Money must not be the sole focus

A prominent American industrialist once said that a business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.

Those words by Henry Ford, the famed motor company founder, still ring true today.

Stretching their goals beyond the gloomy debts of the economic recession, risk-takers and entrepre- neurs are making fresh starts in Ireland. But this time it’s all about the ideas, the product, the results and not just the profit which was the emphasis during the property boom.

This year Enterprise Ireland will make available €125 million in start-up funds or seed capital to those trying their hand at setting up businesses. But the variety of trades and ideas that are breaking the mould and getting started are what is most interesting.

Everything from food produce to kids toys, technology and leisure-related services and products are attracting attention and, importantly, being backed up with funding.

Tom Cusack, manager in Enterprise Ireland’s high potential start-ups sector, explained: “There’s never been a better time to start a company than in a recession. The number of start- ups that we helped last year amounted to 75 companies and this will go up to 85 this year.

“The challenge is getting the team right, in getting the human capital and talent behind the company. The cost of employing people though is a lot less than it was 24 months ago.

“We have tripled the amount of funds going out in the last three years. Companies are also seeing angel investors and syndicates coming forward to them. The trend is the money is moving away from being invested in the property sector and is going back into industry.”

Enterprise Ireland supplies grants starting from €50,000 for start-ups and many companies, as evident in this series, have successfully taken up the resources.

Popular areas where companies are taking off the ground with funding include internet gaming, the sciences and green energy areas, as well as the pharmaceutical sector.

This year, the state- backed business support group will also focus on bringing overseas entrepreneurs back to Ireland.

But as Irish entrepreneur and former Dunnes Stores director Ben Dunne explains, successful businesses will need a lot more than money to make it.

“It has to be a good idea. You’ve got to be prepared to put unbelievable long hours into it. Forget about an office, it’s your shop floor that matters, where you actually work.

“If you’re in manufacturing or a restaurant, don’t be focused on an office. You’ll lose 50% of your profits initially.

“In the past it’s always been about putting the cart before the horse, like with the Health Service Executive and with the Government. It’s always been about people who are unavailable. Make yourself available.

“Most people have forgotten how to work because before you made money by just buying stocks, shares and property.

“But funds are the thing that are missing at the moment for those starting up.

“My advice in general is ‘go for it’. We’re in a changing world. Even now there’s opportunities for people where there wasn’t before in areas like politics and even banking. The place is full of ‘has-beens’. They say a rising tide brings everything in with it. But when it goes out, it also leaves a lot of stuff behind.”

Rediscover Fashion

Activity: Reusing and recycling fabrics and clothes. The company and project produces new designs, trains tailors and offers workshops to customers interested in recreating their tired wardrobe ware. With a shop in Ballymun, the company is part of the Rediscover Project which also recycles old furniture, paint, bicycles and even crafts.

Name: Sarah Miller

Location: Dublin

“We have developed projects which use waste, create employment and generate income. It reduces waste going to landfill also,” says Sarah Miller, 38, manager with the Rediscover Centre.

Ireland dumps an estimated 220,000 tonnes of clothes and fabric waste into landfills every year.

“We take waste like old clothes or end of line fabrics and turn them into something.”

Supported by the Ballymun regeneration scheme, the project has already seen its sister group, Rediscover Furniture, become 80% self-financing. It expects Rediscover Fashion over the coming year to be in a similar position.

The company started up in mid 2009 and initially won €100,000 in funding from the Arthur Guinness Fund, a support grant which backs community projects.

The average dress or suit makeover at Rediscover Fashion costs €40.

“With our alteration service, workshops and the store, we are taking in funds. Our fashion show went down very well also.”

The company at present employs four people but expects to take on another 10 through community funding over the next year.

But between its full-time, part-time and volunteer staff and placements, it has 24 people involved in the company.

Not only does their work create employment, it also saves natural resources and pollution from dyes as well as cutting down on energy consumption associated with processing materials.

Some of Rediscover Fashion’s clients who supply materials and cloth include Ikea as well as people who give away their old debs or wedding dresses and suits.

The Rediscover Fashion team is led by Eco fashion designer Carrie-Ann Moran.

It also works with universities to offer student placements.

“We’re for the eco-shopper and essentially are the first eco-fashion label. We cut our costs by only opening Wednesday to Friday and there’s good enthusiasm from our team here which keeps us going. The interest in recycled and redesigned clothing has really exploded over the last year. It’s very popular at Christmas with people revamping last year’s party dresses for another event this year.”

eMedia Interactive

Activity: Creates visual multi- media medical education tools for professionals and students such as iPhone apps that ease the explanation of complicated procedures and training. Used in 18 countries including Ireland.

Name: Mark Campbell

Location: Galway

“We’re essentially providing products which are like Google Earth for the human body. Traditionally medical professionals would explain procedures to families or patients with a traditional 2D wall chart or a plastic model. Now, they can have it on their phone. We have students using this and nurses explaining to families. They can look at a generic healthy heart and look inside it and see exactly how it works.” said company co-founder Mark Campbell.

One app provided by the company called Pocket Heart allows users search through 3D images of the inside of the organ, looking at where the blood flows and which arteries lead to where. The eMedia Interactive team have also collaborated with NUI Galway on their projects.

“This doesn’t replace face-to-face consultancy but can lessen the confusion for relatives of loved ones and eases the explanation. It is also used by colleagues when in discussion about procedures. We’ve had tens of thousands of downloads this year alone,” explained the 33-year-old.

Another application created for iPhone and iPad users is the Pocket Body, which allows viewers look at nine layers of muscles and bone.

Campbell’s products are being used in 20 universities in the United States and are considered to be in the top five medical application downloads in Ireland.

And it’s not surprising with industry estimates suggesting that there are as many as 100,000 iPhones in Ireland.

Their first product launch was in September last year but their apps are now being used as far away as in Canada, Brazil and China.

Under agreement with the Apple iTunes online store, eMedia Interactive get between 60% and 70% of their app sales. In Ireland, the heart and full body creations are priced between €2 and €14.99.

“The challenge is to produce high quality software that is good value. We’re very focused on the export market. Seed capital was very important to us when we started but we are engaging now with investors.

“After an early start up, companies that keep growing need to be recognised,” Mr Campbell said.

eMedia Interactive now employs four people, has received two awards for its products and has received funding from the Galway city enterprise board as well as Enterprise Ireland.

McEvoy Family Foods

Activity: Provides soup, salads and breads to retailers and multiples and set to launch the bento — a five-minute cook itself meal — in Irish stores soon. The Irish food business is run by Jane, 27, and her husband Gary, 31, and is set to begin exporting to Britain and France.

Name: Jane McEvoy

Location: Tipperary

Started in April last year, the family food producing company has already secured clients like Spar, Mace and Gala and also supplies to larger supermarkets. While Jane has a background in recruiting, husband Gary was involved in the food industry for ten years before the couple made the break and set up their own company.

“We’d been thinking about it for a while. We had a baby just one month before launching, but you do what you have to do,” explained Jane McEvoy.

Based in Clonmel, Tipperary, the company is set to supply its fresh products to Musgrave and another large multiple retailer this month.

Starting up was difficult, explained Ms McEvoy. “There was no finance at the beginning and we had to resort to using our own personal finance. We have a serious amount of self-belief and we don’t take days off. With one of our UK-based clients, they wanted samples overnight, so I got in my car and drove all night and went across. They had them in the morning and now they’re a client.”

The food company competes well by working on high volume production with low margins.

“We are automating our food lines, that’s the way forward,” she added.

Starting up, the couple secured funding and help from their local enterprise board in south Tipperary. The grants mainly went towards funding the purchase of equipment.

A new product set to be launched by McEvoy Family Foods next year is the self-heating ‘bento box’. This innovative package allows the consumer to pull a string and the meal literally heats itself and is steam cooked in a matter of minutes.

The family company also featured on the latest series of The Apprentice with the product and joined forces with a Japanese company ahead of its launch through Spar here in Ireland.

“There’s a heating element underneath the pack and when you pull the string, there’s an oxidation reaction which releases steam that heats the food,” added Jane McEvoy.

By the end of this month, the couple are preparing to export their food products to France.

“We work well together. Sometimes things are difficult, but we don’t see barriers. You give up your life the first few years when you start a business. But you have to ask yourself do you just want it as a job or to be the biggest and greatest thing possible?”

The couple also received help from Bord Bia on doing PR for their company and business presentations. Ms McEvoy added: “There’s a lot of resources out there. You just have to go out and find them.”

Storyful

Activity: The online media and news supplier aims to provide quality stories, images and videos. Utilising social networks, other news sites and journalists around the world, it will supply media companies and businesses withreal-time breaking stories anddiscussion, with a strong focus oninternational affairs.

Name: Mark Little

Location: Dublin

Founder and journalist Mark Little took a break from RTE wanting to set up his own media company. He explained:

“There was something in my gut and foreign journalism was being written out of the equation. News organisations have stopped spending money. There’s so much noise out there but we’re going to separate the nonsense from the useful stuff.”

His company has just signed up one of the top of five US broadcasters to receive material.

“If the user or company goes online, we’ll bring them straight to the source of the story. We live in a world that is no longer just passive news consumers,” added Mr Little.

Their company is working out of the National College of Ireland’s incubation centre in Dublin city centre and so far has six employees.

These include David Clinch, a former senior international editor with CNN and Gavin Sheridan, a former production journalist with the Irish Examiner.

Storyful has also received backing from philanthropists.

“We had a problem getting finances but the seed capital really helps.

“Getting start-up funds was like a baptism of fire for me in that I was forced to basically be a salesperson.”

Hundreds of thousands of euro has been raised to get the media company up and running. Already, 270 news executives and journalists are trialling access to Storyful.

“The key difficulty is getting above the €50,000 in funds when starting up and getting that second €50,000. You don’t get help for that second stage of getting the business going.

“We are targeting companies to take our media in Britain and the United States and trialling with 23 groups so far.

“Most media online providers start with lots of internet traffic and then go into advertising. That’s dangerous. You need big clients to survive and stories to provide them.”

The company will provide mainly video and imagery content for news services and businesses.

During a siege on a school in eastern France last month, Little’s company managed to secure exclusive video content from a 15-year-old student who was at the scene. It’s all about citizen journalism, adds Mr Little.

“He was right at the scene so we had first access to what was going on.”

Storyful’s golden rule is there is always someone closer to the story.

Clever Box Club

Activity: A children’s toy company that sells cardboard kits which can be built into houses and dens. The kits, mainly made from recycled materials, also include designs. Sold in arts, crafts and toy shops, the packs are particularly popular for parties. Prices range from €29.99 — €39.99.

Name: Elaine McCabe.

Location: Dublin.

Having taken time out from her career in architecture in 2007, Elaine McCabe decided with her business partner, her brother, to take a risk.

“I was one of those that fell to the chill of the economy. I took a career break, then a year later I got itchy feet again. I had developed children’s furniture before.

“But it struck me that children got a lot of play out of cardboard boxes. I used to go to the store myself for mine for flat-pack boxes. I thought one day ‘there must be something more to this’.

“I gave myself six weeks to cost and source products and then suddenly the idea grew wings and took off.

“By early 2009, we were set up. We give kids a 3D blank canvas for them to work on, like drawing in a picture. The pack includes coloured paper, poster images, letter stickers and different shapes.”

“This 3D-blank canvas can be turned into a castle, sweet shop, clubhouse, pirate ship, house, café, school, puppet theatre, den, tunnel or jail — whatever children decide or imagine. Clever Boxes are ideal for boys’ or girls’ themed birthday parties; holy communion days or community family fun days.”

Designs for the cardboard dens include castles, sheriff jails and a mechanics base. Up to 80% of kits are made from recycled material and do not use plastic. Buyers are encouraged to put them in their recycling wheelie bins after they are used.

“We got a feasibility grant from Dublin City Enterprise Board and then a bank loan. Then it was about building the product up from a cottage industry on to a high street sales item with good packaging. Last September we managed to launch into the UK market.

“The main obstacle in getting going is financing. We had a really good business plan and were helped with the bank loan. We’re selling in arts, crafts and toy stores and online.

“We outsource the packaging and distribution of the packs within Ireland. Our main focus over the coming year will be on employment for the design and creative side of the product. We are also breaking into the US market.

“We have also been approached by distributors from mainland Europe, the US and Australia who are interested in distributing our product worldwide.

“The traditional trade toy buying season is January- March, this is our major focus now.”

SensorMind

Activity: Has developed intelligent sensor systems for people’s homes, ideal for making sure elderly or frail relatives are safe. Care worker companies have already taken up the technology which involves each room having a sensor which records someone’s movement. The system builds a profile and alerts a carer or loved one if unusual patterns or movements occur.Name: Siobhan King Hughes

Location: Dublin

“I had a technology background and my parents were living in a remote area and were vulnerable. So we wanted to use technology to see how they were getting on and came up with this idea.

“You put a hub into a house and motion sensors in each room and on the external doors. The system collects behavioural data between them and on how a person moves around the house.

“The system analyses behaviour patterns and figures out if there’s a problem.

“If they [the relative or person in care] go to the bathroom and don’t return to the bedroom, or fall, or break their hip or something, and can’t press a panic alarm, this will help them.

“It alerts the carer or family member who can quickly react. On average, there are eight sensors in one kit and it only takes 30 minutes to set up and it can be done by the buyer. It also doesn’t include cameras. The difference with our system is it has intelligent layers which do the automated analysis.”

King Hughes’ company had a feasibility study carried out by Enterprise Ireland and she also became involved in a Dublin college business group, which was great for networking and start-up ideas.

“Attending workshops with other start-up companies is great, with the legal and financial advice.

“We started up in early 2008 and spent the first six months perfecting the prototype.”

SensorMind also received a European grant as well as €200,000 in funding from Enterprise Ireland. “For the next two years we will focus on research and development and getting the production cycle up and running.”

A private company which employs carers in people’s homes is currently trialling the sensor systems.

“We are talking to several private home care organisations. We see ourselves in being an exporter to the US and UK markets and are already in discussions with companies there.

“Everybody talks about the current environment being difficult, and it is financially, but you’ve got to work very hard in business.”