Enterprise Ireland is hosting a half day seminar and networking event on the Funding landscape and the players. Please note there is no charge for attending this event.

The event will be held in Croke Park, on the morning of Tuesday 17th May 2016.   Registration commences at 8.00am and the event will finish by 12am.

This workshop will focus on the available sources of equity and debt funding for Irish SMEs. It will outline the necessary steps to ensure that an SME is successful in raising additional third party funding.  It will explore the various funding options available to SME’s depending on their stage in the lifecycle and the pros and cons of the various sources of funding.  

There will also be an opportunity to meet with the various funding providers operating in the Irish market.

To register your attendance at this event, please Click here

Agenda for Seminar:

Speaker Biographies

Tom Early – Senior Investment Adviser, Banking Relationships, EI

Tom works as a strategic and financial adviser to EI client companies.  He has a strong track record in assisting clients from a wide variety of sectors at various stages in their lifecycle, in the development and implementation of their growth strategy, helping them to identify and secure the most appropriate form of finance necessary to achieve scale. 

Prior to joining Enterprise Ireland, Tom worked for over 9 years across multiple industries including telecoms, banking and consulting.  

Tom is a qualified CIMA Accountant, holds Masters of business from the IMI and a degree in Business studies (specialising in Economics & Finance) from Waterford Institute of Technology.  In addition Tom has completed executive training courses in IMD (Switzerland) and EVCA.  

Walter Hobbs, Executive Director Investment & Finance at Enterprise Ireland

Prior to his appointment as Executive Director, Walter was involved in the venture capital and private equity industries for over 20 years. He was a general partner at ACT Venture Capital for 15 years and in more recent years operated his own investment and financial advisory firm Virgo Financial.

In his early career Walter qualified as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG, advancing to Director level there before moving to become Director at AIB Corporate Finance.  At AIB, he was in involved in some of the largest takeovers, mergers and initial public offerings in Ireland during the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Walter has wide experience in intensive engagement at board level with early stage and growing companies working through strategic, operational and funding challenges.  He has a B.Comm. (Hons.) from University College Dublin and a Diploma in Strategy (1st Place) from the Irish Management Institute.

Elaine Russell, The Strategic Growth Leaders (SGL).

Elaine Russell is as a strategy & leadership consultant and facilitator. Her passion is building great teams who play to their strengths and deliver exceptional results in an organisation.

Elaine joined Strategic Growth Leaders to support scaling business to deliver beyond their expectations.  In her previous role as MD of Tesco Mobile, she led the team to achieve significant growth. 

Elaine’s trained as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG.  Following which she held various Leadership Roles in Financial Services & Telecoms businesses across finance, marketing and operations disciplines. Elaine is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a member of the Institute of Directors.

Alan Fahey Director ROCG Europe

Alan Fahey’s extensive career incorporates over sixteen years of providing professional advisory services to privately owned growth enterprises and eight years as a designated senior external investment appraiser for Enterprise Ireland.

He is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor who works as a finance, tax and management consultant. His time over the past decade has been exclusively focused on the provision of value-added services to the business community. He has a deep practical experience and cross functional capability in transactional deal making – typically in the areas of business transition and business restructuring.

Brian Hyland, Partner Baker Tilly (soon to be RSM)

Brian is a Consulting Partner within Baker Tilly Ryan Glennon (soon to be RSM) specialising in corporate finance, corporate consultancy, investigation and restructuring. He has significant experience in advising clients in relation to mergers and acquisitions and value maximization strategies, specifically working on due diligence projects, business reviews, sector acquisitions, expert witness and forensic accounting.

Brian has over 20 years practice experience, 12 years as a partner.  Brian is a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland and has served on the Auditing Standards Committee of that body. He has also acted as the Chair of the Audit Committee of the State Laboratory.  He currently acts as company secretary to 3D4Medical.

John Phelan, HBAN National Manager

John has extensive experience in growing businesses. He has run companies, including his own, in Ireland, the UK and in the USA.  His domain knowledge is in the Software, ICT, MediaTech, Digital Media, Games & Animation sectors.

John is involved with all stages of funding (Equity, Debt, Grant, R&D) and stages of development from M&A exit transactions, Series A, Seed and R&D.  John is the National Manager of HBAN and also the Independent Chair of Animation Ireland.

Michael Neary – Partner, Corporate finance

Michael joined Grant Thornton in 2001 and has advised on some of the firm’s largest transactions to date.

He specialises in advising on buying and selling companies, raising finance, and company valuations. He has also led a wide variety of due diligence assignments for Financial Institutions, Private Equity and corporate clients. He advises on the development and implementation of strategies to enhance and realise shareholder value, including situations where the company is experiencing financial stress.

With over twenty years corporate finance and private equity experience Michael has led a wide range of transaction types and sizes in a broad variety of industries providing creative solutions for the clients.

Michael is a fellow of Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI). He also has a Bachelor of Commerce (BComm) from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG).

Catherine Collins - Deputy Credit Reviewer at the Credit Review Office

The Credit Review Office helps SME’s access credit from banks, providing an independent review of individual credit refusals when requested by borrowers, and monitoring the level of credit sanctioned by the pillar banks which is reported to the Minister for Finance. Catherine has worked in the Office since its inception. She previously worked in the areas of finance, business development and investment, in both the private and public sectors. She is a qualified CIMA accountant with an MBA and engineering degree from TCD.

John Power – Chair of the Independent Financial Providers (IFP) of Ireland

John has spent the last 17 years within the financial services and lending environment having worked at management level with large domestic and multinational institutions. In recent years he has established has own advisory consultancy and in 2014, he was instrumental in setting up a new business finance company in Ireland. As part of this, he recognised the need for a coordinated approach to the promotion of the non-bank finance industry in Ireland. John along with a number of others set up IFP Ireland, the umbrella body for non-bank finance charged with growing the awareness of this sector where he is the current Chairperson. There a few individuals in Ireland with more depth of understanding in the alternative finance sector than John Power. John is a business graduate, Qualified Financial Advisor and holds an MSc in investment, Treasury and Banking from DCU  

Nick Ashmore - Chief Executive of the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI)

Prior to taking up this role he served as Project Director during the setup of the SBCI. He joined the NTMA as part of the team managing the National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) in 2006, where he served as Head of Private Equity and Infrastructure before becoming Deputy Director in 2011. Before joining the NTMA Nick was an Investment Manager with Greenaap Consultants Limited, a private family office. He trained as a Chartered Accountant with Grant Thornton in Glasgow and Edinburgh and is a graduate of the University of Aberdeen in Accountancy and a member of the Scottish Institute of Chartered Accountants

Declan O’Neill, CEO Obelisk

Obelisk provides infrastructure solutions for the telecommunications and power industries in Ireland, UK and South Africa, with turnover of €25m and 200+ staff. Declan moved from Finance Director to CEO in 2015 and set a course to double the size of the business by 2020. The capital raising exercise was part of this strategy.

Declan is one of three executive shareholders that owns Obelisk. Prior to this startup, he worked for Old Mutual plc and PWC in the UK, Australia and South Africa where he held a number of Corporate Finance and Senior Management roles. He is an Engineer and Accountant.

Barry Doyle, Outsourced CFO of Benetel and Micksgarage

Barry provides strategic financial advice and outsourced CFO services to ambitious companies looking to expand rapidly.  Barry has developed the knowledge and experience to help business owners devise and implement plans to ensure that their businesses prosper.  He has worked across multiple industries including manufacturing, professional services, technology, wholesale and retail organisations. 

Currently Barry works as CFO for Benetel -Telecom engineering business, designing and developing 4G/LTE products and solutions for global telecom customers, particularly in small cell base-station platforms.  His more recent engagement was with Micksgarage - eCommerce Car Parts Experts, helping them to target profitable business, control margins and cash flow and make strategic decisions based on a thorough understanding of their business