Some of Ireland’s brightest tech startups are in with the chance of winning €25,000 at this year’s Web Summit in Lisbon. 
The prize is part of the ESB’s Spark of Genius competition, which has currently narrowed the finalists to a field of 12. Only three, however, will be selected to go to Lisbon and compete for the cash prize.
Narrowing the field 
The 12 semi-finalists will be judged on their businesses’ originally, development so far, and growth prospects. 
“It’s a great opportunity for startups, and it shows how thriving the Irish tech scene is,” Web Summit founder and CEO Paddy Cosgrave. 
The ideas
BikeLook: Tackling bike theft with Bluetooth sensors. 
Buymie: Personal shopping service through your smartphone. 
EnergyElephant: Helps businesses be more energy efficient through data analysis. 
Fillit: Connected those with unused space with those who need it for events etc. 
HouseMyDog: Links dog-owners with dog sitters. 
iKydz: Helps parents control their kid’s internet access through a ‘plug and play’ system.
Kollect: On demand, choose-your-own-bin-day collection service. 
OpenBack:  “Creating a new standard in mobile notifications to drive engagement while putting users first”.
Parkpnp: Online parking marketplace; links people with unused spaces with those who need them.
Responder: “A product aimed at supporting independent living, health and well-being through the use of mobile and wearable technologies”.
WeSavvy: An app which allows users to get rewarded on their life insurance policy for keeping active, tracking how often they walk, run or cycle. 
Wia: “Provide developers with a real-time platform for building Internet of Things applications”. 

Henry O’Brien describes Newmarket Kitchen as a ‘gym for food businesses’. It’s a great location for food startups to flex their creative muscles and grow.  
“The concept is simple, Newmarket Kitchen provides a kitchen space for food startups, caterers and independent chefs,” says O’Brien. “It’s a place where food business startups can come and test their idea and build their business.”
Opened in April 2015 and based in Bray, Co. Wicklow, Newmarket Kitchen has many different membership options to suit food businesses of all sizes and at all stages. Also, if a food startup wants to try out the facility for a day, it can. 
“If you have been selling at a farmers’ market, for example,” says O’Brien, “and want to expand, we can help with your idea.”

Ideas and ingredients 
“The one thing our members find most useful is the fact they become part of a community here. Often, entrepreneurs find themselves working alone, but at Newmarket, they are in a creative environment where they can ask others for advice, whether that be about packaging, marketing or sales.”
An essential ingredient of becoming a food business is the legal one. “You have to register your business through the HSE. We have an Environmental Health Officer that helps our members. You will also need insurance, and we can provide that through our preferred supplier. We help food businesses grow. It’s like taking the raw ingredients to the final product,” says O’Brien. 
Access all day and all night 
Members of Newmarket Kitchen also have 24/7 access to the facilities. “The food business is not a nine to five business,” says O’Brien. 
While all the companies require preparation space, there’s also the need for large refrigeration space. “That’s one of core functions, to make sure the startups have the facilities they need to make headway. We keep all the services up

Have you ever wanted to run a successful shop? Perhaps opening a franchise is the right option?
There are many new franchises taking Ireland by storm, from American style frozen yogurt shops to innovative new urban gyms.
While many have seen huge successes, others fail. Here we look at the advantages and disadvantages of buying a franchise as well as the typical fees involved in Ireland’s newest franchises.
Chopped
The healthy food company Chopped was set up by Dublin-based entrepreneurs, Brian Lee (pictured above) and Andy Chen in 2012. They developed the ‘traditional’ salad bar to meet the growing needs of healthy minded eaters in the city. The first Chopped opened in 2012, and there are now 11 shops across the capital. 
According to its website, to become a part of the franchise, there is a fee of €20,000. If you want to open a Chopped store, the turnkey capital cost will be approximately €160,000. This includes a provision for working capital. 
Once your franchise is set up the continuing costs include: 
Franchise royalty: 6pc of net sales.
Marketing contribution: 2pc of net sales.

Mooch
Mooch, the frozen yoghurt shop, was set up in Dublin in 2010 after the owners Declan and Suzanne saw the success of frozen yoghurt in New York.
The company now has two shops in Dublin while the frozen yoghurt appeal has spread across the country. 
Hillybillys
The fast food chicken restaurant was established in 1997 in Cork by Michael Grace, but in recent years it has developed into a franchise.
It opened its first franchised restaurant in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal in April 2011. Today the chain has ten locations throughout Ireland, including three restaurants in Cork, and restaurants in Derry, Dublin, Ennis, Galway, Letterkenny, Tralee, and Waterford.

Sásta
Sásta is a fitness franchise that uses treadmill fitness pods to help members lose weight. The franchise was founded in 2010.
With headquarters in

Pat Carroll in conversation with Fergus Gloster, the founding director of European operations at Salesforce. What advice would Gloster have for startups? 
As a chapter director of Startup Grind Limerick, I am fortunate to have fireside chats with some inspiring entrepreneurs. These founders share valuable insights at our monthly networking events. 
It’s not every day that you have the chance of interviewing a major technology thought leader, who you also happened to go to school with, a few years ago. 

Limerick native Fergus Gloster joined Salesforce.com as founding director of European operations when it was a startup with less than 100 employees worldwide. During his nine-year tenure, Fergus played a key role as SVP, corporate sales Europe, and helped shape Salesforce into a billion dollar CRM platform. 
After that, Fergus went on to set up leading marketing automation company Marketo’s international business in 2011 and saw the company go from private to public ownership.
Here are some of the key points made by Fergus during our fireside chat (video below). 

In the beginning
Fergus excelled at Maths in school and went on to study Applied Maths at the University of Limerick.
His first job was in Silicon Valley writing code for mainframe computers. “With a chisel and hammer  – I was a techie,” he says. 
He spent the first 15 years of his career writing code and leading various technical teams. These included global leaders in their field, Wang & Oracle, where he ended up as technology director.
In the late 90s, his role gradually moved on from explaining technology to people. The spur for changing from the technical to the marketing/customer-facing side of the business was that Fergus enjoyed presenting to people and interacting with the sales group:
“I started moving more into product marketing role – more in front of people than the ‘clever techie’ in the background”
Two of

The Junior Entrepreneur Programme aims to help develop Ireland’s next business heavyweights.   
You don’t have to wait until adulthood to start a business.
A free initiative called the Junior Entrepreneur Programme is calling on Irish kids between the ages of 10 and 12 to get involved and learn how to convert their business ideas into real commercial enterprises. The project is backed by some of the top entrepreneurs in the country, and has reached more than 26,500 primary school students in the five years since it began. 
While traditionally these sorts of programmes have been aimed at transition year students, the JEP seeks to get young people interested in business much earlier, when children are at their most creative and uninhibited. 
A boost in confidence
The JEP complements the school curriculum, particularly in areas such as maths and science, but also helps students develop skills in presentation, drawing, and collaboration. 
90% of teachers surveyed say they have seen an increase in confidence in children who take part in the programme, while 66% have reported improvements in their students’ communication skills and teamwork.   
Three teens who grew in business
 

Fraser Doherty
He began using his granny’s recipes to make jam when he was 14, and his produce proved so popular Doherty had to drop out of school to meet orders. Waitrose came calling in 2007, and the Edinburgh businessman’s company Superjam now supplies more than 2,000 supermarkets around the world including Tesco and WalMart. 
Jordan Casey (main picture)
Casey began learning code at the age of nine and by 13 he was the CEO of his own video games company. Now 16, the Waterford native has been invited to give TED talks, has launched various startups and is currently in the process of merging his different projects into one business. 
 

Patrick Collison 
After winning the 2005 Young Scientist competition in Dublin at 16, Collison

The Junior Entrepreneur Programme encourages children to apply their abundant creativity to business ideas.
You don’t have to wait until adulthood to start a business.
A free initiative called the Junior Entrepreneur Programme is calling on Irish children between the ages of 10 and 12 to get involved and learn how to convert their business ideas into real commercial enterprises. The project is backed by some of the top entrepreneurs in the country, and has reached more than 26,500 primary school students in the five years since it began. 
While traditionally these sorts of programmes have been aimed at transition year students, the JEP seeks to get young people interested in business much earlier, when children are at their most creative and uninhibited. 
A boost in confidence
The JEP complements the school curriculum, particularly in areas such as maths and science, but also helps students develop skills in presentation, drawing, and collaboration. 
90% of teachers surveyed say they have seen an increase in confidence in children who take part in the programme, while 66% have reported improvements in their students’ communication skills and teamwork.   
Three teens who grew in business
 

Fraser Doherty
He began using his granny’s recipes to make jam when he was 14, and his produce proved so popular Doherty had to drop out of school to meet orders. Waitrose came calling in 2007, and the Edinburgh businessman’s company Superjam now supplies more than 2,000 supermarkets around the world including Tesco and WalMart. 
Jordan Casey (main picture)
Casey began learning code at the age of nine and by 13 he was the CEO of his own video games company. Now 16, the Waterford native has been invited to give TED talks, has launched various startups and is currently in the process of merging his different projects into one business. 
 

Patrick Collison 
After winning the 2005 Young Scientist competition in Dublin at

The search for Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur (IBYE) is on. The closing date for applications is October 14, 2016. 
Four former IBYE winners recently met with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor T.D. and talked about the role IBYE has played in their business success stories.
The four previous IBYE award winners run businesses from the worlds of technology, food, waste management and retail.

James Keogh (Wicklow) from Rathwood Home & Garden World Ltd.; Isolde Johnson (Dublin City) from The Cool Bean Company; Niall Mimnagh (Longford) from Mimergy; and Rhona Togher (Sligo) from Restored Hearing Ltd. have all won IBYE awards over the last two years 
As winners, they received investment funding, business boot camp places, and one-to-one mentoring sessions. 
“I want to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice, and to encourage young people to set up new businesses which will ultimately create and sustain more jobs right across the country,” says Minister O’Connor. “It is so refreshing to hear the success stories from these inspiring and ambitious young entrepreneurs.”
What is the IBYE, what’s involved? 
Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur is a programme open to people between the ages of 18 (at the date of application) and 35 (at 31st December 2016) with a great business idea. Entrants can be: 

Individuals
Venture teams
Partnerships
Existing businesses with a new idea
People overseas (including Irish emigrants) who will headquarter in Ireland

Each Local Enterprise Office (LEO) runs a competition in each county (Friday, October 14 is the closing date) aimed at finding winners in each of the three categories as well as an overall county winner. 
Each LEO will have a total fund of up to €50,000 to invest in six businesses (three category winners and three runners-up).

The three categories are:
1: Best business idea (pre-trading) – up to €10,000 investment fund through every LEO (€7,000 for category winner and €3,000 for runner-up,

Here are five of the most important first steps you should take when starting in business as a sole trader.
Register with Revenue
First, you need to register with Revenue as a self-employed sole trader. This is your primary legal obligation as a sole trader. You can register online. 
In general, it’s advised that you hire a good accountant to help you with your tax and annual returns. Here’s an article on how to hire the right accountant.
Open a bank account
Then you need to open a bank account. Bank of Ireland allows sole traders to apply online for a business current account. It just takes a few minutes.
Arrange an overdraft
Talk to your bank about an overdraft. It’s important that you have an open working relationship with your bank and agree on an overdraft amount that can help with your cash flow. Here’s an excellent article about cash flow management. 

Have a cash flow plan 
It is also vital to have a cash flow plan. You can download a free cash flow planner here. It’s easy to use, and it will be good to show your bank manager when you require a loan or an overdraft. 
Protect your income
One of the most important things to consider if you are a sole trader is income protection. If for some reason, you can’t work for a period due to illness or injury, you’ll be glad you have income protection.
Remember, being a sole trader means you work for yourself, but you don’t have to work by yourself and carry every burden. A good bank manager, a good accountant, solid insurance and good legal advice (if you need it) will go a long way to ensuring you grow your business. 
READ MORE: A one-page tax guide on being a sole trader in Ireland.

Smart ageing – now is the time to prepare and support those over 50 who want to start a business.
There will be over one million people living in Ireland aged 65 and over by 2031. 
The enormous demographic changes that will occur in Ireland over the next 15 years will change the entire social, cultural and economic landscape of the country. 
According to 2016 figures from Social Justice Ireland, there will be at least one million over-65s in Ireland by 2031. “Now is the time to plan for this dramatic change,” says Michelle Murphy, research and policy analyst with the agency.
As well as the need for primary and community health services, in every community, there is also the need for better access to learning and employment for the over 50s, says Murphy.
Investment in rural broadband should be a vital priority for every community in Ireland. 
Wise and willing
Research by Amarach shows that 44% of respondents over 50 would be interested in a course to help them develop ideas and the skills to start their own business.
In fact, more than one in five over 50s had some experience of setting up their own business and 17% of those with experience set up their business when aged over 50.
There are supports available for people over 50 who want to start a business. 
Visit: The Ireland Smart Ageing Exchange.
Also visit: The Ingenuity programme for entrepreneurs aged 50+.
READ MORE: It’s never too late to start.
Did you know?
Charles Flint was 61 when he founded IBM. 
In Ireland, Peter Cullen founded Aran Candy in 1997 with his son Richard when he was 50 after an earlier venture failed. The business was sold for €15.5 million in 2014.

Words sell. There’s no doubt that good writing will win you more customers. Here’s how to start.
Carefully selected words can help persuade a customer that they really need what you have to offer, and motivate them to go out and get it. The other side of that coin, however, is that even one badly chosen word can completely put off a customer and lose them forever. People are just as wary of hard-sell pitches online or in print as they are of foot-in-the-door salesmen. If you are writing about your own business, you will have first-hand knowledge of your products or services. You will also know where they fit in your marketplace and who your audience is.
Don’t just write about your company, and its products and services, from your own perspective.  That’s a mistake many businesses make. Customers who come to your website are looking for information, perhaps to inform a buying decision. You need to tell them what your service or product can do for them, and what problem it can solve.

Understand your customers and anticipate what they want
Expand your vocabulary
Test your content – see what works and what doesn’t

What are the words that work best to get customers to:

Notice your product or service?
Contact you?
Complete their purchase

Here are some of the ways you could start your pitch:

With a question: This addresses the customer directly, and may even be what they are doing there in the first place. Isn’t it time you…? Don’t you wish…? Why pay full price…? Are you paying too much for…?
With a statement: This gets your message out there immediately, while engaging the reader. Let’s talk about why you need… We’ll change your mind about… It’s never too late to…
With a challenge: You immediately call your customer to action and tell them just