Fingal’s Finest ‘Fly the Flag’ in the US
Over US$140,000 Projected Sales Following Trade Visit to ‘Ireland Show’
Eight small companies from Fingal and Dublin City have just returned from the ‘Ireland Show’ in New Jersey, having secured direct export orders exceeding $52,000, with more than $140,000 in combined export orders projected over the next year.
Organised by the new Local Enterprise Office in Fingal, the Trade Mission was organised for small craft businesses in the county, who could demonstrate real potential to export their products to the lucrative US giftware market.
‘The Ireland Show,’ which features over 200 exhibitors, is the biggest Irish-American trade show in the US and attracts buyers in the gift trade from all over North America.
Oisin Geoghegan, Head of the new Local Enterprise Office in Fingal, highlighted the increasing importance of export sales to small businesses in Ireland. He said: “The world is getting smaller and we have to look to new market opportunities that have not yet been fully exploited. The costs of engaging in an export trade mission to the US for a small business as a solo run are extremely high. By collaborating together, and with the support of the Local Enterprise Office, our craft-workers are now able to benefit from economies of scale so that they can exploit foreign opportunities and punch well above their weight, reaching global markets.”
He added: “Through securing substantial export orders at these trade events, our craft businesses can expand, creating new jobs here in Fingal, to help meet that global demand.”
The companies from Fingal at the 18th annual Ireland Show in April included: O’Gowna Studios (manufacturers of porcelain figures and chess sets); Exclusively Irish (Celtic Greeting Cards); Privatmark (Irish Heraldic products); and Iconic Ireland (prints and artist commissions of Maura O’Rourke).
The newly established Local Enterprise Office in Fingal is now located in Fingal County Hall in Swords. Anyone interested in starting a new business or expanding an existing small business are being encouraged to visit the new offices and avail of the range of supports provided. Further information around the Local Enterprise Office in Fingal is available at www.localenterprise.ie/fingal.
ENDS
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Notes to Editor
About The Ireland Show
THE 2014 IRELAND SHOW: SECAUCUS, NEW JERSEY, USA In late April every year, for the past seventeen years, the Ireland Show has been the showcase for the very best in Celtic Giftware. On April 26th - 29th, 2014, the eighteenth Ireland Show took place in Secaucus, involving almost 200 exhibitors (including 8 exhibitors from Fingal and Dublin City).