David Manley Awards 2012: Business Finalists

The 3 shortlisted business organisations for the David Manley Emerging Entrepreneur Awards are:
· Daniel Bradfield, AIrDryer Ltd
· George Howlett & Philip Gillen, Safefood 360
· Sandra Maguire, EduBills.ie

Daniel Bradfield
Daniel Bradfield of AirDryer Systems Limited is short-listed in the Business category for ‘Marilyn’ – an appliance for the home which promises ‘clothes drying made easy’. ‘Marilyn’ reduces the costs of laundry drying by over 90% and reduces drying time by up to 75%. Multiples in the UK and Ireland are so impressed with their own test results, they have advised AirDryer of significant orders on the way for 2012.

“People are looking for a reason not to use their tumble dryers,” says Daniel, “from both an environmental and a cost perspective.” ‘Marilyn’ is a light weight, easy to store away appliance which sits under any indoor airer. Using just 25 watts of electricity it dries clothes indoors in as little as five hours, requires no additional heating and does not cause any condensation. Its running costs per annum are just €13 as against the average €250 yearly running cost of a tumble dryer in the average home.

AirDryer was set up in 2009 and is based at The Rubicon Centre, CIT Campus,
Bishopstown, Cork. Daniel, who is from Ballincollig, spent the last three years developing and refining ‘Marilyn’. An Engineer by trade, he has over twenty years’ experience in the design of domestic and industrial air handling products. He has also worked in manufacturing in Europe, the USA and Asia.

AirDryer Systems already has a strong order book of direct sales to end users, most of which came to their stand at the National Ploughing Championships in Athy. With the first shipment of Marilyn units being delivered in December and a second shipment landing in January 2012, Daniel is confident about 2012 and beyond. http://www.airdryersystem.com/

George Howlett & Philip Gillen, Safefood 360
Launched in April of this year by George Howlett and Philip Gillen, Safefood 360 is the first ever global online food safety management software solution. It enables food processing plants to set up, record, manage and report on all aspects of their food safety system necessary to meet legal and commercial compliance requirements.

In the US alone, 76 million people become ill from bad food with 300,000 of those requiring hospital care and resulting in 5,000 fatalities. Safefood 360 has already generated huge interest worldwide and is currently being trialled by over 250 food plants in 52 countries on 5 continents. In their first year, they have raised €750,000 in financial backing.

George Howlett from Blanchardstown has 23 years’ experience with companies such as Coca Cola, Largo Foods and Batchelors. He also ran his own consultancy specialising in food industry development. Philip Gillen from Malahide began his entrepreneurial life when as a child he sold freshly caught mackerel around Dunmore East’s caravan parks during his summer holidays! An IT specialist, he worked with Butlers Chocolates and in 2005 set up his own software and project management company. George and Philip began collaborating on the Safefood 360 concept in 2009 and both now work fulltime in the company – George is CEO and Philip is COO. http://www.safefood360.com/

Sandra Maguire, EduBills.ie
Sandra Maguire, from Cabinteely, Co. Dublin, came up with the idea for EduBills.ie while working as a Secretary in her son’s primary school. Having spent many hours opening envelopes from parents, which contained cash and cheques for things as diverse as Personal Accident Insurance, Speech & Drama, Computer and PE classes, inmilk, school trips, registration fees and so on - and then having to issue receipts, refunds of overpayments and return unsigned cheques - she knew there had to be a better way!
Sandra realized that the answer was to have an online payment and ordering system which parents could use from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Schools could upload the items parents needed to pay for, including schoolbooks, tracksuits and uniforms – and so, EduBills started trading in June 2011 following extensive research with schools, parents and suppliers, conducted in collaboration with Dublin City University. By the end of August this year, orders to the value of over €45,000 had been put through the system. EduBills.ie is based at Docklands Innovation Park, East Wall Road, Dublin. http://www.edubills.ie/