Online travel wholesaler nets entrepreneur award

BRAZILIAN-Irish online travel wholesaler Darryl Ismail is the permanent tsb Ethnic Entrepreneur of the Year for 2009.

Mr Ismail’s company, Chase International, offers room deals for 45,000 hotels globally. He started out in the pre-internet Ireland of 1990, working with just six hotels. His father is from Brazil, his mother is Irish.

“We might purchase a €100 room for, say, €60, with same-day availability to the customer,” said Darryl Ismail, whose company employs 60 staff in Dublin, and another 40 in offices globally.