Startups
Newstalk and Sage search for Ireland’s most inspiring business stories
29th May, 2013: Newstalk is calling on members of the public to nominate business people that have inspired them, giving winners an opportunity to showcase their success by telling their stories to a national audience. The announcement was made today by presenter Bobby Kerr at the launch of the new Business Person of the Month initiative, in association with the market leader in accounts and payroll software, Sage Ireland.
Pictured at the launch of the new Newstalk Business Person of the Month initiative, in association with Sage Ireland, is Newstalk presenter Bobby Kerr, Beatrice Whelan, PR & Social Media Manager at Sage Ireland with children Ellie Mooney, Katelyn Downey and Gavin De Roiste. Picture Jason Clarke Photography.
From food and drink connoisseurs to science and technology wizards, a specific category will be announced at the beginning of each month and the public can nominate business people and entrepreneurs that have inspired them in that field.
The winner is chosen by a panel of independent judges consisting of Martin Cullen, Microsoft; Cormac Tobin, Doc Morris Unicare; Derry Grey, BDO; Simon Coyle, Mazars; and Frank O’Keefe, Ernst & Young. The winner will be announced on Newstalk Breakfast on the last Friday of the month and will go on to be interviewed on Down to Business the following Sunday. As well as being profiled on Newstalk, the winner will receive a specially commissioned Newbridge Silverware pen and a consultation with the award winning Sage Business Advice Team.
Posted under: How to account for VAT when buying from abroad
By Tracey Glacken, Glacken Accountants
Business owners usually have lots of questions to pose to their accountant when deciding whether to purchase from within Ireland or abroad. This article sets out what to do if you buying from abroad.
EU Intra Community Acquisitions
If you are VAT registered in Ireland you can buy goods VAT free from another business in the EU once these goods are for the purpose of your business. This is known as an EU intra community acquisition. The steps to be taken are as follows:
Doing Business In Ireland – An Infographic
By Beatrice Whelan, Social Media & Content Specialist at Sage
The results of the Sage Business Index present a detailed picture of what it is like to do business in Ireland.
The survey results show that Ireland is in a better place than many European economies. 41% of businesses in Ireland are more confident about their prospects than six months prior to the survey. Confidence in Ireland has clearly been affected by the Eurozone crisis, with 82% of businesses saying it has had an impact.
On a more positive note, Irish businesses recognize that there are a range of factors which make Ireland an attractive place to do business. 63% of respondents cited the access to Ireland’s skilled workforce as one of the most favourable aspects to doing business here. 43% also chose Ireland’s favourable tax regime and 41% Ireland’s business culture and entrepreneurial spirit.
This infographic summarises the results of the Business Index Survey and you can download the entire report here.
Female Entrepreneurship In Ireland: An Interview With Olwen Dawe
By Beatrice Whelan, Social Media & Content Specialist at Sage
When Olwen Dawe became a Sage Business Expert one of the first things I wanted to talk to her about was her work as an advocate of female entrepreneurship. Olwen is currently Secretary and Vice President Designate of Network Ireland. She was an ambassador for female entrepreneurship on the Ulster Bank “Business Women Can” initiative in 2012. Olwen regularly speaks at and chairs events / seminars focused on enterprise development – such as the European Commission’s programme for female entrepreneurship. Here is my recent interview with Olwen about all things related to female entrepreneurs.
You are an advocate of female entrepreneurship and you’re involved in various programmes to promote female entrepreneurship can you talk about one which you think has been the most effective?
Every programme has its own merits based on their specific objectives… as the orchestrators, managers and advisors involved in them, we need to be conscious of varying needs and changing times. Programmes often need to be less prescriptive and more lean, responsive – and this is really driven by the specific group you’re serving.
The Journey Of An Entrepreneur: Mark Breen Of Cuckoo Events Shares His Story
By Beatrice Whelan, Social Media & Content Specialist at Sage
Mark Breen is MD of event management company Cuckoo Events. Mark has recently joined the team of Sage Business Experts so you will be seeing more of Mark on our blog over the next few weeks and months. As an introductory post I asked Mark to answer some questions and share his story so far. It is well worth the read and is a really interesting story about entrepreneurship in Ireland at the moment.
When Opportunity Knocks…
Cuckoo Events is an events business I started in September of 2012. Before making the leap I was working with a marketing agency in Dublin as CEO of the youth branding element of it. I had only been in that role around four months when I was asked to go work at The Olympics in London in the Summer. I turned it down at the time as I figured it’d be cheeky to ask for that much time off from a job I hadn’t been in very long.
Sage’s Business Experts Programme Gets Underway
By Beatrice Whelan, Social Media & Content Specialist at Sage
In our continued efforts to support the business community in Ireland, we’ve launched our Sage Business Experts Programme to recognise and reward experts across the business landscape.
Our Sage Business Experts come from businesses of all shapes and sizes, but they share one thing in common – a commitment to promoting business and helping other business owners.
Business Experts have been selected due to their:
- Contribution to the business community – sharing knowledge and helping others improve and develop their businesses
- Knowledge and influence – from first-hand experience, Sage Business Experts have a wealth of understanding about business challenges and solutions
- Online presence – from forums and Twitter, to LinkedIn and blogs, Sage Business Experts are extensively connected
In return for their support, Sage offers its Business Experts a range of benefits from access to Sage mentors and software to invitation to exclusive events and promotion of their business on the Sage blog and website.
We are proud to support these members of the business community; however their views do not represent that of Sage. We want Business Experts to be completely independent, and so members of the programme aren’t obliged to promote Sage in any way.
Meet our first three Sage Business Experts and watch this space for more in the next few weeks and months:
Sage Sponsors Product Start Up of the Year In The Startup Awards 2013
by Aisling White, Senior Marketing Specialist at Sage
The 2013 Startup Awards in association with Vodafone Ireland will take place on Thursday, June 13th 2013 in Dublin and will celebrate the very best Irish start-up businesses across all sectors of the economy. The ‘Startup Awards 2013” in association with Vodafone – is Ireland’s only dedicated awards program to reward excellence in the Irish business start-up community.
Avril McArdle Digital & Marketing Manager at Sage with the winners of the product Startup of the year at the 2012 awards, The Handmade Soap Company and comedian Colm O’Regan.
Sage are sponsoring the Product StartUp of the Year category. We also sponsored this category in 2012 and presented the award to the Handmade Soap Company at the awards ceremony last year.
“2012 was the first year of the Startup Awards and we were blown away by the response. With companies like Kooky Dough, Keoghs Crisps and the Handmade Soap Company as winners last year it is a real testament to the pool of start-up talent in Ireland today,” said Stephen Dillon, founder of Startups.ie.
The Startup Awards are also partnered PayPal, Dell, DCU, Squires & co Chartered Accountants, O’Rourke Reid Solicitors, Foras na Gaeilge, The Irish Independent Business Week and Newstalk 106-108FM.
The Real Meaning of Strategy In Business
By Olwen Dawe, owner of Irish Business Intelligence
Normally, at this point, a blog about strategy will contain a pithy clipping from Sun Zu’s “The Art of War” … (“Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat” is a favourite).
It’s hardly surprising that this recurring theme appears, given that Sun Zu’s statements of strategy and tactics contain very resonant themes when it comes to strategy in business.
However! The question for most businesses – SMEs in particular – is how or why strategy applies to their business (queue mutterings of “I just want to get on with it…” or “that sounds very corporate to me”). The reality is, as Sun Zu infers, not knowing why your business is heading in any specific direction (or the role resources, objectives and plans are playing in it) is almost definitely going to bring about the wrong outcomes. In some cases, rather unfortunately so. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Fortune 500 company, or a start-up operating from a shed in your back garden… without strategy, you’re likely to be setting out on a collision-course of risk and disappointment.
So, what is the real meaning of strategy in business? Opinions vary, and strategies change to suit different times in a business’s trajectory – guiding focus and resources to suit its point in the life-cycle. From my experience, here are some key roles for any business strategy:
- To provide you, your team and any other relevant stakeholders with clarity regarding the purpose, focus and objectives of the business
- To ensure financial, marketing, sales and operational targets are met – clarity, again, being the key focus
- Communication, collaboration, and cooperation: to develop buy-in, commitment and focus within your team (if you have one – if you’re a sole trader – to ensure buy-in from key stakeholders, partners, funders etc.)
- To shore-up growth by highlighting a clear path for the future and allocating the right internal and external supports in realising same
- To provide an effective means for challenging, evaluating and re-strategising decisions, objectives and growth – as well as business model, marketing, financial planning and other key operational mechanisms.
How Will Your Business Fare In The Year Of The Snake?
To celebrate the Chinese new year, the year of the snake here is a special game of business snakes and ladders. New ventures in the Year of the Snake are reputed to be thoughtful and wise and to approach problems rationally and logically, seldom instinctively. Will you apply this cautious approach to your business in the year of the snake. Will you avoid the pitfalls and navigate the slippery road of starting a business to emerge successful?
Download the full size version as a PDF
Make 2013 Your Best Year Yet
By Owen Fitzpatrick
It’s about this time that the January blues set in for most people. Back at work, funds at a yearly low after the Christmas experience, people everywhere find themselves struggling to motivate themselves to perform. For most, the promise of a brand new year offers them respite from the worries and concerns of their present circumstances and new years resolutions provide an encouraging distraction that gets us focused on something positive.
Of course, most know that these ‘resolutions’ are hardly going to last. Indeed, the likelihood is that they are going to be replicated next year at the exact same time for the same reasons… somewhere along the way we dropped the ball. Making 2013 your best year yet requires you doing just one thing differently than any year before. Just one thing. If you do it, you will reap the rewards. If you don’t, you won’t. It really is that simple.
I’m sure as you read this a voice inside your head is skeptically inviting my magical prescription for future success and happiness while preparing to discount such a simple ‘trick’ like so many gimmicks offered in articles written just like this one at this time of year.
But you see I know that what I’m about to remind you of is something that does make a difference. I’ve applied it in my own life and on my own business and seen it make a huge impact on my productivity, happiness and bottom line. I have worked with CEO’s and top Directors, Sales People and Human Resource Executives, those in Accounting and Marketing and with everyone who has applied it, the reports back have been outstanding.
So, what is my magical formula? Well it’s something you already know but probably don’t use enough. Simply put it can be described in two words: FOLLOW THROUGH. Now, what do I mean by follow through? Easy. I mean whatever you say you are going to do, follow through and do it. Start aligning the words you use and the actions you take.
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