This showcase event will feature six of Fingal’s best up and coming entrepreneurs who will reveal the fascinating stories of the successes of their recently established businesses.
These six businesses are finalists in the 2016 Fingal Enterprise Award, the winner of which will be announced at the end of the “Fearless – The Entrepreneur’s Journey” event on the 10th March.
Hosted by RTE’s Keelin Shanley and featuring Bobby Kerr, the free event will be held in the Riasc Centre in Swords and is geared at anyone who is running a business in Fingal or who wishes to start their own business.
An exciting evening with a great opportunity to network is guaranteed.
The six finalists are:
Darren Farrell – Aldar Tissues Ltd. (Finglas, Dublin 11)
Darren Farrell has been involved in the selling of paper rolls (toilet roll-kitchen towel) for many years. He started buying bales of paper rolls from a local wholesaler and selling them to Sunday and weekly markets. Conscious that there was only one Irish manufacturer for paper tissues, Darren identified an opportunity to go into manufacturing rather than just distribution. After successfully raising finance, in 2014 Darren established a state of the art 36,000 foot production facility in Finglas where he is now producing on average 100 Tons of toilet and kitchen roll per month and employing 9 people full time. Darren is now in growth mode and has ambitious plans to increase exports to the UK and Europe
Kevin Egan – Water2Buy Ltd. (Blanchardstown, Dublin 15)
In 2014 Kevin Egan and David Forde established Water2buy.com, a 100% Irish owned Ecommerce company specialising in water filtration. Water2Buy’s goal is to become the Number 1 marketplace in Europe for water filtration equipment. The Water2Buy brand has become a favourite in households across the EU with over 90% of customers living in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy. Water2Buy products are designed to be easy to install without specific expertise. Water2Buy customers buy online, educate themselves with Water2Buy’s video based learning materials and install the appliance themselves. All the videos and manuals are created in-house and are translated into 6 languages. According to Kevin their success to date has been largely down to the outstanding dedication of the team to constantly better their product, support materials and particularly customer service.
Nicole Dunne – Howth Cuisine (Howth/Baldoyle)
Howth Cuisine began in 2008 as a proof of concept and launched in 2012, when Chef Nicole Dunne saw a gap in the market for ready-made fresh fish artisan meals. Nicole grew up in the picturesque fishing village of Howth, situated in North County Dublin. Nicole has worked in the food and hospitality sector for over 22 years and has managed her own successful Gastro Pub franchise whilst setting up Howth Cuisine. Having completed the Food Academy programme with Supervalu, the business has grown from strength to strength and currently employs 6 full time staff, supplying 60 outlets throughout Dublin and intends to be fully nationwide by end of 2016. There is also a wholesale aspect to this business and they supply to select Deli's. Export market opportunities are also being cultivated, with sales of Howth Cuisine products growing in England and Milan.
Dr. Irene McGrath - Kerona Consulting Ltd. (Skerries)
Established in 2014 as a Limited Company by Dr Irene McGrath and Greg O Brien, Kerona Consulting Ltd is an independent European regulatory consulting company providing scientific and registration services to international clients from the plant protection (agrochemical), biocide, chemical, fertiliser and plant biostimulant industries. The company now lists amongst its clients two of the top 7 global agrochemical companies worldwide as well as companies from the UK, USA, Belgium and Germany and has just negotiated a project with one of the top 4 Indian companies worldwide to provide their expertise. Irene prides herself on providing a world-class service to leading multi-national companies from her base in Skerries.
Farhad Khandanian - AranBia Ltd. t/a Crusts (Ballycoolin, Dublin 15)
Farhad realised that there was no Irish Manufacturer of Gluten Free Halal Pizza. After conducting over 2 years Market research and purchasing state of the art equipment, Farhad established a factory in September 2015 to manufacture specialist frozen Halal pizza for the Irish and export markets. Initial products include organic, halal and gluten free pizza and Turkish wraps. With an annual capacity of 864,000 units, Crusts plan to supply the UK and German markets where demand is steadily rising and supply is currently weak. Their Pizzas and Turkish wrap range are currently available in over 55 Supervalu stores in the Dublin region alone. Crusts currently employ 6 fulltime staff and due to rapid growth, expect this to increase to 9 this year.
Paul Canavan – InvizBox Ltd. (Skerries)
In February 2015, Paul Canavan set up his new venture “InvizBox”. Paul describes his innovative product as a “plug and play” device which allows you to secure your privacy on the internet by simply connecting any of your personal devices to the InvizBox over WiFi. They remove the complexity of trying to secure yourself and your data. Their first product successfully crowd funded over $20,000 and the second product has successfully crowd funded over €100,000 in pre-orders. The business was established in 2014 because Paul felt that there is a growing feeling of intrusion into people’s personal lives online, coupled with a feeling of helplessness to fix that. To date InvizBox has sold products to customers in over 60 countries worldwide so far and that number continues to grow. Their primary market is the US which accounts for approximately 50% of current sales, with the EU, Canada and Australia following.
Booking and Event details:
- This is a free event but booking is essential
- 10th March 2016, 6.30 – 9.00pm
- The Riasc Centre, Feltrim Road, Swords
Get directions on http://theriasccentre.com/location
Please share this event with your business colleagues and friends as it will be an interesting evening of inspiration and support for all business ideas!
