Cork Chamber: Business of the year

Some businesses have thrived in spite of the recession — or even because of it, says Vincent Ryan

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty,” Winston Churchill once said and the emerging Cork companies who have all capitalised on the recession are proof of this mantra.

All of the companies in the emerging company category have noted consumers and businesses’ rush to save money to develop products and services that cut down on costs.

While many companies have been struggling to survive the downturn the companies in this category show that innovation has led to business models that thrive on the adverse conditions.

Chief executive of Cork Chamber, Conor Healy, said that there had been a record number of entrants into the awards this year.

“Cork Chamber are delighted to work with Vodafone on these awards particularly at a time in business when it is important to recognise achievements and contribution to Cork’s economic growth. This year’s awards have seen the highest number of entrants across all categories, so selecting the three short listed companies has been a tough challenge for the adjudication panel but we look forward to announcing the overall winners at our annual dinner,” he said.

Sponsors of the awards Vodafone Ireland said that the companies selected in the emerging category give people hope for the future of the country.

Business and Enterprise Director at Vodafone Ireland, Anne O’Leary, said: “The shortlist demonstrates the depth of business talent that remains in Ireland. From myself, and all at Vodafone Ireland, we wish you every success for 2012”.

The winner in each category and the overall winner will be announced at the Chamber Annual Dinner on Feb1 at City Hall, Cork.

Procurement service firm ‘born out of recession’

When Keelvar CEO Alan Holland in 2005 developed the software which gives institutions the ability to save money on their procurement costs, he was told by venture capitalists that cost-saving was not at the top of the agenda.

“Budget holders had problems in spending their allocated money. The venture capitalists said it would be a hard sell,” said Mr Holland.

Mr Holland busied himself with other projects until Cork City Council approached him to help with the procurement of a new fleet of vehicles. Using his software, which allows large contracts to be broken up into smaller lots optimising the mix of small businesses and large enterprises who bid for the contract, he managed to save the council €220,000.

The company is definitely born out of the recession, according to Mr Holland, who turns a profit by taking a percentage of the cost saving that the company provides.

In 2011, when the market had changed and cost-cutting was now the only agenda in procurement, not only in Ireland but across Europe, Keelvar became a shrewd investment for venture capitalists.

The same VC who had passed in 2005 was now eager to invest following on the proof of concept conduct with Cork City Council.

The nomination for best emerging business is a further endorsement for Keelvar, which is hoping to drive sales on the back of the Cork Chamber business awards.

“Our clients are government bodies, who are risk averse, so an endorsement from Cork Chamber will help drive sales,” said Mr Holland.

Keelvar is currently focusing on moving up the value chain and becoming involved in procurement on a national level in more than one European country, where they feel they can deliver savings of millions of euro.

Wet weather helps to lift sales of cheaper alternative to tumble dryer

Daniel Bradfield has been working for five years on the Dimplex Airdryer which has become an overnight success.

The first prototype of his company’s product was built when Mr Bradfield was shocked at the spiralling cost of his domestic electricity bill.

Living in a house with four children, the tumble dryer was running twice a day with infants and children’s clothes. Mr Bradfield, who was a product engineer with Liebert on the Model Farm Rd, working with air handling products, decided to see if he could come up with an efficient replacement for the tumble dryer.

“I came up with a product to tackle the soaring electricity bill. It worked and I left it at that. Then friends and family said they wanted an airdryer and I made about 10 units and left it at that,” he said.

After Liebert someone suggested the Airdryer might be a business worth pursuing.

Mr Bradfield ended up in the Genesis programme which helped him build a viable business around his product. By 2010 he had secured some investment.

With product design completed the investment went on 1,000 units which were delivered to Cork at the start of 2012.

In Jan 2012 Mr Bradfield became a man with a van delivering his product to customers. By June the first 1,000 units were sold, the bad weather lending a helping hand to sales.

“It rained all last year, there was no summer. I was up doing a rain-dance every morning,” he said.

The Dimplex Group ordered 4,000 units of the Airdryer that were delivered to Ireland in September. There are only 500 left.

Looking to the future Mr Bradfield said that company has three new products in development.

‘Saving firms money became our selling point’

Paul Martin and John Keohane could see in 2009 the only way that a company was going to make money in the economic climate was to provide a product or service that would save business money.

“In 2009 we were looking for business opportunities in the green energy sector and we discovered that lighting has the quickest payback from investment,” said Mr Martin.

Although LED lighting had been around for a number of years they were only becoming commercially viable as functioning lighting systems in 2009.

LED lighting offered massive savings on energy use over traditional fluorescent lighting, for an investment of €10,000 a company would see return of that money in between a year and a half and three years, while a wind turbine could take six years to pay for itself.

Mr Martin said that cost cutting became the only way Irish businesses could maintain their profit margins and Verde LED was offering a solution that could protect a businesses bottom line. “Cost cutting was the only way to reduce the impact of a lower turnover on a business, lighting was something we could offer them savings of 60% to 70%,” he said.

Mr Martin was initially going door to door selling solutions to retailers throughout Ireland but as the product proved its worth the sales increased.

Verde LED now enjoys a multi-million euro turnover after growing quickly to become one of the top five LED lighting companies in Ireland and the UK. The company is now focusing on the overseas markets with 80% of their business now outside of Ireland.