Innovation Overseas
traditional, safe jobs such as banking, Ireland would be shedding a lot more jobs than they have done already.
“When I started in technology there was this view in Ireland that entrepreneurs are greedy and grabby and there wasn’t a great cultural image around them. When I set up Novara there was no support out there and I wanted to help change that.” Eoin also tells me that he sees the Enterprise Ireland Programme New Frontiers as a great asset in combatting the lack of support for start-ups that once existed. Through DIT Hothouse’s partnership with Enterprise Ireland, Eoin has been able to help New Frontiers participants to access Ireland’s top accelerators (Dublin boasts three of the top eight accelerators in Europe.)
I then ask Eoin how entrepreneurs from the UK were able to get involved in New Frontiers. What criteria did the programme have in place? “We are always looking for people with good ideas that can turn into commercial opportunities” says Eoin. “All they need to enter the programme is to be an innovator, have the potential to be exported, be scalable and locate their start-up to Ireland. Thanks to Enterprise Ireland we have been able to attract entrepreneurs from other countries who want to come to Ireland and participate in the programme and then stay on in Ireland and develop their business.”
How did New Frontiers work and what stages would SMEs go through to develop their business offering? Eoin explains the stages of development for those that entered the programme. “We take on approximately 20 people in Phase 1 and they spend two months with us at workshops in the evenings and weekends.
“We then have a competitive panel where they present the problem, solution and their team, as well as how they will develop the business to get onto Phase 2. Enterprise Ireland sits on the panel and they are very important in the decision phase.
“13 get through to Phase 2 and they get a scholarship of €2,500 a month to pursue their opportunity full time. They conduct market research, speak to early stage customers and get their beta developed. They also learn how to boost customer interaction and secure paying customers, then they look towards the investment stage.
“We then take 13 or 14 down to 10 for Phase 3 where they are advised on funding opportunities to develop and sustain and we link them up with our ecosystem partners.”
I also speak to Naghmeh Reilly, Senior Marketing Executive at Enterprise Ireland, who is responsible for encouraging start-ups to grow and internationalise their business in the country. “Ireland is characterised by its innovation culture, low corporate taxes and for being a hub of tech and life science behemoths like Facebook, Ebay, Johnson & Johnson, Google, IBM and Cisco” says Naghmeh. “Now, Enterprise Ireland is pulling that into a sharper focus with help for UK start-ups willing to come and join us.”
What incentives did EI have to offer start-ups? How would they convince entrepreneurs to move shop and set up in Ireland? “One of our big focuses is the start-up fund” says Naghmeh, “We offer up to €500,000 of funding from a pot of €10million for start-ups who relocate.
“We don’t provide all the funding to get your business off the ground and would want you to invest around half of the funding yourself. But we can help with advice and introductions to other investors in Ireland.”
I also find from my chat with Naghmeh that unlike many other investors, Enterprise Ireland doesn’t always take a board seat and they ordinarily only take 10% in equity, so entrepreneurs retain control of their company.
“We also know it’s about more than money and we’ve found direct assistance works well” adds Naghmeh. “EI provides direct hands-on support to help start-ups grow.
“Through our network of 28 global offices we offer a package which includes introductions to potential clients and business partners, mentoring advice, training programmes and access to our Universities for research and development. The amount of support that we are offering is growing and start-ups everywhere should consider us as an option if they want their business to excel.”
For more information on Enterprise Ireland, visit
www.enterprise-ireland.com
Naghmeh Reilly 47 entrepreneurcountry
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