Business
Galway tech start-up lands digital prize
Online start-up Mission Possible – the cloud based employee reward and recognition platform based in Galway – has been announced as one of fifteen winning companies in the IE Domain Registry fourth OPTIMISE Fund competition.
Mission Possible will receive €10,000 worth of professional consultation, training and e-commerce development
To date IEDR has helped 45 small businesses across a range of industries, including tourism and culture, food and retail, technology and business services, as well as media and education since the Fund was established in 2011. The Connacht Tribune Group were previous winners of the prize.
Speaking about the announcement, Tara Dalrymple, Founder and CEO of Mission Possible commented “We are delighted to be announced as one of the winners in the 4th IEDR Optimise Fund. Mission Possible is at an exciting growth stage, and the consultation and development will assist our team to push out to our current and potential community to companies, employees and service providers”.
Mission Possible is a reward and recognition platform which enables companies to buy credit for their staff to have personal tasks completed for them whilst they are working (i.e. dog walking, errand running, sitting in for tradespeople), as well as health and wellness services (i.e. massage, reflexology, acupuncture, nutrition and physio).
The credit is used as a reward, recognition or as part of their employment package. We believe that the current job market is inflexible; we will be getting local communities to undertake the tasks and health and wellness services to create liquidity in the job market and get people working.
Mission Possible harnesses the power of the community to get things done by leveraging the latest social, mobile and location based technologies to bring communities together to get things done. This is a movement to make more efficient use of goods and services through P2P networking. In our case, that includes users offering up their time and skills to complete tasks that others are unable to do or would rather not do.
Missionpossible.ie scooped the ‘One to watch’ in the ICT category of the SCCUL Enterprise Awards last January in NUI Galway.
The new President of Local Ireland, the association representing local news publishers around the country, is Head of Irish Times Regionals Dan Linehan.
Mr Linehan takes over the presidency from Declan McGuire of the Connacht Tribune. His appointment was confirmed at the recent Annual General Meeting of Local Ireland at Bloomfield House Hotel near Mullingar, Westmeath.
Mr Linehan, who has served as Vice President of the organisation for the last two years, said: “The coming years are a very important time for local publishers with many important issues to be addressed, including the implementation of the Future of Media Commission recommendations, defamation reform, the role and support for local publishers in public service reporting and helping publishers develop commercial digital offerings.”
Speaking at the AGM, Mr McGuire acknowledged the work done by the Executive in the past two years under the direction of Executive Director, Bob Hughes, on several projects related to the publishing industry but most especially the successful conclusion of the long-running campaign for the abolition of VAT on newspapers.
He also wished Mr Linehan the very best in his new role as President of the association for the next two years.
Mr Hughes thanked Mr McGuire for his leadership and support during his term of office and said he looked forward to working with Mr Linehan on the key policy priorities for the association, including Government supports, Government advertising, fair remuneration for content from the tech platforms and the reform of the legislation for defamation.
Local Ireland members also elected Seán Mahon, Managing Director of the Southern Star, as Vice President for the next two years.
The shortage of affordable housing is the single biggest impediment in attracting and retaining workers in the West, according to business group Ibec.
At a ‘Regional Insights Series’ meeting in the Galmont Hotel in Galway last week, employers were told that capacity constraints and labour supply are the key challenges facing business growth in the region.
Ibec Head of Regional Policy Helen Leahy said: “There must be greater focus by government on enhancing quality of life issues such as housing and infrastructure which are driving labour shortages in the region.
“Ibec’s vision for the West is to realise its potential to become a globally competitive location. An inadequate supply of affordable housing is now the single largest impediment to attracting and retaining talented workers, without whom business investment and expansions are not possible.
“Labour shortages are a real concern for businesses in the region. People decide where to live and work based on quality of life and access to high quality services and amenities. Industry tends to follow talent, and in this regard, the region needs to have all the building blocks in place as the attraction and retention of world-class talent becomes increasingly competitive on a global level,” said Ms Leahy.
Amongst Ibec’s priorities for the West are:
- Addressing housing and infrastructure challenges
- Transitioning towards a new growth model with Net Zero energy powered by Atlantic offshore wind resources
- Adapting businesses to the new economic realities
- Enhancing capacity and skillsets to achieve sustainable development objectives
- Investment in people and skills
- Creating competitive advantage through digitalisation
- Innovation as a key driver of productivity growth
One in five Galway businesses want to go fully cashless, as the move towards card payments and tapping continues unabated post-Covid.
In all, 22% of Galway businesses would like to be fully cashless, according to a survey carried out by BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA), a provider of payment technology solutions, which asked Irish businesses about the current payment landscape as well as business confidence and concerns.
Over one-third (36%) of Galway businesses were unaware there is no contactless limit on mobile wallets – just below the national average – while 54% believe the increase in card over cash transactions has helped them run their business.
Six out of ten Galway businesses expect to grow this year despite the cost-of-living crisis and running costs dominating as key concerns; 62% believe their business will grow over the next twelve months despite global economic uncertainty.
Unsurprisingly cost-of-living increases and running costs were the main concerns the majority of businesses had.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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