10 Fingal Entrepreneurs find inspiration “Off the Grid” on Lambay Island
A recent study has shown that that most small business owner/managers struggle to find time for business management, spending time focusing on day to day survival rather than strategic planning. (1)
On the back of this information the Local Enterprise Office Fingal invited ten recently established business owner/managers from Fingal to attend the “Off the Grid Business Bootcamp” in the beautiful & secluded surroundings of Lambay Island.
The ten local entrepreneurs selected to take part in the advanced business boot-camp included entrepreneurs behind businesses deemed to have good growth potential, including three food and drink manufacturers, two event management companies/organisers, a designer, a healthcare product specialist, property manager, consultancy and I.T. services providers. The businesses were located throughout Fingal.
The specially developed 12-hour advanced business bootcamp combined all the right ingredients to ensure that the entrepreneurs had the much needed time to reflect on their business and strategically plan for the future. The intensive event was led by business consultants with strong expertise in helping small start-ups to scale and grow.
It was much easier to set definite 12-month goals than it usually is when immersed in the day-to-day busy-ness of business, and identifying the steps we need to take to get there was more straightforward than it normally seems, too. Doing so on Lambay was a fantastic experience. This one-day island seminar is hopefully going to be the start of a peer network, where we hold each other accountable and remind each other of the steps we identified as our next critical steps of progress.
Wim de Jongh of Hope Beer said: “I and 9 other Entrepreneurs from Fingal had a very special day ‘off the grid’ on Lambay Island. The program offered us a rare opportunity to spend a whole day talking, thinking and working on our personal goals and setting out a plan to achieve them. The two main nuggets of knowledge I took away were that, only when you set yourself specific goals, break them down in monthly milestones, have you some chance of getting to where you want to be, and that to be truly successful, we need to look after both our business and our personal life.”
He continued: “We also got to visit one of the most talked about and interesting places in Dublin. We received a very warm welcome from Alex Baring, Lord Revelstoke who also gave us a fantastic tour of the Island, its business proposition, its buildings and very interesting history. May thanks to Fingal LEO for organising this very special and insightful day.”
Head of Enterprise in Fingal, Oisin Geoghegan said: “We are keen to ensure that entrepreneurs are supported to enable them to reach their full potential. This is particularly important for recent start-ups who can gain a lot by taking time out to put into place a solid strategy for growth and success. The beautiful and unique surroundings of Lambay Island are ideal for an event of this nature and helped focus the minds on the day”.
While this bootcamp was over-subscribed, the local Enterprise Office has confirmed that it intends to run plenty more business development programmes in 2018 and beyond. For more information, contact the Fingal Local Enterprise Office on 01 8900 800 or at www.localenterprise.ie/fingal.
