4 Year Plan - Pro-Business Initiatives

The 4 year Plan - what's pro-business in it - read Newmarket Partnership's take on it - http://newmarketpartnership.newsweaver.ie/newsletter/dbx34e44oni. Newmarket is a sponsor of the David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards.

10 things to do before the Budget

10 things to do before the Budget - tips from one of the DMA Award sponsors - Newmarket Partnership http://newmarketpartnership.newsweaver.ie/newsletter/1q3x218oded

9th & final shortlisted entrepreneur - Anne Bedos, Rothar

Anne Bedos founded Rothar – a bike shop with a social focus - in 2008 after working in the charity and community development sector for more than 10 years. Rothar is a not-for-profit organisation that recycles discarded bikes and provides training and job opportunities to people from disadvantaged communities. Operating from Phibsboro, Dublin, this community-based bike shop sells refurbished bicycles, accessories and second hand parts and offers classes on bicycle repairs.

Originally from France, Anne moved to Ireland in 2004. A political scientist specialising in social inclusion and gender equality, she is also an enthusiastic cyclist - and Rothar combines all these passions!

Since May 2008, Rothar has salvaged over 250 bikes, diverting 4 tonnes of waste from landfill. Rothar works closely with youth groups to train at-risk youth in bicycle mechanics as well as building skills in basic business concepts. With a steady revenue stream from the sale of refurbished bicycles, Rothar is financially self-sustainable. www.rothar.ie

8th shortlisted entrepreneur - Victoria MacKechnie, Kids in the Kitchen

Here is some info on our penultimate shortlisted entrepreneur - Victoria MacKechnie:

One in four Irish children, between the ages of 5 and 17, is overweight or obese but teaching children how to cook healthy meals has been shown to impact greatly on their diets. In 2008, Victoria Mackechnie set up Kids in the Kitchen to teach children how to cook healthy meals for themselves. Kids in the Kitchen is about giving kids a skill for life.

According to Victoria, ‘It’s the tactile, creative process involved in cooking that appeals so much to children’. Less than two years later, Victoria now works with 11 primary schools in Dublin and has taught over 350 children how to cook. She hopes to continue rolling these courses out to specifically target children in DEIS primary schools throughout Ireland.

Victoria was a finalist in the Young Entrepreneurs Competition at the age of 15 and lives in Ringsend, Dublin. www.kidsinthekitchen.ie

7th shortlisted entrepreneur - Myles McCorry, Bike Pure

Myles McCorry - having raced bicycles for 25 years and fed up with the sport’s doping scandals, Myles McCorry set up BikePure with ex professional Andy Layhe to tackle the endemic use of drugs in cycling. BikePure tackles the root causes of doping and utilizes the organisation's eclectic membership, to propose improvements to the testing procedures and restore trust to the sport.

What started two years ago in a spare bedroom in Omeath, Co. Louth has grown to an organisation with the backing of over 40,000 members in 89 countries. BikePure has 44 volunteer ambassadors coordinating the members around the world and over 600 professional cyclists and triathletes use the BikePure brand to tell the world they ride clean. The organisation earns income from branded clothing and cycling equipment, with any additional funds reinvested back into developing the social mission. In just over two years, BikePure has become a worldwide brand, associated with anti-doping and athlete protection.

Myles says, “We aim to extend the BikePure model to tackle endemic drug in five other key sports which are plagued by endemic drug use. PlayPure aims to stand as a beacon of sportsmanship and restore honor and respect to sportsmen and women, globally.”
www.BikePure.org

event for female entrepreneurs

As part of the EU programme for female entrepreneurship, Dublin Chamber is hosting an event this Friday 5th November to encourage women who want to set up their own business http://www.een-ireland.ie/eei/assets/documents/uploaded/events/PowerfulStrategiesForWomeninBusinessPR.pdf.

our 6th shortlisted entrepreneur - Ed Hendrick, Sonru

Ed Hendrick
While participating in the South East Enterprise Platform Programme in Waterford Institute of Technology in 2007, Ed Hendrick spotted an opportunity to save people time and money during the interview process. He founded Sonru – a company which enables corporates to transform their first round screening process using secure online video technology.

Originally from Rathfardon, Clonroche, Co. Wexford, Ed worked in the motor industry in retail and wholesale sales before setting up Sonru. Clients include
eircom, Allianz Worldwide Care, Dell Perot Systems and PaddyPower.com with Sonru facilitating interviews across all continents from the Americas to Asia. In April of this year, Sonru signed a strategic partnership agreement with Denis O’Brien’s SaonGroup.com and is currently rolling out its product offering across IrishJobs.ie, Jobs.ie, NIJobs.com, MyJobGroup.co.uk and Candidate Manager.

In 2010 alone Sonru has won six major awards including: Innovation Award IIA Net Visionary Awards 2010; Innovate100 Pitch Slam Dublin 2010 and
Bank of Ireland Bright Ideas Challenge Grand Final 2010 (€110K prize).

Ed’s vision for the future is that all first round screening interviews in the world will be conducted using its video interview platform. Sonru operates out of Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. www.sonru.com

5th shortlisted entrepreneur - Dr. Emmeline Hill

Our 5th shortlisted entrepreneur - Dr. Emmeline Hill
Traditionally Thoroughbred horses have been selected using only a mix of visual assessment combined with historical bloodline data to infer their likely genetic composition. However, research led by Dr Emmeline Hill at UCD in 2009 resulted in the world’s first successful identification of a performance-related gene in Thoroughbred horses. This gene was found to predict sprinting ability and stamina potential, which can immediately identify a Thoroughbred as a potential sprinter, middle-distance or long-distance horse. Following this breakthrough, Equinome was co-founded by Dr Hill and Jim Bolger, the well known Irish horse breeder and trainer, and the Equinome Speed Gene Test was commercially launched last January.

The company has already secured major clients in Australia, France, Ireland, UK and USA and with new products scheduled for 2011 and 2012, Equinome’s vision is to become the global industry standard for the provision of genetic information to the Thoroughbred horse industry. Other members of Equinome’s team are Donal Ryan, Managing Director and Professor David MacHugh, Scientific Director.
www.equinome.com

Mary Kelly of FeePay, our 4th entrepreneur

Our 4th shortlisted entrepreneur and the first featured in the Business category -
Mary Kelly is the Founder and Managing Director of FeePay, which operates out of the Synergy Centre, Tallaght. As membership secretary of Shankill Tennis Club, Mary researched the costs and logistics of setting up a credit card payment system but found it too expensive and too complex a process for the Club. So she decided to set up an affordable and accessible system which would enable clubs and small businesses to accept debit and credit card payments.

FeePay was established in 2008 and offers six different web-based solutions all under the FeePay brand – Enrol, Cart, Console, Invoice, Integration and Mobile. 60 organisations nationwide are using one or more FeePay applications – including Leinster Rugby and Munster Rugby who use the enrolment system for taking bookings for summer camps, schools using the shopping cart to accept payment for schoolbooks, schools using FeePay for enrolment into adult education classes and several businesses using the console application to process telephone orders. Currently employing 4 (1 full-time and 3 part-time), Mary’s business plan predicts staffing levels to reach 35 full time staff by 2014. Mary credits the advice given by mentors at the Synergy Centre, Institute of Technology Tallaght, for helping FeePay to achieve its growth to date. www.feepay.ie

3rd shortlisted DMA 2010 entrepreneur

Our 3rd shortlisted entrepreneur - Angel Luis Gonzalez developed Ireland's first international festival of photography. The PhotoIreland Festival successfully engaged with more than 60 organisations to develop 35 exhibitions in 35 venues showcasing the work of more than 250 photographers. It attracted 45,000 visitors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3u3vYMWT1o

Introducing Helium - our second shortlisted entrepreneur

Helene Hugel is the second of our 9 shortlisted entrepreneurs: She established Helium in 2009 to develop arts experiences which have the power to transform a child’s experience of hospitalisation. www.helium.ie

Formerly a puppeteer and children’s theatre-maker, Helene has a qualification in hospital play. She also worked as a clown doctor for five years with Northern Ireland Clown Doctors.

An estimated 200,000 children 0-18 are treated in hospital in Ireland each year and they can feel isolated, helpless and unhappy. Children with chronic illnesses necessitating multiple hospital attendances, difficult procedures and having low energy levels are twice as likely to suffer from low self-esteem and have mental health issues as adults, than healthy children.

There are currently 25 hospitals in Ireland with paediatric wards accounting for 990 inpatient beds. Helium aims to bring its arts programmes to all of these and also into Northern Ireland. Already Helium has helped 450 children, 220 family members, 21 artists and 40 healthcare workers.

Originally from upstate New York, Helene lives and works in Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.

An introduction to Dnote - arts entrepreneur

Over the next few days, we're giving an insight into each of our 9 shortlisted entrepreneurs - first up - Peter FitzGerald & Margaret Corcoran of Dnote. Peter and Margaret saw a need for a high quality information system for Culture in Ireland and so began sending Dnotes in August 2009 – an e-notification of all things cultural that were happening in Dublin. The aim of Dnotes is to encourage the general public and tourists to engage more with our art and cultural institutions, to go and view art in private galleries and in public art spaces.

Peter edits Circa Art magazine and Margaret is an artist, represented by the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, Dublin. They are developing a website and app for Dnotes and want to extend the service nationwide. They also plan to include sport, music and theatre shortly. Peter and Margaret who are married (to each other) are from Dundrum, Dublin.
http://www.dnote.info

2009 winner feature on Bloomberg

Well done to 2009 DMA winners, RendezVu who featured on Bloomberg as part of a piece on how "Ireland may be the EU's Comeback Kid"

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64099210/