Fighting the gloom, small businesses still the rural lifeblood

SMALL businesses remain the lifeblood of rural Ireland where budding entrepreneurs have not been beaten down by the continuing economic doom and gloom.

At ground level, county enterprise boards have provided the kickstart to many people whose ideas have blossomed into international businesses.

West Cork Enterprise Board chief executive Michael Hanley said that in an average year between 150 and 200 projects are examined.

“There’s no formula, as such, for success but when some people come in with an idea, you can tell almost right away they have what could be called the ‘X-factor’.

“The right promoter just has that edge — commitment, experience, passion and drive.

“Going raw into any business is a big ask and if promoters don’t have most of those components, the challenge to get a project off the ground is greater.”

Last year alone the enterprise board approved just over €1m to 12 business projects — some of which included food processing, spirits manufacturing and software development.

A number of ideas, first teased out before the local board and helped along the way, have progressed to an international stage, under the wing of Enterprise Ireland.

Alan and Valerie Kingston now employ 32 people in their Glenilen Farm enterprise. Both were raised on dairy farms in Drimoleague and Skibbereen, and Valerie — a food science graduate — had a hobby of making cheesecakes and creams for sale at country markets. This developed, over 15 years, into a major on-farm dairy products enterprise.

The home-grown business got its kick-start from the West Cork Enterprise Board and, last week, featured on RTÉ’s Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2012.

She acknowledged the financial and training supports provided by the local enterprise board. “I would encourage anyone who has an idea to go to the enterprise board. They were so approachable and, I can say, they will put you on the right track and offer support if the idea is viable. We owe a lot to the board. I believe the board saw the potential in our idea before we saw it ourselves. To us, the financial support, at the time, was enormous but the most important thing was the back-up, in training and other supports, and being there at the end of a telephone line when we needed them.”

“We are sorry, in a way, that we have outgrown the local enterprise board and we are now under the wing of Enterprise Ireland after our turnover reached a certain level,” she said.

“At the start, it was a hobby and I really had a passion for making food from scratch. Being in West Cork is a wonderful place to do just that and, at the time, farmers and country markets were taking off. Alan had been sending all the milk to the creamery which, in a sense, was a no-brainer. We were not under pressure at that time but, now, we believe the farm would not be viable without the food enterprises,” Valerie explained.

Glenilen’s 30-plus products, ranging from cheesecakes to yoghurt, creams and butter along with other specialised dairy treats, are available in all the major supermarkets. But, in recent weeks, they secured a listing with Waitrose to supply 25 of its London stores.

Mr Hanley, meanwhile, said project promoters who are successful were people who were prepared to ask for, and take, help.

He said the demand for financial assistance for start-ups, and expansion, remained buoyant throughout 2011.

“As such, we don’t have substantial funding for projects and, in fairness, we would rarely have people looking for huge amounts.

“Our usual intervention is between €10,000 and €18,000 and, I believe, for a relatively small amount there is a big return.

“In West Cork, we always have a lot of small companies trading in niche areas, a lot of people providing services to sectors in Ireland, Britain and abroad.

“Despite the difficult times being experienced by small businesses, there is still a future at the micro level, for start-up business opportunities giving employment to a one or two people,” he said.

“In many cases, a lot of the promoters have the drive to make things happen. Having the drive is a key ingredient along with ambition and, of course, a good idea. We have anything from 150- 200 ideas every year and a lot of it is ‘me too’. But those that are successful are people who have that little bit of drive to be different. Irish Yogurts, established in the mid-1990s, along with more recent successes, such as Drombeg spirit distillers and Glenilen all showed the drive and the passion to succeed.”

Mr Hanley said the attitude of people in business, and those considering it, has been very positive.

“That was evident from the many events and programmes run by the enterprise board during the year.

“Our range of training programmes have been well-subscribed over the past year and small businesses have demonstrated a strong desire to up-skill and bring new methods and strategies into their operations.

He added: “We probably do about five or six start-your-own business courses every year, with about 15 or 16 people on each. We estimate about 20% to 30% end up going into business. For the rest of them, it can be a slow burner. A lot of budding entrepreneurs, after doing a training courses, realise going into business is not for them.”