Business
Galway firms take Business Awards
Four Galway companies celebrated success at the Connacht final of the Ulster Bank Business Achievers Awards, which took place last week at The Clayton Hotel.
Revive Active Products, Caragh Precision, Lifes2good and Green Earth Organics join four other Connacht winners to progress to the national final in December to compete with winners from Munster, Leinster and Ulster.
A total of 627 companies entered this year’s Awards – the highest number ever, including 62 Connacht businesses.
Revive Active Products, who won the Business Start Up Award, was established in Galway in January 2011 by Dáithí O’Connor and Liam Salmon. It designs, manufactures and markets innovative health products.
The winner of the Established SME Award went to Caragh Precision. The company, established in 1982, is a manufacturer of precision engineered products for the medical device industry, specializing in orthopedics, structured heart and vascular access products.
The company works closely with medical device manufacturers globally, assisting in all stages of the product lifecycle from concept realization to volume manufacturing. Based in Galway, Caragh Precision employs 90 staff.
The International Business Award was scooped by Lifes2good, a global health and beauty business, marketing and distributing a portfolio of exclusive and clinically proven brands across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia.
With over 90 employees, Lifes2good is headquartered in Ballybrit, and has sales and marketing operations in London, Chicago, Madrid, Lisbon, Toronto, Mexico City, Sydney and Istanbul.
The Agri-Business award went to Green Earth Organics, an online organic retailer, delivering customised vegetable and other product orders locally and nationwide. Customers register and order online for direct delivery, and can avail of a range of products from fresh vegetable produce to preserves, condiments and other organic products.
As well as farming on 18 acres of organically certified land at its base in Corrandulla, Green Earth Organics buys produce from other Irish suppliers, and also imports organically certified fruit and vegetables to provide a full selection of year-round produce.
The business was established in 2006, and currently has six full time and six part time employees.
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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