquely being produced in a tiny region, called the Sanuki Region. Some 100 years ago a small number of olive plots were planted there, and one local farmer had been using dried olives, as a supplementary feed for his Sanuki (Waygu) beef cattle. Drying the olives makes it a little more palatable for animal intake, but it’s not the best processing method for optimum digestibility by the animals.
Waygu beef, supplemented with olive feed is intensely marbled with softer fat and higher percentages of monounsaturated fats. In Japan, olive-fed Wagyu beef is now the most expensive beef in the world, and straight away I could see the commercial opportunity. I contacted my business partner and environmental scientist, Brian Dunne who has a farm in Edenderry and we decided to test and assess some of the olive feed out on his

On the first anniversary of Cork’s Republic of Work, Daniel Heaslip sat down with DC Cahalane, its founder and CEO to discuss innovation, startups, funding, the future of work and expansion plans.
The vision
The vision for this space began eight years ago, and many things influenced its design.
My dad was an architect, so I was always interested in space. When you looked at boring offices, boring things happened in them. If you compare a Google or Facebook office with a typical Irish corporate office, they are worlds apart. US tech firms drive huge productivity, and a lot of it is influenced by the work environment.
“We are industry agnostic and stage agnostic.”
I came home to Cork and had an idea to open a co-working space. I met Pat Phelan and joined Trustev and then went into Teamwork. At the same time, I was travelling a lot and engaging with tech startups around the world. I saw the spaces they were working in, and it reinforced my beliefs that a great workspace encourages innovation and productivity.
When we built Republic of Work, it was never a space just for technology companies, and it was never a place just for startups. We are industry agnostic and stage agnostic. We have everything from architects to food companies to health and beauty businesses. This space is less about scaling and more about innovating.

The importance of community
It is everything; it is the very core of how we market ourselves. Cork is not short on office space; if you are a business you have options, and you have the traditional providers.
We sell you the community first. It is easy to suspend your laptop off the floor or work from your kitchen table, but it is far more important to be around like-minded people. We never let anyone sign up

From struggling dotcom graduates to globe-trotting entrepreneurs, the story of ActionPoint is worth hearing.
Hosted by Pat Carroll – the Bank of Ireland innovation community manager for Limerick and the Midwest – this StartupGrind featured local organic-grown success story, ActionPoint.
Co-founders David Jeffreys and John Savage shared their story from struggling dotcom graduates to leading Irish technology entrepreneurs.
Below are the video and the podcast of the full interview as well as the key takeaways (written) from the discussion.
INVITE: You are invited to attend the next StartupGrind in Limerick on April 19, 2018. The main speaker is Jason Cohen, the founder and CTO of WPEngine. This global technology company from Austin Texas choose Limerick to locate its European offices in Limerick’s city centre. Book here. 

Listen on Soundcloud.

Five great growth insights from the co-founders 
1. “Degrees and experience are useless if you can’t work and communicate with people.”
David and John are quick to point out that without the personality and skills to motivate and lead people, they wouldn’t have got the company this far.
2. “Keep the team happy, and you’ll keep your customers happy.”
Your team are often your company’s primary touch points; a motivated employee perpetuates a motivated organisation which creates a memorable customer experience.
3. “You need to align your head, heart and gut.”
David Jeffreys on the formula for recruitment success.
4. “Enjoyment and motivation are directly proportional.”
Staying motivated is about experiencing enjoyment in what you do; the trick is to find the intersection of what you enjoy doing, what you’re good at and what people will pay you for.
5. “Future industrial environments will be powered by Augmented Reality (AR).”
John Savage highlighted that ActionPoint is already starting to explore AR with existing multinational clients in manufacturing.
One practical application for HoloLens is in the area of predictive maintenance, which as the name suggests enables factory owners and operators