Are you Waterford’s Best Young Entrepreneur?

L-R; Vincent Reynolds, Chairman of Local Enterprise Office, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Minister Richard Bruton for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation,  & Minister John Perry for Small Business

New competition launched to find Waterford’s Best Young Entrepreneur (Under 30) with investment of up to €25,000 available for winner.

Winners in Waterford will proceed to regional and national finals with aim of finding Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur

The Taoiseach and the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation launched a new competition to find Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur, with a total fund of €2million available to invest in winning businesses at entrepreneurs in every county in the country.

In Waterford the competition to find Waterford’s Best Young Entrepreneur will be run by the new Local Enterprise Office. Winners will be named in three categories – best new idea, best start-up, best new venture for established business – as well as an overall winner who will be Waterford’s Best Young Entrepreneur.

The Waterford Local Enterprise Office will have a total fund of €50,000 to invest in the three winning businesses, according to criteria including the prospects and investment needs of each business. The overall winner of Waterford’s Best Young Entrepreneur can receive an investment of up to €25,000.

Mentoring, marketing and other supports will also be available to participating businesses at various stages of the competition. 

Lar Power, Director of Economic Development, Waterford City and County Council believes this initiative is particularly important to Waterford, “Following the success of Waterford in the National Student Enterprise Awards this year I am looking forward to seeing what ‘under 30’ sector entrepreneurs in the City and County enter this competition. Waterford’s small business enterprises in particular require as much assistance as they can get and the new Local Enterprise Office in Waterford is fully prepared to help these young and innovative future entrepreneurs make their ideas turn into a commercial reality.”

Ciaran Cullen of the Local Enterprise Office complimented the scale of the competition, “This size of investment for these young start-up businesses is a significant statement of intent. The investment is more than just monetary, the boot camps, mentoring and national exposure will give the best of these entries the boost they require at this stage of their development.”

The competition is open to individuals aged 30 and under and will be judged under three distinct categories:

• ·         best new idea
• ·         best start-up business
• ·         best established business with new add-on

The first stage will be a county-based competition (run by the 31 LEOs) leading to the naming of the Best Young Entrepreneur in each county. This stage will include boot camps and mentoring programmes. This will be followed by regional finals and ultimately national finals with one business-person being crowned Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur before the end of the year.

There have been expressions of interest from television production companies on the possibility of covering the later stages of the competition in a reality TV format.

The aim of the initiative is to encourage and support a culture of entrepreneurship among young people in Ireland, to promote entrepreneurship as a career choice, and to encourage the establishment and development of new innovative businesses by Ireland’s young entrepreneurs. This is hugely important for job-creation as two thirds of all new jobs are generated by businesses in the first five years of existence – more start-ups and a thriving entrepreneurial culture will lead to more jobs being created.

This project is an integral part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and is supported by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation through the Local Enterprise Offices.

Applying is simple – go to localenterprise.ie or your Local Enterprise Office in Waterford City or Dungarvan – and the deadline is 30^th June 2014.

Top Ten Tip Lunches served up in Waterford

Mr. Ciaran Cullen, LEO Waterford and Mr. Des Whelan, WLRfm

‘Top Ten Lunches’ are a series of networking lunches on the theme of ‘Top Ten Business Tips' delivered by successful Waterford business people and occurring once per month.

These lunches take place in the Tower Hotel Waterford from 12.30pm to 2pm with the inaugural  lunch featuring Des Whelan of WLR fm.

This series is also an appropriate way to introduce the new Local Enterprise Office in Waterford to local business people.

Des Whelan, Managing Director of WLR fm was the first speaker in the series of lunches, with his ‘Top Ten Tips on branding your business’. Des is also founding shareholder and Director of Beat 102 – 103 and Radio Nova in Dublin. He is Chairman of Red fm in Cork, the Waterford Tall Ships Festival in 2011 and the Waterford Viking Marathon. His branding tips come from over 35 successful years’ experience in business.

 

The next speaker is Louise Grubb, founder of Nutri-science and Q1 Scientific. Louise will be giving her ‘Top Ten Tips for business expansion’ on Thursday July 3rd. Future speakers include Ronan Mulligan of Mulligan’s Pharmacy, John Noonan of Flahavan’s and Grainne Walsh of Metalman Brewing.

 

The cost of these events is just €8.50, this is for the cost of the lunch alone.  Booking is essential. For more information or to register your interest please contact your Local Enterprise Office in Waterford on

051-849905 or email info@leo.waterfordcouncil.ie .

HCS Business Solutions recognised as finalist in 2014 Microsoft Small Business Partner Awards

Neil Phelan, HCS Business Solutions and Ciaran Keohane, SMB Group Lead Ireland, Microsoft

HCS Business Solutions was recently announced as a finalist in the 2014 Microsoft Small Business Partner Awards. The company was honoured among a global field of top Microsoft Corporation partners for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer solutions based on Microsoft technology.

Based in Waterford’s Cleaboy Business Park, HCS which employs 20 staff, held off stiff competition as more than 3,200 entries were received from 112 countries. 

In total there were 46 awards celebrating each of the core partner competencies, including cloud technology; Windows 8, Office and SharePoint applications; public sector; citizenship; sales excellence; and many more.  The award finalists and winners were selected from a group of nominations based on their commitment to customers, their solutions’ market impact and exemplary use of Microsoft technologies.

Director of HCS Business Solutions, Mr. Neil Phelan was delighted that the company was awarded such a prestigious accolade. “It’s a wonderful tribute for HCS to receive.  We became Microsoft’s first Gold Small Business partner in Ireland just two years ago, so to be recognised as a finalist on Microsoft’s global platform is a resounding endorsement of the team’s work here in Waterford and Dublin.”

“The criteria for the category were quite extensive, however we demonstrated that HCS has been proficient in embracing Microsoft services and providing innovative I.T. solutions to our clients which are, primarily, SMB’s across the whole of Ireland.”

“Microsoft’s core competencies differentiate them from any other competitor and as part of the Microsoft framework, HCS embraces those competencies, offers technological innovation, sales and service support, whilst all the while developing and building relationships with our customers.”

Phil Sorgen, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft Corp added, “Microsoft’s success as a company depends on great partners, and HCS Business Solutions is a shining example of the kind of innovation our partner ecosystem drives year after year.”

“We are honoured to recognise HCS Business Solutions as this year’s finalist of the 2014 Microsoft Small Business Partner award, and we applaud the team at HCS in their dedication to providing innovative solutions that drive results for our mutual customers.”

HCS Business Solutions will be represented at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, which is the annual, global convergence of Microsoft’s top partners, in Washington D.C. from July 13th to 17th.

For further details about the software, infrastructure and IT services HCS Business Solutions provides visit www.hcs.ie or call 051 595200 or 01 873 4120.

Fresh Start Success!

 Over 75 delegates came to hear David McKernan, Entrepreneur and Founder of Java Republic, who spoke at a Local Enterprise Office free business start-up information seminar in Waterford this week.

Other speakers included Ciaran Cullen of the Local Enterprise office in Waterford, Liam Murphy from the Department of Social Protection and Sarah Flynn, Unique Aquatics & Fitness, a local and successful product of last year’s start your own business course.

Java Republic founder to address Local Enterprise Office Free Business Start - up seminar

David McKernan of Java Republic

David McKernan, Irish entrepreneur and founder of Java Republic is to speak at a Local Enterprise Office free business start-up information seminar in the Tower hotel onWednesday May 28^th.

All the economic signs show that Ireland is emerging from the financial crisis.  This means that there has not been a better time in years to investigate starting your own business.  With this in mind the new Local Enterprise Office for Waterford has organised Fresh Start, a free business start-up information seminar for those that have left education, been made redundant or about to be made redundant. 

The first Fresh Start seminar was held in September 2009, repeated in January 2011 and May 2013. The combined results of these events led to an estimated 320 jobs.  As one participant, Mary Doherty of Granny Maddox, said “The Fresh Start Seminar in January 2011 gave me the information and the motivation to get where I am today, self-employed, much busier and much happier.”

The key note speaker David McKernan is a persistent, passionate and high-spirited entrepreneur, who has inspired and irritated in equal measure throughout a successful career in coffee. He emerged from the cocoon of Bewley’s to found Java Republic Roasting Company in 1999: This innovative company quickly became one of Ireland’s most successful brands, and one of Europe’s leading coffee companies. Java Republic is notable for a distinctive vision: Premium, fresh handroasted coffee – with a conscience. 

From day one, David’s aim was to raise awareness of real coffee quality and to challenge abysmally low ethical standards in the coffee business. Both goals were soon achieved: Java Republic’s coffee has won multiple awards for taste and quality, while those who grow their coffee beans saw fairer prices, and improved living standards from direct aid and infrastructure projects.

Whilst stewarding Java Republic through some of the most challenging times any business could face, he developed a reputation as a motivational speaker and campaigner for physical fitness as a driver for positive mental health. David is an engaging, charismatic and entertainingly egotistical speaker, who connects with audiences like a perfectly poured espresso. With nearly 12 years of success in Ireland, David is now focussing on bringing his unique brand of superb coffee and straight talking to an international audience.

Other speakers include Ciaran Cullen of the Local Enterprise office in Waterford, Liam Murphy from the Department of Social Protection, Siobhan O'Callaghan from Irish Franchising Skillnet and Sarah Flynn, Unique Aquatics & Fitness, a local and successful product of last year’s start your own business course.

  

Ciarán Cullen of the Local Enterprise Office in Waterford, suggests that “this is a good time to start a business, while set-up costs are still low and there are very good supports in place.  In the Enterprise Office we are launching new ‘Start You Own Business’ and ‘RECON’ programmes in early June which will help any new business set the right course for a better future.” 

Fresh Start is free but registration is essential.  For more information or to register please contact your Local Enterprise Office in Waterford on 051-852883 or email info@leo.waterfordcouncil.ie .  

First Annual Marigold Festival for South East's seniors

Waterford will host the first annual Marigold Festival on Tuesday, May 13^th in the Tower Hotel. The event is free of charge and will share the latest insights on how to live a healthy and active life and to maintain that lifestyle well into retirement. 

Author and former governor of Mountjoy Prison, John Lonergan will be the guest of honour and will be on hand to speak about what active retirement means to him. He said, “Sometimes for those of us approaching our older years, we may slow down and become less active. The Marigold Festival is a reminder that life is for living and that we can continue to live a fun, full and active life no matter our age. It’s an opportunity for the local community to come together and help each other to live life to the full whether we are 30, 60 or 80 years of age”. 

Other interesting guests include Dr Sabina Brennan of Trinity College Dublin who will talk about the importance of maintaining a healthy and active mind. 

A carvery lunch is available, along with health screenings, line dancing, music as well as a full-programme of inspiring and informative talks.  The event runs from 10.30am to 4.30pm.

The festival has been brought to Waterford by Active Retirement Ireland in conjunction with Home Instead Senior Care. Both organisations are committed to living a happy, healthy and independent life and have come together to bring a positive, fun-filled day of activities to the local community.  

“At Home Instead Senior Care, we believe in living life to the full. The Marigold Festival is for people who are young at heart and believe life is for living. Attendees will avail of valuable information while also partaking in fun activities. It’s an event not to be missed”, says Danette Connolly, Director of Care, Home Instead Senior Care. 

Margaret Bennett Moore, Chairperson of the South East Region of Active Retirement Ireland said: “Waterford has a vibrant community of people 60+ and there is no better place to launch this very special festival. It’s a celebration of life and we are sure it will be a successful day filled with laughter and learning”.

The Marigold Festival is a celebration of life with attendees of all ages enjoying a fun day out, showcasing the fact that a full active life is not reserved for the young. 

For more information please call Danette Connolly, Home Instead Senior Care on (051) 333 966.

Dunmore’s Haven Hotel celebrates a half century

Paul, Sharon, Jean and Jason Kelly of the Haven Hotel

The Kelly family has cause for celebration this year, as it commemorates fifty years of running one of Waterford’s most iconic hotels, Dunmore East’s Haven Hotel.

Purchased by Jean and the late John Kelly in the spring of 1964, the hotel has become a favourite with locals and visitors alike as a welcoming home -from-home with stunning sea views, a relaxing and warm atmosphere, inviting accommodation and locally sourced good food.

Today the hotel is run by the next generation of Kellys; Paul, Sharon and Jason.  While the siblings are determined to retain the unique characteristics of the hotel, there are exciting times ahead for the Haven Hotel.

According to Paul, 2014 is going to be a year of innovative developments.  “We grew up in the hotel, it’s in our blood.  When Dad died earlier this year, we all knew that we wanted to take over the reins, build on his legacy and make him proud of our achievements.  It’s particularly poignant for us as 2014 is the 50^th anniversary of Mum and Dad buying the hotel.”

Over the winter hiatus the family invested in refurbishing the hotels 16 bedrooms and suites.  The Haven Hotel started life as a private home and the focus was on retaining the old world charm of a private residence. 

In the restaurant and bar, the Haven Hotel prides itself on its wide- appealing a la carte and bar menus.  The daily catch is landed only yards away in Dunmore Harbour and the Haven Hotel chefs work with local quality food producers to create exciting and sumptuous fine and casual dining options. 

“We have just expanded our options with extensive lunch and dinner menus and bar food served all day.  We are lucky to be situated so close to Dunmore East harbour and are spoiled with the selection of fresh seafood that is landed literally yards from our door.  Locally sourced meat, poultry, fish, fruit and vegetables are a staple of the Haven Hotel’s menus and the kitchen team has nurtured good relationships with local and regional quality food producers,” Paul added.

The stunning setting of the hotel has attracted many weddings.  The Haven Hotel has hosted traditional weddings, civil ceremonies and humanist ceremonies in the gardens set to the stunning coastal backdrop.  The Haven Hotel caters for small and intimate wedding parties to weddings with up to 150 wedding guests.  Sharon Kelly, Wedding Coordinator has worked with hundreds of couples with unique and individual ideas about their big day.

“Weddings have changed.  The traditional wedding with 300 plus guests is a rarity these days.  Couples tend to opt for a more intimate ceremony and reception.  In our experience, when couples visit the Hotel for the first time they are astonished by the magnificent sea views and love the idea of their family and friends mingling and relaxing on the lawn overlooking the bay.  In fact you couldn’t get a more stunning backdrop for wedding photographs.”

Evenings at the Haven Hotel are set to get livelier.  Paul has developed a broad schedule of live musical entertainment over the coming months. “The summer months always had a full live music calendar, however we are determined to develop the schedule throughout the year.”

“Every Friday we hold a very popular traditional Ceili and we’ve had a great reaction to the Country and Western Jukebox, which is superb platform for up and coming local talent. Our Celtic Boogie Night and Garth Brook’s Tribute act were huge successes, so we plan to introduce a wide and varied live music line-up over the coming months.”

Fifty years on, the inimitable Haven Hotel, is renowned as the perfect destination for those who want to explore, those who love good food, those who like to relax and unwind and those who want to spend time with their families, in a setting that can only be described as breath – taking!

The next fifty years hold exciting times for the Kelly family as they continue to develop and enhance one of Waterford’s best loved hotels.

For bookings, queries or further information about the Haven Hotel in Dunmore East, Co. Waterford call 051 383150, visit www.havenhotel.com or like The Haven Hotel Dunmore East on Facebook.