Hubbcat: We need to know how new post-Brexit customs rules would impact on us

Hubbcat: 'We are pitching for business in Northern Ireland and the UK so we needed to understand how new customs arrangements post-Brexit would impact on that.'

The team behind Wicklow technology firm Hubbcat spent many years working together in the telecoms sector in the Caribbean before founding the company.

Chief financial officer, Simon Smith, met friends and co-founders Alan Bates and Damian Blackburn while he was on a consulting assignment in the Bahamas.

The founders had spotted a gap in the market for ‘push to talk’ (PTT) communications solutions. It allows for devices that combine walkie talkie technology with mobile phones, a better value alternative that allows people to talk instantly via the internet.

Of course, Hubbcat’s solution allows visitors to the country to be monitored as they quarantine, with app-based geofencing that emits an alarm if a person quarantining breaks the rules.

“We are pitching for business in Northern Ireland and the UK so we needed to understand how new customs arrangements post-Brexit would impact on that,” he says.

The company is currently focusing on selling to facilities management companies in Ireland which are major international businesses, such as Brinks, Bidvest Noonan and Mitie.

“These are global operators. If we can grow our customer base here in Ireland with some of these global companies, we can get recommendations from them to help us grow internationally. To do that, we need to know about customs,” he explains.

The Prepare your Business for Customs programme answered all his questions.

“It was really good, really detailed and the expert trainer who gave the workshop was really insightful. There are an awful lot of rules and regulations involved but the workshop helped me to get to grips with them, both in terms of software and of bringing in physical goods.

“UK and EU customs are completely different to the Bahamas,” he points out.

“The workshop explained about duty and International Commercial Terms (INCOTERMS) and outlined some of the risks and things to look out for, as well as where to go for help.”

The Prepare your Business for Customs programme was highly interactive, he says, so that all participants were able to find the specific answers to questions they had about their own business.