Top entrepreneur stresses need for large businesses

ENTERPRISE Ireland should be measured on the number of Nasdaq quoted companies created here and not just on job creation, a leading entrepreneur has suggested.

Speaking in Limerick Institute of Technology yesterday, Silicon Valley investor John Hartnett called on the government to focus on creating billion-dollar companies in Ireland.

“We don’t have any multi-billion dollar companies in Ireland today. And what the government can do is put focus and energy on helping entrepreneurial Irish companies to become 100, 200, or 500 billion dollar companies,” he said.

“My suggestion would be that as part of an innovation strategy the government should be driving, would be about creating large billion-dollar companies and the likes of Enterprise Ireland should be measured on Nasdaq quoted companies that are coming from Ireland and public companies created from Ireland is a very good benchmark,” he added, According to the founder and president of the Irish Technology Leadership Group, there are 130 Nasdaq quoted companies in Isreal today while Ireland has just three.

Start-up companies on LIT’s 12-month incubation centre programme are to get direct access to Silicon Valley training and mentoring programmes on the global market, thanks to a unique alliance announced yesterday between the Limerick college and the world’s most dynamic technology hub.